This is a hands-on course. That means we aim to teach with students being active and coding a lot! That's why you will find many notebooks (colabs) used to show code and let the students practice with them. We use slides to complement the notebooks. At the end, you are free to choose how you want to introduce the concepts. The given material is a suggestion.
Monday: Regular Class. We recap the homework.
Wednesday: Regular Class. We give homework to the students.
Wednesday - Monday: Students work on their homework
Colab Files
We work with Notebook files in the IDE Google Colab. You can find the colabs in Drive.
Slides
Slides can be used to visualize concepts. You find prior slides decks in the drive.
Homework Colabs
You can find Homework colabs in the drive. However, not every week might have homework yet! In that case, browse the archive and further resources or create a new homework colab.
Student Hub
The student hub helps students navigate the course. We aim to structure the hub as a knowledge base, meaning that concepts of the course are explained in the hub.
Drive: You can find all files in the Drive folder? Do you see the slides and the colabs?
Student Hub: The student hub is the "knowledge base" for the students where they find extra resources about the concepts being covered in the course. It is currently under construction. We will share it with you soon!
We know the material is not perfect! For sure, parts are not so clear and can be improved. Please help us to improve it further! If something is unclear or missing - feel free to add it! Thanks to your contribution, we can improve the material in the future!
As the session owner, you can structure the session as you wish. The existing material is a suggestion. By changing the material, you help us improve the content. Here is an explanation of how to change it:
Google Drive - Add or change material on Google Drive - To access Google Drive content, you need to be enrolled in the Google Classroom. If you are not, ask your Course Manager.
Gitbook - Your changes are also highly welcome in the Student Hub Gitbook. Get editor access to Gitbook to make changes to the student hub. Please ask your course manager about it.
We use Google Classroom to share material with the students. Please have a look here:
We share several best practices. For example, the concept of "How little is enough?" or the "I Do, We Do, You Do" methodology. In the end, it is your decision how you want to teach it. We recommend to browse through the concepts before teaching a session: Course Content
That was a lot of content! Thanks for staying with us. Let's complete the self-onboarding now: Complete your Self-Onboarding
Welcome to ReDI School! We really appreciate that you are part of our community. In this page, you'll find an overview of the course. By volunteering, you contribute to our main goal: help our students gain the necessary skills to find a job in tech. ReDI School has now helped over 17.000 people advance their tech skills. This is only possible with the support of our volunteers <3
Our student community brings together people from over 138 countries. Your course won't be different. Your students will come from a wide range of countries. They also come from diverse professional backgrounds - some are currently unemployed or underemployed, while others are students looking to prepare for their careers. With an average age of 32, many of our students hold a university degree and have several years of work experience. What unites all students is their passion for technology and their aim to build a career in the tech industry.
❤️ Thank you for supporting our students as they take another step in their journey! To learn more about ReDI students and our community, visit About ReDI School.
The Python Foundations Course is a 14-week beginner-friendly program designed to introduce students to programming fundamentals and data analysis techniques using Python. Each cohort consists of 25 students who meet twice a week (Mondays and Wednesdays from 19:00-21:00). The course follows a project-based learning approach, allowing students to build practical programming skills through structured exercises and projects.
Students progress through three main learning phases:
Python Fundamentals – Covers variables, data types, conditionals, loops, and functions, establishing a strong programming foundation.
Working with Data – Introduces lists, dictionaries, JSON parsing, and Pandas, enabling students to manipulate and analyze data.
Final Project – Students apply their learning in an independent project, demonstrating their ability to write structured Python programs.
Each phase includes weekly exercises and assignments, culminating in a final project where students showcase their coding skills on Demo Day.
The weekly schedule consists of two regular classes. Monday begins with a review of the previous week’s content. Students participate in live coding exercises and problem-solving activities. Homework from the previous week is discussed and feedback is provided. On Wednesday, teachers introduce new Python concepts, such as functions, loops, data structures, and working with APIs. Students engage in hands-on coding demonstrations and guided exercises. The session concludes with the assignment of the weekly homework task.
