Learning Hour Maker
This is a project to help me (Willem) create Learning Hours.
A learning hour is a short training session (~60 minutes) for software developers, led by a technical coach. It follows the 4 C's model from Sharon Bowman's "Training from the BACK of the Room".
See the Samman Learning Hour definition for the official description.
4 C's
The 4 C's from Sharon Bowman's "Training from the BACK of the Room": see the quick guide to the 4 C map.
Samman has dedicated pages for each:
- Connect — get learners warmed up and thinking about the topic
- Concept — explain new ideas with words, pictures, examples, stories
- Concrete Practice — hands-on exercise where learners actively apply the new skill
- Conclusions — summarize, evaluate, celebrate, and plan next steps
Samman Resources
- All Learning Hours — browse the full library
- Example: Reading by Renaming — a complete learning hour on testable design naming
- Activities — activity catalog by category
- Katas — code kata descriptions used in learning hours
Typical Timetable
Analysis of 124 Samman learning hours shows these average times:
| Block | Average | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Connect | 6.6 min | 2–15 min |
| Concept | 9.2 min | 2–25 min |
| Concrete/Do | 25.3 min | 5–45 min |
| Conclusion/Reflect | 6.2 min | 2–15 min |
| Demo (optional) | 10.6 min | 2–45 min |
Most common structure (65%): 4 blocks — Connect, Concept, Concrete Practice, Conclusion. Two-practice-round structure (23%): Connect, Concept, Practice 1, Concept, Practice 2, Conclusion. With demo (28%): Connect, Concept, Demo, Practice, Conclusion.
Total explicit time is usually 50-55 min, leaving buffer for transitions.
How to Use This Project
Use the learning-hour-design skill to walk through creating a learning hour:
- The agent will grill you on learning goals (finding 1-3 clear, testable outcomes)
- Help design a timetable to pace the 60 minutes
- Work through each of the 4 C's with pointed questions
- Help descope concrete practice ideas that are too big
- Produce a complete org-mode outline