Going Live:

# Going Live:
## Live Coding as an (Incredibly) Effective Tool for Teaching Programming
### <br>🔗 <a href="https://bit.ly/golive-uscots">bit.ly/golive-uscots</a>
### <br>Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel

---

layout: true
  
<div class="my-footer">
<span>
<a href="https://bit.ly/golive-uscots" target="_blank">bit.ly/golive-uscots</a>
</span>
</div>

---

**Live coding:** Instead of presenting pre-written material, the teacher writes code in front of the class while the learners follow along, typing it in and running it as they go.

---

# .hand[Why] code live?

---

.hand[
Think back to your last math heavy course, one with proofs or problems that required multi-step solutions.

Did you prefer to see all steps at once or prefer that the instructor walk through the steps at a reasonable pace, revealed them incrementally, and talked through their reasoning?
]

---

## Why live code?

- Slows you down

--
- Helps you articulate each step

--
- Allows you to demonstrate the workflow as well as the code

--
- Facilitates unintended knowledge transfer: people learn more than we are consciously teaching by watching how we do things

--
- (Most likely) causes you to make errors (that you can turn into teachable moments or use to show everyone makes errors!)

--
- Demonstrates the order in which programs should be written

--
- Gives teachers a chance to emphasize the importance of small steps with frequent feedback

--
- Saves you time

---

## Why live code?

---

### [The effectiveness of live-coding to teach introductory programming](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2445196.2445388)
*Rubin (2013)*  
*[doi.org/10.1145/2445196.2445388](https://doi.org/10.1145/2445196.2445388)*
 
- Audience: Introductory C++ course
- Treatment: instructors live code, control: instructors never type, only view, compile, and execute code examples
- Evidence: Pre/post surveys + grades
- "Based on our results, we conclude that teaching via live-coding is as good as if not better than using static code examples."

---

### [Role of Live-coding in Learning Introductory Programming](https://doi.org/10.1145/3279720.3279725)
*Raj, Patel, Halverson, Halverson (2018)*  
*[doi.org/10.1145/3279720.3279725](https://doi.org/10.1145/3279720.3279725)*
 
- Audience: Introductory data structures course
- Evidence: Pre/post test + open-ended feedback
- "We found that live-coding (1) makes the process of programming easy to understand for novice programmers, (2) helps students learn the process of debugging, (3) exposes students to good programming practices. [...] students prefer to code along with the instructor during a live-coding session rather than being mere observers."

---

## Why not *just* live code?

- Providing material multiple formats to learn from is better than providing just one

--
- Can be hard to follow if you're not careful

--
- Can be difficult to get a permanent record of (though this is less of a problem for virtual teaching)

---

# .hand[What] to code live?

---

## Live code or not to live code

Any topic will benefit from livecoding, but for some using live coding as the **primary** communication method is more appropriate than others.

- Live code first:
  - RStudio IDE
  - Working with Git and GitHub
  - Using R Markdown
  - Making a reproducible example

--
- Static materials first, live code second:
  - Anything involving new syntax/API (dplyr, ggplot2, etc.)
  - Anything involving interpreting results
  - etc.

---

# .hand[How] to code live?

---

---

---

## Live coding in person

- **Keep in mind:**
  - Room size
  - Audience size
  - Your own setup
  
- **Tip:** Don't rely on just the physical screen, use a secondary method to get your code in front of students' eyes (e.g. 📦 [livecode](https://github.com/rundel/livecode))

---

## Live coding virtually

- **Keep in mind:** Audience watching on smaller devices
  
- **Tips:**
  - Test audience experience in a test run
  - If you have a live audience, give them plenty of opportunity and simple tooling to participate (e.g. Zoom chat)

---

## Virtual, live audience

---

## Virtual, prerecorded

---

## Live coding with strictly limited time

- Consider pre-recording a screencast that you can narrate during the event, especially useful for showing workflow
  - Example: [Silent screencasts for teaching with RStudio Cloud](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz9UR6uxAG4&list=PLNUVZZ6hfXX05Bs80Hg5MjbOPnEFmwiOM&ab_channel=Mine%C3%87etinkaya-Rundel)
- Consider using [asciicast](https://github.com/r-lib/asciicast) if just presenting code

---

## Live coding - .hand[scripted]

- Go to [RStudio Cloud](https://bit.ly/golive-cloud): [bit.ly/golive-cloud](https://bit.ly/golive-cloud).
- Join the workspace.
- Click on **Projects** on the top bar.
- Click **START** for the project titled *Hotel bookings*.
- Watch me live code and follow along for Exercises 1 - 4.
]

