5  Instructor setup

An instructor needs everything a learner needs, and then some. This chapter covers the extra accounts and the extra setup that only the person running the course requires. You also complete the full learner setup yourself; that checklist is the next chapter (Chapter 6), and the test-learner account described below is how you walk it as a learner would.

5.1 What an instructor needs beyond the learner list

Account or software	Why the instructor needs it
Everything in Chapter 6	You must be able to do every step you ask learners to do
A second “test learner” GitHub account	Walk the pre-work and the workshop as a real student would
Owner rights on the cohort GitHub organization	Invite learners, create repositories, manage the org
Two browsers or browser profiles	Stay logged in as instructor and test-learner at once
A projector or screen share	Demonstrate to the room

flowchart TD
    classDef layer fill:#f7f9fc,stroke:#c7d2e0,color:#1f2933;

    S["<b>Same as learners</b><br/>GitHub account · R and RStudio · Git · personal access token"]:::layer
    E["<b>Instructor-only</b><br/>test-learner account · org owner rights · two browsers · projector or screen share"]:::layer

    S --> E

5.2 The test-learner account

The most valuable thing on the instructor list is a second GitHub account that you treat as a student. Instructors have owner rights and see a different view of the organization than learners do, so they routinely miss broken instructions that only fail for ordinary members. A test-learner account catches those.

• Create a second GitHub account with a separate email address.
• Do not give it any special rights; add it to the cohort organization as a plain member, exactly the role learners get.
• Using this account, run through every step on the cohort website, including the pre-course survey, exactly as a learner would. This is how you catch instructions that only break for ordinary members.
• Keep it logged in to a second browser or browser profile so you can switch between instructor and learner views instantly.

You will use this account at three points: now, to walk the entire pre-course checklist end to end as a learner would (Chapter 6); again before the day, to dry-run the workshop itself (Chapter 10); and during the workshop, when you demonstrate steps from the learner’s point of view so the room sees exactly the screen they have in front of them.

Tip

Use two different browsers rather than two tabs in the same browser, because GitHub logs in one account per browser session and mixing them is how you accidentally demonstrate from the wrong account in front of the room. Run the test-learner account in Chrome: it is the most widely used browser, so it best mimics what most learners see on their own screens. Keep your instructor account in a different browser, for example Firefox.

5.3 Owner rights on the organization

To run a cohort you must be an owner of its GitHub organization, not just a member. Owner rights let you invite people, create repositories, and adjust settings. Part 3 walks through creating the organization (Chapter 8); creating it makes you its owner automatically.

• Confirm you can reach the organization’s settings page.
• Confirm you can invite a member (you will invite your test-learner account as a check).

5.4 Software the instructor should double-check

Everything in Chapter 6 applies to you. In addition:

• Confirm Quarto is installed. Recent RStudio installs bundle it; check by running quarto --version in the RStudio terminal. You need it to render the course website locally (Chapter 9).

• Confirm you are comfortable opening the RStudio terminal. Learners never touch the terminal in the base workshop (Chapter 3), but you use it yourself to render and publish the cohort website (Chapter 9).

• Install the R packages you use to administer the course. The main one is ghclass (https://rundel.github.io/ghclass/), which scripts the bulk GitHub work: inviting learners to the organization and creating their repositories from templates. The administration scripts that use it live in gitforsci-dev/admin (Chapter 8).

• Install the R packages used in teaching: quarto support for rendering, plus any packages the exercise material loads. Render the cohort website locally (Chapter 9) as the check that your teaching environment is complete; if a package is missing, the render will tell you.

5.5 Logistics to arrange

These are not software, but they belong on the instructor’s setup list because they take lead time:

• Book a room with a projector or large screen and reliable power.
• Visit the room before the day to check sightlines, the projector connection, power sockets, where you will stand, and where the wall space for pinning the concept maps is (Section 4.5).
• Confirm reliable internet for the whole room; the workshop is entirely online-dependent.
• Arrange catering or breaks for a four-hour session if appropriate for your venue.
• Decide and communicate the participation model (open sign-up, application, or invited group).

The pre-flight checklist in Chapter 10 brings these together with the day-of checks.