2020 Conference
Teaching basic data and software competencies to graduate students
It is often assumed that graduate students enter their programs with more robust data and software skills than they actually possess. Opportunities for graduate students to learn tools other than those already used by their professors and advisors have been limited in the past. At OU-Tulsa, we saw a growing need for alternative approaches to data and software competencies. Based on experience with the University of Oklahoma’s Carpentries workshops offered by Bizzell Library, a research associate from ORDSA (Office for Research Development and Scholarly Activity) and a librarian from the Schusterman Library at OU-Tulsa accepted the challenge of introducing these new tools to campus. As Carpentries instructors, we provide sessions on the Unix shell, tidy data, version control, R, OpenRefine, Python, and database tools. (The Carpentries is an organization that supports volunteers in teaching essential data and computational skills.) Our sessions vary from one hour lunch-and-learns to two-day workshops, consisting of instruction by live coding and hands-on exercises. These inclusive teaching sessions support varying learning styles and student schedules. To date, we have received positive feedback, and we feel we have raised the digital competency bar among graduate students at the OU-Tulsa campus. |
Presenter(s)
Toni Hoberecht | Krista Kezbers