Github Basics - Collaboration and Social Skills in Software Development

No coding/computer programming experience is required.

GitHub is a widely used software development tool. This class is designed to provide students with little or no experience weekly practice using GitHub's collaboration tools, enabling them to work in a team setting without the need for coding.

New students are welcome to join ANYTIME!

While GitHub is primarily used for managing code, this class does not teach coding or computer programming. The focus is solely on getting hands-on practice with GitHub software. You do not need any coding knowledge to take this class, and coding will not be taught or discussed.

Each week, we will practice tasks like creating pull requests, issues/tickets, projects, and files in GitHub. This class assumes no prior experience with GitHub and will guide you through the basics of getting started.

The goal is for students to become comfortable with GitHub in a friendly, low-pressure environment. The class tone is light-hearted and humorous. Students will "work" at a fictional tech company, completing simple tasks that provide practice using GitHub.

This course assumes you’ve never used GitHub before, so the tasks will be very basic. As you get more familiar with the tools, you are welcome to explore and complete more challenging tasks.

Examples of tasks include:

Create pull requests (as many as the student would like)
Creating issues/tickets (as many as the student would like)
Adding files to a shared repository (as many as the student would like)

Reminder: The tasks are meant to be simple and light-hearted. While students may decide to work on a practical task, the tasks are not meant to be serious. For example, a student may create an issue ticket that says "I need a snack please." While that is meant to be funny, the student is getting real experience creating issues/tickets. Furthermore, another student may decide to close that issue/ticket and note "done." That student is getting experience closing the ticket. That is the point.

Each week follows a similar structure, giving students ample practice using GitHub in a collaborative way.

Weekly class format:

1/8/2025 
Introductions/Greetings
Setup instructions
Students complete a fictional task. Students are encourage to complete as many number of tasks that they would like.
Recap/Review: Students share and discuss their completed tasks

1/15/2025 
Introductions/Greetings
Setup instructions
Students complete a fictional task. Students are encourage to complete as many number of tasks that they would like.
Recap/Review: Students share and discuss their completed tasks

1/21/2025 
Introductions/Greetings
Setup instructions
Students complete a fictional task. Students are encourage to complete as many number of tasks that they would like.
Recap/Review: Students share and discuss their completed tasks

1/28/2025 
Introductions/Greetings
Setup instructions
Students complete a fictional task. Students are encourage to complete as many number of tasks that they would like.
Recap/Review: Students share and discuss their completed tasks

This class requires a pc or mac computer. This class uses GitHub, which requires you set up a free account with an email address. Setup instructions are provided in this course. The team environment is private and only students currently in this class will have access.