---

## Live coding - .hand[scripted]

- Go to [RStudio Cloud](https://bit.ly/golive-cloud): [bit.ly/golive-cloud](https://bit.ly/golive-cloud).
- Join the workspace.
- Click on **Projects** on the top bar.
- Click **START** for the project titled *Hotel bookings*.
- Rotate live coders for each exercise, for Exercises 5-8
- Add any comments/questions that come up during the breakout session at [bit.ly/golive-doc](https://bit.ly/golive-doc).
]

---

## Live coding - .hand[unscripted]

- Go to [RStudio Cloud](https://bit.ly/golive-cloud): [bit.ly/golive-cloud](https://bit.ly/golive-cloud).
- Join the workspace (if you haven't yet done so) and click on **Projects** on the top bar.
- Click **START** for the project titled *Parks*.
- Watch me live code, follow along, and participate in the chat.
]

---

## Livecoding pedagogy

- Build in delinerate fumbles and embrace your real mistakes

--
- Ask for predictions

--
- Take it slow

--
- Be seen and heard

--
- Mirror your learner's environment (then teach them customisation)

--
- Use screen wisely

--
- Double devices (when possible)

--
- Go beyond the code: draw diagrams

--
- Improvise (particularly with a live audience)

.footnote[
.small[
Greg Wilson. [Teaching Tech Together: How to Make Your Lessons Work and Build a Teaching Community around Them](https://teachtogether.tech/). CRC Press, 2019.
]
]

---

## Livecoding tips

- Disable notifications
--

- Omit or fully narrate keyboard shortcuts

--
- Use accessibility tools to enhance what's on your screen (e.g. [Mouseposé](https://boinx.com/mousepose/overview/) for Mac or [PointerFocus](http://www.pointerfocus.com/) for Windows)

--
- If need to type passwords, keep "off screen" notes handy that you can copy-paste from

--
- Use an RStudio addin to quickly switch to "factory settings" (e.g. 📦 [addmins](https://github.com/mine-cetinkaya-rundel/addmins/blob/master/R/use_teach_mode.R))

---

## Livecoding tips

Avoid switching between screens

---

## Live coding - .hand[unscripted]

- Go to [RStudio Cloud](https://bit.ly/golive-cloud): [bit.ly/golive-cloud](https://bit.ly/golive-cloud).
- Click **START** for the project titled *Netflix titles*.
- Switch live coders every 5 minutes and improvise!
  - Info on dataset is [here](https://github.com/rfordatascience/tidytuesday/blob/master/data/2021/2021-04-20/readme.md)
- Take notes on what feels good/right, what is challenging, or any comments/questions that come up during the breakout session at [bit.ly/golive-doc](https://bit.ly/golive-doc).
]

---

# .hand[Enhance] live coding

---

It’s important to take your students through the process of finding help as well as asking good questions to help you help them.
]

---

## (Not so good) help with googling

<br>

.center[
<iframe width="840" height="473" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/6tw5uOth4AY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
]

---

## (Better) help with googling

<br>

.center[
<iframe width="840" height="473" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/2sp2isnqoFU" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
]

---

# .hand[Sandbox] your live coding

---

## Sandbox your live coding with **learnr**

- Create your course slides using [learnr](https://rstudio.github.io/learnr/)
- Don't worry about writing automated feedback
- Use the code boxes as your sandbox for presenting limited amounts of code

--
- Example: [Making histograms with ggplot2](https://rstudio.cloud/learn/primers/3.3)

--
- Want to learn more about learnr? See [Feedback at scale](https://www.rstudio.com/resources/rstudioglobal-2021/feedback-at-scale/) and the materials that go along with it.

---

# .hand[Learn more] about live coding

---

## Resources

- Live coding chapter in Teaching Tech Together by Greg Wilson, [in English](https://teachtogether.tech/en/index.html#s:performance-live) and [in Spanish](https://teachtogether.tech/es/index.html#s:performance-live)

- [Code live from RStudio, and share it with the World in real time](https://bitsandbricks.github.io/post/code-live-from-rstudio-and-share-it-with-the-world-in-real-time/) by H. Antonio Vazquez Brust

---

## Inspiration

- On YouTube:
  - [Julia Silge](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTTBgWyJl2HrrhQOOc710kA)
  - [David Robinson](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeiiqmVK07qhY-wvg3IZiZQ)
  - [Data Science in a Box / me!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-uTBEclM1E&list=PLNUVZZ6hfXX1tyUykCWShOKZdIB0TIhtM&index=3&ab_channel=Mine%C3%87etinkaya-Rundel) -- See any video with *AE* (application exercise) or *Code along* in the title
  
- On Twitch: See Jesse Mostipak's roundup of [data science streamers on Twitch](https://www.jessemaegan.com/blog/2021-05-28-data-science-twitch-streamers-round-up/) (including Jesse!)

---