Between sessions, students are expected to dedicate 10-12 hours per week to coding assignments, and independent study.
The course has two online sessions per week. For on-site events, check out On-site Activities. The session format differs from what you might have seen before.
As a session owner, you lead the Input session. You introduce the milestone of the week and the relevant concepts to work on it. You prepare the session and coordinate with the teaching assistant.
4 hours per week
As a teaching assistant, you support the session owner in the input session. You open the Zoom call, track attendance, help answer questions, and provide support in break-out rooms.
3 hours per week
As a backup teacher, you are available and ready to jump in the case one of the teachers assigned for the day should have issues, or get sick. As a backup teacher, you don’t need to attend the session unless an emergency arises.
2 hours per week
As a homework reviewer, you correct assignments between Monday 7pm and Wednesday. You do this asynchronously and do not need to attend any sessions.
3 hours per week
Two sessions during the course will take place on a hybrid format - students in Hamburg will have a session on site, while the other students a parallel session online. We are also organizing on-site activities in our three main locations. Find out more below.
We invite you to four on-site community events throughout the semester if you are located in Berlin and the surrounding. The Onboarding will also take place in person in Berlin. You are more than welcome to join!
We invite you to four on-site community events throughout the semester if you are located in Berlin and surrounding. The Onboarding and Demo Day will also take place in person in Düsseldorf. You are more than welcome to join!
Four in-person sessions are taking place in Hamburg: Onboarding, two regular course sessions, and Demo Day. If you are based in Hamburg, it would be fantastic if you could support the course in one or more of these sessions.
We hope that by reading this, you have a better idea of the course and what it means to volunteer at ReDI. Let's explore the Timeline now 📅.
Here's an overview of the key tools we use for teaching and communication. Please set up these tools now to ensure effective collaboration with your team and students.
This is our main communication tool, both with teachers and with the students. You'll have access by default to your teaching team channel and the students' channel. Additionally, you can join our community channels in Berlin, NRW, and Hamburg to learn about local events. Please check Slack regularly during the semester and communicate with your teaching team via Slack if you cannot make it to class.
We use Google Calendar to send semester meeting appointments to teachers and students.
Our online sessions are running on Zoom. We highly recommend installing and updating the Zoom app on your device, as the online version doesn't cover all functionalities. Please note: The class Zoom link is the same for the entire semester.
We use Google Classroom to share material with the students and to collect and give feedback to projects and homework.
Open the Email with the Slack invitation from ReDI. .
to your Laptop (and or mobile phone).
Watch the "" video
Please complete all steps before going to the next section of the self-onboarding. If you face any issues, please reach out to the ReDI team via E-Mail or Slack. Once you are done, let's dive into the .
Let's go to the next section and dive into the tools:
Welcome to our teaching team! We're excited to have you join us in supporting ReDI students on their journey in tech. The Python Foundations course is a 14-week beginner-friendly program where students develop fundamental Python programming skills and work on one practical project. Throughout the course, students will learn how to write clean and efficient code, work with data structures, functions, and libraries, and gain an introduction to data analysis.
As a teacher, your first step is to complete the self-onboarding process:
Explore the Course Overview to learn more about the course
Check out the Timeline
Review and get onboarded in the Essential Tools
Check out the Content Introduction
Complete your onboarding in Complete your self-onboarding
This hub contains everything you need to start and support your teaching journey. If you have any questions along the way, don't hesitate to contact our team on Slack.
Ready to begin? Head over to the Course Overview section!
Thank you very much for going through your Self-Onboarding! This ensures a smooth onboarding into your volunteer experience. Please complete the following typeform to finish the self-onboarding. If you face any problems, you can indicate them in the typeform.
That's it! Thanks for completing your self-onboarding. Feel free to browse around the teacher hub. See you soon!
Prior Material?
If you taught in the past semester at ReDI, you might have existing material you would like to reuse. That is fantastic! Let's update the repository for this course with your material. Please add the content in the repo in the right milestone. If you have Google Slides, please link them to the lesson or teacher guide files. You can also reach out to Julian on Slack or via email (julian@redi-school.org) for further questions on how to add or use prior material.