Well you've already got a lot of replies but I'll offer my suggestions. (as I know a lot of these humanity types)

First many of them will resist the move to computers because they are scared of them. You cannot change this in 1 hour. The length of time it takes is different for each person but it will take a lot longer than 1 hour to get them comfortable with a computer.

My first suggestion would be to write some utilities that they can use. Make sure it is EASY to use! Then if a few people are comfortable using your utilities and want to take it to the next level (modifying it to suit their purposes) help them out but don't push them. Leave "Mastering regular expressions" on your desk (or bookshelf) and maybe lend it out to whoever is interested.

Start slow, ease them into it and above all make sure they are comfortable and that you aren't pushing them. Instead of taking an hour to teach them perl, take an hour to teach them how to use a script that you wrote or something. Take an hour to show them how to search the internet better with something like google first.

You have to learn to crawl before you can walk. While some of these people may be very smart in their field, if they are uncomfortable using computers, a one hour seminar will not teach them perl. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

In reply to Re: How to Teach Perl to Scholars in the Humanities by MCS
in thread How to Teach Perl to Scholars in the Humanities by cyocum

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