# Guide for Instructors


### Who can be an instructor at the Brainhack School?

Any graduate or postgraduate students or early career researchers affiliated with one of the Brainhack School hubs.

### What skill sets and expertise are expected?

An instructor is expected to have a good understanding of how to conduct scientific research, expertise in one (or more) of neuroscience, psychology, statistics, or computational science, and be open to further developing their skill sets.


### What are the duties of an instructor?

- Familiarize themselves with the school practices and structure.
- Familiarize themselves with module content and assignments.
- Help students navigate the Discord course website and materials.
- Be present during the project pitches and wrap-up presentations.
- Guide students with queries and give feedback on their projects.
- Keep track of the student’s progress.
- Report technical and practical problems to their local hub organizers.
- In the lead up to the school contribute to updating and adding new modules (optional).


### How is an instructor expected to communicate with the students?

The communication across the day is run through an international Discord server. The instructors will encourage students to use the module/project-related channels to raise their questions and get feedback from their peers.

Students will also have a chance to raise their questions during the Q&A hours when the instructor is expected to meet in person with the members of the pod they are assigned to.


### Does an instructor have to answer the questions from students from other hubs?

They are expected to but do not have to. Each hub will primarily be responsible for answering and helping its students. However, resolving some queries raised in the Discord server might address your expertise, or you might already know the answer. Then it would help the school community to resolve the issues quickly.

### How will an instructor follow the progress of a student?  

For tracking the progress with students' completion of the module assignments, the local hub organizers that you are affiliated with will provide a means, mostly a shared sheet with the students' names and modules. Students are asked to complete exercises for each module and share their progress with instructors, so that they can be marked as complete.

For project progress, regular meetings with students should give you a good idea of how they are doing.

### What am I expected to do during a clinic/Q&A call?

During the Q&A hours in weeks 1 and 2, you are expected to catch up with the students regarding their module assignments and queries.


During the clinic hours in weeks 3 and 4, you will track the student's progress with their project execution and share your feedback if they have any specific queries.

Please do not forget you are not expected to provide definite help or the correct answer. You are there to give feedback and point to the possible resources that might help them.


### What should I do if a student is not progressing with their project?
Sometimes some students are stuck with an idea, choosing the right tool, or finding the data for their project. In some cases, they might also be hesitant to raise their questions.

The best way to help those students would be to ask what aspect of their project is preventing them from progressing and give feedback to them to narrow down their project scope to facilitate execution.

### What should I do if a student struggles to complete module assignments?
In such cases, reach students to hear the reason that lags them behind. If it is a technical problem request them to raise their problem in the Discord channels to get more help. Please contact the local hub organizers for their advice if it is due to the need for more time.

Students who undertake the school as a credited course must meet requirements of the school.

### What should I do if a student asks to be excluded from completing a module, due to already being proficient in the material?
Ask them for previous work that might show their proficiency in the modules. For eg., some students might be competent in using git/GitHub already, and they might have a repository and share the link with you.