[IPython-dev] using the notebook for teaching?

[W Gong]

ipynb could be made more user-friendly, if new buttons are added to the
tool bar,
e.g. to add an youtube link, the button prompts for url or the code, then
auto insert a cell:

from IPython.display import YouTubeVideo
YouTubeVideo('MTx6ha6fRwo')

ipynb has huge potential, but it is still at early stage

Thanks,
W

On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 4:05 AM, Emmanuelle Gouillart <
emmanuelle.gouillart at nsup.org> wrote:

>
> Hi Matt,
>
> thank you for your answer. The article on software carpentry is very
> interesting and I should definitely ask for more details on the Software
> Carpentry mailing-list.
>
> In fact, I have no doubt that I (as the instructor) can use the Ipython
> Notebook in a pleasant and efficient way. The question is whether this is
> the right tool for hundreds of maths and physics teachers, most of whom
> are not very geeky (in France, teachers in the "preparatory classes"
> undergraduate schools are not researchers, they do 100% of teaching). I
> guess I have to take a bet on the evolution of the notebook ;-)...
>
> Cheers,
> Emmanuelle
>
> On Wed, Dec 05, 2012 at 08:05:15PM -0500, Matt wrote:
> >    Hi Emmanuelle,
> >    You may find it useful to get in touch with Software Carpentry
> >    ([1]http://software-carpentry.org). We've started using the IPython
> >    Notebook extensively in our scientific Python instruction and
> consider it
> >    more or less the best tool for the job:
> >    [2]
> http://software-carpentry.org/2012/10/transitioning-to-the-ipython-notebook/
> .
> >    You can send inquiries to [3]info at software-carpentry.org, we've even
> got
> >    some members in France.
> >    Best,
> >    Matt
> >    On Dec 5, 2012, at 5:24 PM, Emmanuelle Gouillart
> >    <[4]emmanuelle.gouillart at nsup.org> wrote:
>
> >              Hello,
>
> >              from next year on in France, Python will be taught as the
> first
> >      programming language for scientific computing in an important
> fraction
> >      of
> >      French undergraduate schools (the scientific "preparatory classes"
> in
> >      the
> >      French educational system). I'm trying to set up a course on
> scientific
> >      Python for the future French professors that will teach Scientific
> >      Python, and I'm wondering whether I should promote the use of the
> >      Ipython
> >      notebook as the main educational tool for classes, or whether I
> should
> >      stick to more traditional tools.
>
> >              My main concern is about stability. As I see it, a professor
> >      could have a set of different notebook files corresponding to the
> >      different sessions, and encourage the students to do the same.
> However,
> >      when I have tried to open existing .ipynb files, I've run across an
> >      incompatibility between ipython 0.12 and notebooks in version 3
> format
> >      (error message "Unreadable JSON notebook"). I have not tried whether
> >      backward compatibility works, ie whether ipython 0.13 can read
> version 2
> >      format. Is it planned that the notebook format will still change a
> lot
> >      or
> >      not? Indeed, I do not expect the undergraduate schools to update
> ipython
> >      very frequently, and it would be quite a problem if a professor
> cannot
> >      grade a student's notebook because it was written on a more recent
> >      Ipython... On the other hand, the notebook is really cool and has a
> lot
> >      of advantages for teaching, so I really have mixed feelings...
> Stability
> >      is paramount for earning the trust of professors, since a fraction
> of
> >      them is used to Matlab/Scilab and a bit wary of Python (they will
> have
> >      the choice between Scilab and Python, although Python is
> recommended by
> >      the French "official program"): I cannot afford to take too many
> risks.
> >      What do you think? Any insights on using the notebook for teaching
> are
> >      very welcome.
>
> >              Cheers,
> >              Emmanuelle
> >      _______________________________________________
> >      IPython-dev mailing list
> >      [5]IPython-dev at scipy.org
> >      http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/ipython-dev
>
> > References
>
> >    Visible links
> >    1. http://software-carpentry.org/
> >    2.
> http://software-carpentry.org/2012/10/transitioning-to-the-ipython-notebook/
> >    3. mailto:info at software-carpentry.org
> >    4. mailto:emmanuelle.gouillart at nsup.org
> >    5. mailto:IPython-dev at scipy.org
>
> > _______________________________________________
> > IPython-dev mailing list
> > IPython-dev at scipy.org
> > http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/ipython-dev
>
> _______________________________________________
> IPython-dev mailing list
> IPython-dev at scipy.org
> http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/ipython-dev
>



-- 

Thanks,

- Wen
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/ipython-dev/attachments/20121206/8caa22df/attachment.html>