Missions pedagogy

About this page
This is a summary of the pedagogy requirements and goals of OpenHatch training missions.

The missions do not all conform to this yet, but if we can agree on how they should work, in terms of teaching style, then we can adjust them to be like that.

It is a draft; not officially anything. But we're hoping to gather feedback here.

You can think of it as similar to other projects' "Human Interface Guidelines" documents.

A training mission should have a plot
The Subversion mission is a good example of this. Every step you take in the mission is aimed at helping your character complete steps in a plot.

The tar mission, for example, is bad at this; it simply asks you to do things. The things may be fun, but there is no over-arching story arc.

All missions should have a plot.

A training mission should have a "Quick reference" at the end
After someone at the Desktop Summit went through our git training mission, she wanted a quick way to review what she learned. (refs: issue535)

All missions should have a "Quick reference" at the end, in which someone who went through the mission can review what they learned without having to re-do the mission.

A training mission step should have hints whose level of detail is configurable by the user
Right now, the level of "hints" varies wildly between mission steps. Sometimes we tell you exactly what command to type; sometimes we don't give you much advice. Sometimes we tell you to look at a separate page called "Hints." (refs: issue459)