Editing Community Data Science Workshops (Fall 2014)/Reflections (section)

=== More Projects or Better Projects ===

Once again, we had certain afternoon project sessions that were much more effective than others. One thing we were conflicted about was whether we wanted more break-out sessions or whether we should just use the best of the break-out sessions (perhaps in two rooms).

Arguments for smaller groups of the best break-out session include:

* Focus on a known good thing.
* Pre-canned sessions make it easier for new mentors to feel confident and be successful.

Arguments against include:

* Diversity of projects inspires people to do the kinds of things that people can do with this new knowledge.  

We should pursue other ways to encourage creativity with code. For
example, we might give participants creative/flexible moments within sessions and lectures might be empowering in similar ways. We can also continue to call out participants who are doing creative things.