Pre-course

[sofer]

Put your notes here

[nelsonic]

Hi @sofer is this repo intentionally in FAC6 org? ❔

[sofer]

@nelsonic yes, it is. Thanks for checking.

[katpas]

K & G

• More notice for the pre-course part e.g. installation party, some people working/prior commitments.
• More notice for pre-course "playbook"
• Create a gitter channel sooner too for those accepted onto the course.
• Let people know what equipment they need as soon as they get their offer. e.g. Chromebook (maybe suggest wiping it and adding linux instead of crouton).
• Learning Goals: Familiarity with command line. Also read about git (code academy tutorial) but not expected to master it.
• Advise people re-look over HTML/CSS as it's heavily focussed in the first-week and most people will have been doing code wars and forgotten it.
• Leave HTTP for the course. Difficult.

[jackcarlisle]

@Conorc1000 + @jackcarlisle :

• Intro into DOM manipulation, make a readme about the topic. Eloquent JS chapter on DOM manipulation ch 12.
• Some more beginner friendly books.
• Some sort of buffer between codecademy and code wars, we could write our own training guide(making your own kata, how to test, how to debug kata solutions{JS bin, using console.log}).

[sohilpandya]

@des-des + @sohilpandya

• Who finished Javascript: The Good Parts before they started the course? Its a pre-req. There should be a divide between recommended reading and actual pre requisites.
• DOM. Using DOM with Javascript - codecademy uses jQuery, it's good, but people should be used to using vanilla JS to access/manipulate DOM.
• GIT/Github. Natalia's Repo is a must to give them a good grounding. (maybe this needs revamping)

[Joshua-Ronan-Phillips]

Justen and Josh:
Topics & Learning:

• (Justen says week 1 I think pre-course) Dom manipulation.
• Git. (Great but could be even better, picture for visualising? Even more beginner friendly)
• Command Line
• Installing Linux if you are a windows user (no Virtual machines).
• HTTP (more beginner friendly resource)
• Markdown

[hdrdavies]

@katkelemen & @hdrdavies
-Not sure if UX and Startup course on Udacity and Coursera should be included in the pre-reqs (people are already hugely pressed for time!)
-Only Crockford should be in the pre-reqs watching… the others are interesting but possibly should be included in a “just for fun” section, or perhaps “recommended”
-Same goes for the books - these should be in the “recommended” section, as people might get disheartened with their length. If there has to some reading… perhaps the annotated version of Eloquent Javascript as we believe this is shorter
-CSS Diner was very good
-Perhaps the ‘typing’ section could involve learning hotkeys for your computer e.g. alt+f4, ctrl+c, ctrl+v, ctrl+shift+i for chrome tools, atom & sublime shortcuts etc. etc. as these seem more useful than being able to type quickly

[rug1]

Me and @naazy - more notice for installation party and a clearer direction to list of suggestions/tutorials to go through before the course. jQuery pre-req maybe not needed. Git, DOM manipulation and callbacks maybe added to pre-reqs. More emphasis on learning HTML and CSS before the course.

[mk4111]

@tormod17 and @mk4111

To reinforce student knowledge on basic file structure, HTML, CSS, etc. we'd like to recommend students to download and play around with a .zip file or something (that we'd create). This file would include a basic structure for a website - so HTML, CSS, index.js, etc.

The instructions that we'd provide them with would be something along the lines of 'create your own webpage'. We don't think it'd be necessary to ask them to deploy to a domain, GHpages, etc. Instead, we could provide them with a set of instructions for them to view their webpage on their local machines (just in their browser, so no need for a server either).

[RachBLondon]

Matt and Rachel

Pre req

more emphasis on javascript DOM manipulation
article and tasks on function (maybe eloquent javascript)
shorter pre reques (might encourage more female applications - i.e. research shows women will worry about a job description if they only know 90%, but men will apply if they meet 60%)
html & CSS essential
remove Jquery
make a website (index.html & CSS site) — good
indication of priority on prerequisite
look for good quality html, css & javascript free online.

[Joshua-Ronan-Phillips]

Josh Justen Eoin and Sohil

• A tutorial on file structure and DOM manipulation like natalia's.
• I Agree with typing comment, shortcuts over touch typing. But others say maybe its better to learn yourself over time.
• Natalia's GIT tutorial is a great base to make even better, lots of people had difficulties, confusion and mistake when doing it.

[hdrdavies]

@katkelemen, @thegsi, @katpas, @hdrdavies

Kata & Huw agree with above comment from @katpas especially:

• HTTP left for the course

Kat & Gethin agree with everything Huw & Kata commented and also add:

• hotkeys - ctrl+shift+v for pasting into console, up arrow for seeing previous
• agree that there should be a “necessary” and “recommended” section to pre-reqs

New:

• Atom packages should be recommended / installed on day 1 e.g. markdown preview, beautify, linters, hinters, color picker, pigment etc. etc.

[jackcarlisle]

@rug1 + @naazy + @Conorc1000 + @jackcarlisle

• DOM manipulation - ch 12 Eloquent JS
• How to use github (creating a repo, writing a README)
• Continue with Natalia’s tutorial
• First day of week 1 dedicated to git and github
• Buffer between Codecademy and Codewars
• Encourage people to google more and to ask for help with current coding problems in the gitter channel

[jackcarlisle]

@Conorc1000 + @jackcarlisle + @des-des + @Joshua-Ronan-Phillips + @sohilpandya + @rug1 + @naazy + @Jbarget

• Two weeks prior to the course, focus needs to shift from code wars to an improved version of Natalia’s tutorial, Github.
• Read up on DOM manipulation (read about file structure).

[hdrdavies]

@katkelemen, @thegsi, @katpas, @hdrdavies, @mantagen, @RachBLondon, @tormod17, @mk4111

• There is a sentiment that there could be some preparation for TDD, but we agreed that the katas that we now have to write which teach people a little bit about testing
• We all agree we should prioritise the pre-reqs - there was a recent article that women don't apply when they haven't finished 90% of the pre-reqs for a job so perhaps could be a reason why we're getting fewer women to apply
• jQuery should not be recommended as a codecademy track, as we don’t use it. Perhaps read the wikipedia page or an article on it so we recognise it and know not to use it during the course
• DOM manipulation should be in the pre-reqs, perhaps as a replacement to jQuery - none of us knew what document.getElementById was in the first week

[hdrdavies]

FAC6

• Simpler repo on git and github (could be used for C4E workshop) in preparation for week 1
• DOM manipulation repo could be constructed in similar way to git and github repo… document.getElementById etc.
• Creating a home-page could be added too - so people get used to building something from scratch and opening it from a file in their browser
• There’s a sentiment that the HTML & CSS course on codecademy isn’t massively helpful
• jQuery should be studied so we can recognise it but not use it, it shouldn't be a pre-req
• There should be a prioritised list of pre-reqs and a general shaving of pre-reqs e.g. online courses, books, lectures
• Possible inclusion of more basic JS videos before people watch crockford which is pretty complicated for the beginner
• Conduct a SurveyMonkey of what pre-reqs for FAC6 the FAC6ers actually did

[hdrdavies]

please don't forget about hotkeys 👍