Calling for new Lesson Program Governors
The Lesson Program Governance Committees (LPGCs) of Library Carpentry and Software Carpentry are looking for new members. This is an exciting time for both projects as they consider expanding their range of workshops. Joining the community governance body is a great way to guide the development and support the progress of a lesson program.
What is a Lesson Program Governor?
LPGCs oversee the strategy of the lesson program, advocate for the project in their networks, and act as a point of contact for the project e.g., liaising with the Board of Directors, the Core Team, and the wider community. Learn more about the powers and responsibilities of the committees in a previous blog post and check out the Lesson Program Governors Handbook for other resources that support this community role.
Both the Library Carpentry and Software Carpentry committees have also absorbed the responsibilities of their lesson program’s Curriculum Advisory Committee. This means that Lesson Program Governors will guide the development of the lesson catalogue of the project.
Since discussions of expanding the range of workshops offered by the lesson program are on the agenda for both Library Carpentry and Software Carpentry in the coming months, this is a particularly exciting time to join these governance bodies!
Other benefits of becoming a Lesson Program Governor include:
- Opportunities to have a direct and lasting impact on the future of the project.
- Expand your professional network and gain further experience as a community leader.
- Represent the project at conferences and elsewhere.
Lesson Program Governors can expect the role to require approximately 1-4 hours of their time each month.
Join the Library Carpentry Governance Committee
The Library Carpentry Governance Committee (LCGC) has recently been working on reviewing and promoting new lessons that were created as part of the Open Science for Librarians project. As part of this work we review the content of new lessons to ensure they follow good practices in lesson design and development and meet the needs of the Library Carpentry audience. We invite maintainers to LCGC meetings to discuss the steps they can take to move the curriculum into Library Carpentry (when appropriate) and to advance along the lesson lifecycle. We also help the developers of these lessons to raise their visibility among new Instructors, to reach a wider audience, and continue to improve.
We’ve also recently reviewed legacy LC curriculum, retired lessons that were no longer up to date, and laid the groundwork to provide thematic pathways for Instructors to easily choose lessons for workshops for specific audiences within the Library Carpentry community (e.g., a recommended set of lessons for a two-day workshop for metadata and cataloguing library workers).
We hope to work with new Governance Committee members to continue this work and explore new ideas for how we can advocate for and strengthen Library Carpentry.
Join the Software Carpentry Governance Committee
Since its formation, the Software Carpentry Governance Committee (SWCGC) has analysed the lessons currently in the Incubator and discussed the possibility to include some into the main Software Carpentry curriculum; guided major changes to the introductory Git lesson; participated in Carpentries events and other community events to advocate for Software Carpentry changes; discussed the need for new Maintainers with the Core Team; and suggested changes to the Software Carpentry website.
We hope that new members of the committee will continue some of this work, especially in advancing updates and expansion of the official Software Carpentry curriculum, and pursue their own projects to further improve the lesson program.
How to apply
To volunteer to join either Governance Committee, please fill out this short form. With support from the Curriculum Team, responses will be filtered and then reviewed by the current members of the relevant committee. Incoming committee members will be onboarded by the current committees, including a discussion of ongoing projects and committee operations.
Please complete the form by the end of Thursday 28th August (anywhere on Earth).
Contact
Contact the Curriculum Team with questions about Lesson Program Governance Committees and/or the application and onboarding process. Or you can contact the current members of the committees directly with questions about their experience and activities: