Kari L. Jordan on The Carpentries

Share Your Feedback in The Carpentries 2026 Community Survey

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Last week, we launched The Carpentries 2026 Community Survey and invited community members to share feedback about their experiences in our community. If you have not yet completed the survey, there is still time to participate.

The survey helps us better understand how community members engage with The Carpentries, the benefits they receive from participating, and how the Core Team can better support our global community. The results will inform future planning and help us identify areas for improvement in programs, communications, resources, and community support.

RFP: Consultancy support for the Open Science Coalition

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Five leading open science organisations – The Carpentries, OLS, rOpenSci, pyOpenSci, and PREreview – are seeking an external consultant or group to facilitate several activities over the second half of 2026. Selected consultants will continue the organisational alignment and collaboration work previously announced in late 2025.

This work has three strands:

Facilitation: co-ordinating between the five groups during the grant-writing period, possibly coordinating the grantwriter and governance facilitator as well.
Governance: Creating ways of working between the five organisations (Pitches by invitation only). This would occur during the grant-writing period and possibly after.
Grantwriting: to lead-author our multi-funder grant pitch. We expect that this grant will be pitched to multiple funders to co-fund, and may involve more than one phase, e.g. discovery phase, pilot phase, and implementation phase, over multiple years.

We would be willing to consider pitches that cover multiple roles at once.

The Carpentries Forms a Strategic Partnership with datocracy AI

Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Two Organisations. One Bold Mission.

The future of AI must be shaped by people who understand it and have the skills to question it. Today, datocracy AI and The Carpentries are announcing a partnership that puts people at the very centre of the future of AI training and usage. We are proud to announce this collaboration, as a meeting of two organisations with deeply complementary missions, and a shared understanding that knowledge, when made accessible and equitable, is powerful.

The Carpentries Partnership Program is Now Live!

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

After many months in the making, we are thrilled to announce that The Carpentries Partnership program is finally launching today!

This is an exciting outcome of efforts by The Carpentries Core Team and broader community to redesign our former Membership program into a program that is responsive and best meets the needs of our partnering organisations and institutions.

Over the coming weeks, we will release a series of blog posts expanding on the value of having a Partnership with The Carpentries. In this blog post we provide an outline of the service offerings that can be included in a Partnership agreement beginning today.

Introducing the 2026-2027 Carpentries Board of Directors

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introducing the 2026–2027 Carpentries Board of Directors

We are excited to share an update that reflects both progress and possibility. The past year marked a major inflexion point for The Carpentries as we completed our transition to an independent non-profit and began operating with a new governance model. In the future, our Board of Directors will continue to work alongside the Core Team, community, and our partners to advance our mission and deliver on the strategic priorities outlined in our bridge 2026-2028 Strategic Plan.

Our 2026-2028 Bridge Strategic Plan is here

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introducing Our 2026–2028 Bridge Strategic Plan

As we begin a new chapter together as a community, we are excited to share The Carpentries Bridge Strategic Plan for 2026–2028. This plan reflects where we are now as an organisation, what we have learned over the past five years, and how we intend to move forward in alignment with our core values.

The next three years are a bridge. A bridge between our recent period of organisational change and the future we are building together. A bridge between sustaining what works and investing in what is needed next. And a bridge between global growth and deeper, more equitable engagement with communities around the world.

Cheers to a New Year of Learning, Collaboration, and Impact

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

As we ring in the new year, I want to begin by saying thank you. Our global community of learners, Instructors, Maintainers, Lesson Developers, partners, and supporters continues to be the reason The Carpentries thrives. Your commitment to teaching, learning, and sharing computational and data skills has shaped who we are today and continues to guide where we are going next.

Over the past year, we have done important reflection and planning to prepare for our next chapter, and this month we will share the bridge 2026-2028 Strategic Plan that builds on our long-standing mission while responding to a rapidly changing research, education, and open science landscape. This plan is about focus, sustainability, and impact. It is also about ensuring that The Carpentries remains a strong, values-driven organisation that can serve its community for years to come.

Reflecting on Five Years: Publishing The Carpentries Strategic Plan Evaluation Report (2020-2025)

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

As The Carpentries community, we have spent the past five years working towards six ambitious goals to strengthen our global network of learners, Instructors, Maintainers, and Member Organisations. Our Strategic Plan Evaluation Report (2020–2025) is now published and archived on Zenodo, providing a comprehensive review of the progress we made together.

You can read and download the full report here: The Carpentries Strategic Plan for 2020-2025 Evaluation Report (Zenodo).

The report highlights achievements such as:

We're Almost There: Share Your Input on The Carpentries' New Membership Model

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Carpentries is evolving — and so is our membership program. To remain a strong, sustainable community of practice, we are finalising a new model that reflects today’s realities, tomorrow’s opportunities, and, most importantly, the needs of our community.

Last year, many of you shared your perspectives in our 2024 member survey. Your feedback was invaluable — it highlighted where our membership program could be more relevant, flexible, and supportive. That input has guided our redesign, and now we’re ready to take the next step.

From Surviving to Thriving: A Convening to Reclaim and Sustain Open Science Communities

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Open science has transformed how research is conducted, shared, and reused. Yet the organisations at the heart of this transformation are often left vulnerable, underfunded, and disconnected from one another. To move from simply surviving to truly thriving, five leading open science organisations—The Carpentries, OLS, rOpenSci, pyOpenSci, and PREreview—are convening to chart a collective path forward. We are so grateful to The Navigation Fund for supporting this work, and invite our communities to review the full proposal online.

On the Importance of Agility and Values-Aligned Decisions-Making

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Since we announced our withdrawal from the NSF Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) proposal we have received overwhelming support from community members, champions, and like-minded projects. Thank you for your words of support, encouragement, and individual donations. We are truly inspired by you.

The non-profit sector faces unprecedented challenges requiring transformative leadership approaches. Traditional collaboration models struggle with evolving social needs, economic pressures, and unnecessary disruption. The Carpentries is here to contribute practical solutions that address these contemporary realities. Values-driven decision making forms the foundation of effective non-profit leadership, yet implementing hard decisions takes courage. Modeling our organisation’s values in action requires navigating complex partner interests, addressing competing priorities, and facing resource constraints while maintaining organisational integrity. Since our announcement, we have been called on to help refine methodologies that enable leaders to systematically evaluate decisions against core mission and values, ensuring strategic choices advance organisational purpose rather than merely responding to immediate pressures.

Building Skills with Generalist Repositories: An Update on the Carpentries + GREI Collaboration

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In late 2024, we launched a collaboration between The Carpentries and the Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative (GREI), aiming to explore how generalist data repositories such as Dataverse, Dryad, Figshare, Mendeley Data, Open Science Framework, Vivli, and Zenodo might be more intentionally woven into the data skills we teach. Since then, we’ve taken important steps toward that vision by co-creating new lesson content, running an in-person workshop, and inviting the community into a broader conversation about data sharing and discoverability.

Announcing Withdrawal of NSF Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems Proposal

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In September 2024, The Carpentries submitted a proposal to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) Program. This project would position The Carpentries as a leading open source ecosystem and further solidify our independence as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation.

Developing a proposal of this magnitude (1.5 million USD) involved a significant amount of preparation, from conceptualisation of the idea to navigating the complex submission process. It was the first time The Carpentries did it on our own, with our Associate Director, Erin Becker, leading as principal investigator.

Announcing organisational sustainability support from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We are thrilled to announce that The Carpentries has received a two-year grant from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support initiatives that will strengthen our global impact and position us as a leading independent open source non-profit organisation. The project is designed to scale our mission meaningfully — building regional capacity, enhancing financial sustainability, and expanding our contributions to critical and emerging fields such as Research Software Engineering (RSEng) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The Carpentries' Reinforced Commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Community,

As a U.S.-based, global non-profit organisation serving hundreds of thousands of practitioners and advocates who emphasise the critical role of software and data in advancing research, we would be remiss not to speak up about the impact of the U.S. government’s Executive Order on DEI Programs and Preferencing. The impact has been felt globally. Unfortunately, we are witnessing a global trend of attacks on science and initiatives that champion inclusion, equity, diversity, and accessibility. We rarely make public statements, preferring to focus on daily operations that help us achieve our mission. However, the growing impact of the Executive Order has prompted us to reaffirm our position.

Outcomes of the 2024 Membership Model Task Force

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Between August and December 2024, The Carpentries convened a task force comprising Core Team members, community participants, and representatives from member organisations to reassess our membership model. The group explored key questions about aligning services with member needs, defining success, and balancing revenue generation with community engagement. Learn more about the task force’s work in our charter on GitHub.

Thank You

We extend our deepest gratitude to the dedicated individuals who served as task force members, sharing their expertise and valuable insights to advance our mission and the task force’s goals. Their contributions have been instrumental in shaping the future of our membership model. Special thanks to Steve Diggs, Cody Hennesy, Paola Corrales, Rob Davey, Toby Hodges, Angelique Trusler, and SherAaron Hurt. Your commitment and thoughtful engagement have been vital to this effort, and we are sincerely grateful for your time and dedication.

Introducing The Carpentries Board of Directors

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Community,
It is my honour to introduce the Board of Directors, who will work alongside us to advance our mission and guide us through our fiscal sponsorship transition. As we look to the future, we also take a moment to celebrate the invaluable contributions of our outgoing Board members. Their wisdom and dedication have played a pivotal role in shaping The Carpentries into the organisation it is today. With gratitude for their service, we eagerly welcome our incoming Board members. Their fresh perspectives and energy will enrich our vision and propel us forward as we navigate 2025 and beyond.

Happy New Year from The Carpentries

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

As we begin the year, we want to reflect on our journey and express deep gratitude for the collective dedication and leadership that have propelled The Carpentries forward. This post marks a significant milestone: On February 1st, The Carpentries will become an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation! We have made substantial progress across our strategic priorities. We remain focused on finalising key projects, exploring new opportunities, and developing a forward-thinking strategic plan for 2026 and beyond. Our work is a testament to our community’s thoughtful collaboration and stewardship, and we are confident it will continue to advance our mission to empower diverse communities through data and software education.

Bridging Communities: The Carpentries and GREI Collaboration

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We would like to share an exciting new collaboration between The Carpentries and the Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative (GREI). This collaboration represents a shared commitment to equipping researchers worldwide with the skills and tools needed for effective data and software management, especially within the biomedical research community. GREI was launched in 2022 by the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Data Science Strategy (NIH ODSS) in the USA to foster robust data-sharing practices, recognising the critical need for researchers to make their data accessible, reusable, and impactful across disciplines. At its core, GREI supports a network of repositories designed to accommodate diverse data types, emphasising usability, discoverability, and adherence to the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. This initiative not only provides researchers with the infrastructure to share their data but also offers guidance and tools to improve data management practices, making it easier to comply with data-sharing policies and maximise the reach of their work. By working together, The Carpentries and GREI aim to align our resources to demystify generalist repositories, enhance workflows for data submission and reuse, and ultimately ensure high-quality, well-documented deposits. But why is this effort so important, and what does it mean for our communities?

2024 Wrapped: Strategic Plan Progress and our Path Forward

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As we close the year, our final Core Team meeting was a moment of inspiration and reflection. Together, we celebrated our milestones, evaluated progress, and charted the path for an exciting new chapter in The Carpentries’ evolution. This year held particular significance as we worked to bring our 2020–2025 Strategic Plan to life, a vision crafted amidst the global pandemic. With just one year left, we are laying the groundwork for what’s next: strengthening partnerships, amplifying community impact, and staying true to our mission and values. As a reminder, our six strategic goals are:

Support The Carpentries’ Transition to Greater Autonomy With Your Donations

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Thank you

#GivingTuesday, the global “movement that unleashes the power of radical generosity around the world” is once again upon us. We turn to you, The Carpentries community, first to thank you for all that each of you has done for The Carpentries and our global community. We always say this, and we cannot stress it enough: at The Carpentries we are all that we are because of the generous contributions of our volunteer community members. We deeply appreciate and wish to express our gratitude often for the contributions and support we receive from our Instructors, Instructor Trainers, Lesson Developers, Maintainers, Curriculum Advisors, Lesson Program Governors, Code of Conduct Committee members, our Advisory Committee and Board of Directors, and all other members of our community. In whatever capacity you have given and continue to give to us, we thank you!

The Carpentries’ Websites Relaunched!

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce that today, 18 November, we have relaunched the main Carpentries website and the three lesson program websites! All four websites have been redesigned to allow for integrated navigation between them, allowing the viewer to navigate to any other one of the websites from another. The URLs for the main Carpentries website, as well as the Software Carpentry, Data Carpentry, and Library Carpentry websites all remain the same.

Recently, we outlined how the websites were redesigned to provide an overview of The Carpentries, primarily for the general public, Carpentries member organisations, funders, and sponsors, as well as new members to the community or members who would like a refresher on The Carpentries’ core operations and community structure.

Open Call for Nominations: Join The Carpentries Board of Directors

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Carpentries is on an inspiring journey toward greater independence, and we invite passionate leaders to help shape our future. As we transition from fiscal sponsorship under Community Initiatives to becoming an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit, we are onboarding additional members to our Board of Directors who will guide our mission to strengthen the global data science and open-source education community. This is your opportunity to be part of an organisation that has a powerful impact on communities worldwide.

Launching The Carpentries Membership Program Survey

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

At The Carpentries, we are committed to creating a vibrant, inclusive community that meets the diverse needs of our members and supports our mission to build capacity in the data science and coding community. As we strive to improve and adapt our membership offerings, we need your help!

We Want to Hear From You

We are launching a survey to gather valuable feedback from our current and past Member organisations. This is an opportunity for you to share your thoughts on how we can enhance our membership model, better align with your organisation’s needs, and ensure that we provide the most meaningful benefits to our community.

Reigniting Community: Reflections from Coffee with The Carpentries Executive Director

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Hello Carpentries Community,

Over the past six months, I’ve enjoyed our “Reigniting Community” sessions, where we’ve had some heartfelt conversations about our resources and operations. It’s been a time of listening, learning, and growing together, and I’m excited to share some key takeaways with you.

We began the series in January, with a candid discussion about the tough decisions we faced regarding staff layoffs. It was a moment of honesty as we navigated the impacts on our organisation, striving to be transparent about our strategies for recovery and growth ahead.

Postponing the Hybrid CarpentryCon 2025 Event in South Africa

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Community,

Over the past few months, The Carpentries Core Team members have been discussing our team’s capacity to support a hybrid CarpentryCon event for 2025. CarpentryCon is our biennial community-building and networking event, and the last event was the virtual CarpentryCon @Home event in 2022. We had already announced in February last year the decision to host the next CarpentryCon in South Africa as a hybrid event in 2025 instead of 2024 after an assessment of our community’s needs and priorities, and our organisation’s capacity at that point.

Sharing the 2023 Community Survey Evaluation Report

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In 2023, The Carpentries launched a community survey to inform and prioritise our work and that of the Core Team so we can better serve the community. We asked community members to take 5 minutes to provide feedback on their experience as Carpentries community members, seeking feedback that will help us better understand the benefits community members get from their participation and inform areas of improvement.

We received 200 responses to the survey. It is difficult to identify a response rate without an exact count of the number of active community members. However, this represents 5% of The Carpentries Slack workspace members and 7% of those subscribed to Carpentries Clippings, our newsletter.

Revisions to The Carpentries governance structure

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Community,

In August 2023, we announced our plan to operate as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation. Becoming a standalone nonprofit organisation offers our community several advantages, and here we will offer background information, share our current status, and provide you with an update on the future of our governance structure. To learn more about the history of our governance, read our blog posts tagged “governance”.

Benefits of The Carpentries as a Standalone Non-profit Organisation

Independence and greater flexibility

Our current legal structure is called “fiscal sponsorship.” This status has allowed The Carpentries to accept tax-deductible donations and qualify for grant funding by working with our current fiscal sponsor, Community Initiatives, a 501(c)(3) organisation. As our fiscal sponsor, Community Initiatives provides comprehensive administrative services and support, allowing The Carpentries to focus on programming and supporting our community. We have certainly benefited from fiscal sponsorship and are very grateful for Community Initiatives; they share our excitement about becoming a standalone non-profit organisation.

Changes to support from the Core Team at The Carpentries

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday, we released a blog post re-introducing to the community the nine members of The Carpentries Core Team. This comes after we recently announced the departure of seven valued members of The Carpentries Core Team and celebrated the accomplishments, heart, and vision of our legacy team members. The financial necessity of these recent changes also requires us to look closely at our workload. We must determine which of the many activities supported by our Core Team lie at the heart of The Carpentries vision to be the leading inclusive community teaching data and coding skills.

Re-introducing The Carpentries Core Team

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Until recently, The Carpentries and its community were supported by a 16-member strong Core Team, but due to financial constraints, the organisation let go of seven members of this staff cohort, reducing the Core Team members to nine. This reduction in staff has necessarily entailed a reduction in the programs and activities the team can continue to lead and support, and tomorrow, 1 February 2024, we will share what continued work for the Core Team will look like moving forward. However, we are confident about and committed to carrying forward our vision and mission; this is not the first time a small team has supported The Carpentries, and for 25 years the organisation has grown into its vision of being the leading inclusive community teaching data and coding skills.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation approves grant for Glosario

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

To advance data science knowledge and accessibility for our diverse community, we developed Glosario. Today, we are pleased to share that the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recently approved a grant for use over 12 months (November 2023 through October 2024) to support an upgrade to Glosario, the open-source, multilingual glossary for computing terms.

Since Glosario was developed in 2020, our global community has translated computing and data science terms into more than 24 languages, comprising more than 450 pull requests and 90 GitHub issues. The glossary helps learners attend workshops and use our lessons to make sense of computational and programming jargon written in English by offering it in their native language. Translating data science terms also provides a teaching tool for Carpentries Instructors to reduce barriers for their learners.

With Gratitude to our Legacy Core Team Members

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In the ever-changing landscape of the non-profit sector, we often find ourselves faced with unexpected challenges, like the recently announced layoffs at The Carpentries. These moments are never easy to deal with, and striking the perfect balance between pausing to reflect on what has been lost and moving forward soon enough to maintain stability and build on what remains is a struggle that persists for months afterwards. All the colleagues who have transitioned from our organisation were very valuable members of the Core Team, and their contributions over the years to the long-term sustainability of our mission have left an indelible mark on our programs and operations.

New Year Journey Ahead: A Reflection from The Carpentries Executive Director

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Carpentries Community,

As we settle into a new year, I sincerely thank you for the incredible journey we’ve shared and the impact we’ve collectively made on the lives of data enthusiasts globally. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to our mission, vision, and values.

Reflecting on the past year, we’ve faced challenges that tested our resilience (e.g., staffing changes). We have also celebrated milestones (e.g., The Carpentries’ 25th Anniversary) that showcased our Strength through Diversity. In these moments, the core values of The Carpentries shine through, reminding us that we are indeed the leading inclusive community teaching data and coding skills.

Saying Farewell to 7 Carpentries Core Team Members: Navigating Change Together

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Carpentries Community,

Today, I write to share the news that profoundly impacts our community and Core Team. With a heavy heart, we announce a series of layoffs within our organisation.

Change is never easy, especially when it affects the talented individuals who have contributed so much to our community. Each Core Team member has played a crucial role in shaping the welcoming and inclusive environment we cherish. Their dedication and hard work have been instrumental in bringing our vision of being the leading inclusive community teaching data and coding skills to life.

The Carpentries Takes a Giant Leap Towards Independence

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Community,

When I became your permanent Executive Director in April 2020, I knew I wanted to explore what it would mean for The Carpentries to operate as an independent non-profit organisation. Over the last three years, we have streamlined our operations and governance and convened a task force to plan and implement a roadmap to transition The Carpentries out of fiscal sponsorship to independent, tax-exempt status.

We are thrilled to announce this exciting stage in the journey of The Carpentries, especially as we commemorate 25 years of service to our community. Planning for this transition marks a significant step forward in our mission to provide accessible and impactful training in essential data and computing skills. Since its inception, The Carpentries has played a pivotal role in bridging the digital divide and empowering individuals from all walks of life to harness the power of data and technology. With independent, non-profit status, we will be poised to amplify our efforts and drive innovation in the ever-evolving landscape of data science and research.

The Carpentries Executive Council invites YOU to a Community Session

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Executive Council will host its second Community Session of the year Wednesday, 14 June 2023, at 20:00 UTC. During this discussion, there will be an overview of the EC’s quarter-two meeting and an opportunity for community members to ask questions about our governance. Sign up to attend the Community Discussions Etherpad.

During the quarter-two meeting, the Executive Council discussed challenges with lesson governance and received an overview of The Carpentries’ finances. We encourage you to review the past minutes of Executive Council meetings. Minutes are located on the executive-council-info repository. Minutes include a high-level overview of activities for the EC, including a quarterly review of finances and the strategic plan for 2020-2025. Meet us there, and bring a friend or colleague!

Announcing 27 March Community Discussion with The Carpentries Executive Council

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Executive Council will host its first Community Discussion of the year (UTC) Monday 27 March 2023 09:30 a.m. During this discussion, there will be an overview of the EC’s quarter-one meeting and an opportunity for community members to ask questions about our governance. Sign up to attend the Community Discussions Etherpad.

We encourage you to review the past minutes of Executive Council meetings. Minutes are located on the executive-council-info repository. Minutes include a high-level overview of activities for the EC, including a quarterly review of finances and the strategic plan for 2020-2025. Meet us there!

Happy New Year from Dr. Kari L. Jordan, The Carpentries Executive Director

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome to 2023 at The Carpentries!

I spent time during the holiday period reflecting on what we accomplished in 2022, the feedback you shared, and the priorities our Core Team have identified after serving and working with our various community segments. It is clear that we must make a concerted effort to strengthen our community through training, support, and getting creative with how we appreciate and recognise your contributions. After all, we are nothing and can do nothing without each and every one of you.

Honoring François Michonneau - Senior Director of Technology

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

François is exceptionally gifted and a phenomenal leader. On his last day, we share some of his wonderful accomplishments over the past 4+ years.

François joined The Carpentries in 2018 as Curriculum Development Lead in an effort to scale our collaboratively developed curriculum, though he was no stranger to the community. François has been a Data and Software Carpentry community member since 2014, serving in multiple roles including Maintainer, Instructor, and Trainer. As Curriculum Development Lead, he co-organised Data Carpentry’s first Bug BBQ, developed GitHub labels for The Carpentries lessons, and was instrumental in publishing Data Carpentry’s Social Sciences lessons. He has provided strategic oversight for The Carpentries lesson infrastructure, advising on the technical and community engagement aspects of this work. His expertise has proven invaluable in preparing several grant applications and engaging with potential partners. For example, François co-led the Carpentries Lab grant proposal development and implementation funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). Additionally, he was co-PI on our CZI grant to advance The Carpentries equity, inclusion, and accessibility goals, helping to secure $399,300 over 24 months.

Introducing The Carpentries Director of Fundraising, Amanda Steele

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

We are so excited to share news that our Core Team is growing! This week we welcomed Amanda Steele - The Carpentries new Director of Fundraising. In her new role, Amanda will set annual revenue and fundraising goals by identifying, cultivating, building and solidifying relationships with new and established donors and coordinating fundraising campaigns. She will engage with current and potential member organisations, and administer The Carpentries’ Sponsorship Program. We are delighted to welcome Amanda to the team and community.

The Carpentries Strategic Plan: Year Two In Review

Mon, 02 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In April of 2021, The Carpentries published our Year One Strategic Plan Update.

Outlined in the strategic plan are the following six goals:

Build regional and local capacity to empower sustainable communities
Intentionally incorporate equity, inclusion, and accessibility to support a diverse community.
Provide opportunities for growth and professional development of our volunteers and Core Team.
Facilitate the creation and maintenance of relevant, high-quality, community-curated curricula.
Strengthen organisational structure and capacity to be strategic and responsive.
Advocate for our values and vision to empower more people to work with data and software.

Each of these goals carries with it specific objectives and rationale to aid us in implementing them.

Make a recurring gift via GitHub Sponsors to support The Carpentries’ curriculum

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The first virtual CarpentryConnect South Africa 2021 took place from 6 to 17 September. The event included 2 Carpentries workshops, 1 Carpentries instructor training event, 2 networking events, 1 learning session and 1 opening address.

The main goal of CarpentryConnect South Africa 2021 was to build capacity for workshops through instructor training and bring together newer and more experienced community members to share knowledge, network, develop new skills, and develop strategies for building strong local communities around digital and computational literacy in Africa.

EIA Roadmap Update: The Strategic Plan is The Plan

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Summary: The Strategic Plan is the plan. Watch this short video of Dr. Kari L. Jordan and Tara Robertson discussing the EIA Roadmap’s alignment with The Carpentries’ Strategic Plan for 2020-2025.

Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (EIA) has always been at the forefront of how The Carpentries operates internally, and serves our community. Work on the EIA Roadmap started in 2018, with the final version of the roadmap being published in 2019. Our Strategic Plan for 2020-2025 was released in January 2020. In an ideal world, these two plans might have been released in the reverse order, but EIA was too important for us to wait to have a Strategic Plan in place. EIA is not new for us and we needed to ensure that the important pieces of the roadmap were captured in the Strategic Plan.

We are Hiring a (Deputy) Director of Fundraising. Join Our Team.

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Carpentries is hiring!

The Carpentries is seeking a full-time (Deputy) Director of Fundraising to join our global, mission-driven organisation. As the (Deputy) Director of Fundraising, you will set and meet annual revenue and fundraising goals; identify, cultivate, build and solidify relationships with new and established donors; and coordinate fundraising campaigns. See below for a detailed description of the role including responsibilities, salary, and how to apply.

This is a remote position that will be fully funded by The Carpentries for a minimum of one year, with future funding made possible through success in this role.

Happy New Year from The Carpentries Executive Director, Dr. Kari L. Jordan

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I meditate quite often. Last week I participated in a practice whereby we meditated on various aspects of 2021, like resilience, acknowledging our needs, and caring for ourselves and others. During my time of meditation and reflection, I could not help but think about you – The Carpentries community. I will never truly know exactly what this community has endured over the past 24 months. What I do know is that you have shown up, and continue to show up, contributing to The Carpentries’ mission even when it is hard to do. For that, you have my sincere #CarpentriesGratitude.

Quarterly Strategic Plan Update: Q3 2021

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In January of 2020, The Carpentries published our Strategic Plan for 2020-2025. Written and adopted before the onset of a global pandemic that has reconfigured the way the world operates, this strategic plan has served as a much-needed guidepost for The Carpentries through a period of uncertainty and change. Each quarter, The Carpentries Core Team highlights progress towards completing or fulfilling the strategic plan.

I hope you will be proud of the work we have been able to accomplish in the third quarter of 2021. Our commitment to equity, inclusion and accessibility is strong, and with your help we have improved several workflows and streamlined programs to make it easier for community members to participate and contribute. Read on to learn more, and as always, we invite you to get in touch with us to share any feedback you may have.

Introducing The Carpentries Sponsorship Program

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Over the past two years, we have explored several models to strengthen our organisational structure and capacity to be strategic and responsive, from both the programmatic and financial perspectives. We secured several grants to improve our technical infrastructure and core programs. We developed long-lasting partnerships with minority-serving organisations, libraries, and open science communities. We also piloted a donation campaign - we raised $15,445!

All of these efforts are in alignment with our strategic plan for 2020-2025, and today I am excited to announce an initiative that will diversify the organisation’s revenue stream while helping us attract like-minded organisations that want to be a part of the amazing and valuable work we are doing.

Announcing The Carpentries African Capacity Development Manager, Angelique Trusler

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

For the past two years, Dr. Angelique Trusler has served as The Carpentries Regional Consultant for Southern Africa thanks to the generous support from the South African Center for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR). Angelique joined our team bringing depth, knowledge, and experience not only as a Carpentries instructor and community member in South Africa but also as a social sciences researcher and practitioner.

Developing a strategy for building The Carpentries community across Southern Africa has been Angelique’s passion and pride. Specifically, her leadership has helped us make progress on the following goals:

Make a recurring gift via GitHub Sponsors to support The Carpentries’ curriculum

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Open science practices are at the core of all The Carpentries’ work, and therefore at The Carpentries we are intentional and dedicated to making our lesson materials openly available, collaboratively developed, and up to date. Our community of practice is dedicated to increasing the accessibility of data skills, and the diversity of people who use them. We develop and maintain lessons in foundational computational and data science skills and offer pedagogical training to instructors, empowering positive and effective peer-to-peer instruction. A truly amazing community has grown around our mission, and it is because of the generous support we receive from community members that we are continuing to thrive.

The Carpentries Community Facilitators Program: 6-months in

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In September 2020, The Carpentries introduced the Community Facilitators Program. This new initiative sought to create new pathways for active involvement in everyday community activities by more community members. This program was developed to sustain the growing Carpentries community and support other core programs that contribute to the advancement of our mission. In November 2020, we met The Carpentries Feedback Facilitators, who were onboarded as our first cohort of Community Facilitators, focussing on feedback facilitation.

Highlighting our strategic plan efforts to support local community building

Tue, 27 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

At the end of each quarter the Core Team spends time individually and collectively reflecting on the progress the organisation has made toward our Strategic Plan for 2020-2025. This exercise is truly meaningful for us as it speaks to our commitment to one of our 9 Core Values: Act Openly. By sharing semi-regular updates about our strategic plan with our community, we hope to keep you engaged in our growth and development. To follow this work closely watch our strategic-plan GitHub repository.

Introducing The Carpentries Director of Community, Alycia Crall

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Alycia Crall to The Carpentries Core Team! Alycia is our new Director of Community and has extensive experience serving diverse communities. We asked Alycia to share a bit about herself, read on to learn more!

I’m very excited to be joining The Carpentries as your Director of Community! I have known of The Carpentries since I started my last position with the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), a program that collects and provides open environmental data to advance the field of ecology. Since that time, the positive reputation of the organization has been underscored through my work within the data science community and through my interactions with members of The Carpentries Core Team and the organization’s volunteers. It’s an amazing community and one I cannot wait to be fully engaged with.

Announcing Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award to advance The Carpentries Equity and Inclusion goals for training researchers of color.

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

It has been exactly two years since the release of The Carpentries Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Roadmap. Over the last two years we have:

improved the way we operate and engage with communities around the world
developed accessible pathways for community contribution
supported infrastructure for lesson development in non-English languages
improved Membership onboarding to include strategies for equity and inclusion
launched the Community Facilitators program to support community belonging

We have much more to do to support our diverse community, and to live up to our vision of being the leading inclusive community teaching data and coding skills. What we know from experience is that achieving equity takes intentionality and deep collaboration. For that reason, we have pursued grant funding to advance our equity and inclusion goals.

Director of Community Development and Engagement Transition

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Announcement from The Carpentries

We are writing to share the news that The Carpentries Director of Community Development and Engagement and Community Development Team lead, Serah Njambi Kiburu, is departing her position to pursue new opportunities. Her final working day at The Carpentries will be July 30. Erin Becker, the Associate Director of The Carpentries, will lead the Community Development team while we search for Serah’s successor.

“Serah is truly a thought leader in open science, and one of the most caring and compassionate advocates I have ever met. One of the many things I learned in my time working with Serah is the value of feedback, and creating space for all the voices to be heard,” says Kari L. Jordan, Executive Director of The Carpentries, ”Several programs that are core to our mission were developed by Serah during her time with The Carpentries. Her legacy is sound, and the organisation is better because of her contributions. We will miss you Serah!”

Formalising The Carpentries Community Roles & Support Structure

Wed, 26 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Over the past three years The Carpentries has grown in size - we run more workshops, train more individuals to teach, and serve more member organisations. Since our merger, we have also adapted the way we operate to comply with various laws and regulations (e.g. GDPR). What has remained the same is our intention to be transparent and supportive of our community. We are therefore writing this post to provide you with background and motivation for why we are formalising community roles.

The Carpentries Strategic Plan: One Year Update

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In January of 2020, The Carpentries published our Strategic Plan for 2020-2025. Written and adopted before the onset of a global pandemic that has reconfigured the way the world operates, this strategic plan has served as a much-needed guidepost for The Carpentries through a period of uncertainty and change. Outlined in the strategic plan are the following 6 goals:

Build regional and local capacity to empower sustainable communities
Intentionally incorporate equity, inclusion, and accessibility to support a diverse community.
Provide opportunities for growth and professional development of our volunteers and Core Team.
Facilitate the creation and maintenance of relevant, high-quality, community-curated curricula.
Strengthen organisational structure and capacity to be strategic and responsive.
Advocate for our values and vision to empower more people to work with data and software.

Each of these goals carries with it specific objectives and rationale to aid us in implementing them.

We Stand With Our Community Members of Asian Descent

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

It was not so long ago that our Core Team shared a blog post advocating for empathy, empowerment, and equity, (A Call for Allyship and Solidarity), in support of our Black community members. Here we find ourselves again facing a painful reality: Anti-Asian violence is rising around the world. A collective trauma is being felt across the Asian diaspora, and I, like many other leaders in open science, am outraged and deeply saddened by not only the events that took place in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) last week, but the overwhelming amount of anti-Asian violence that has been on the rise over the past year. Silence is complicity; I will not be silent.

Wrapping up The Carpentries FIRST Fundraising Campaign

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

We tried something new in the last quarter of 2020. The Carpentries engaged our community and supporters in the first fundraising campaign for individual and organisational donations. First and foremost, we thank you for donating to The Carpentries. Your monetary contributions will directly support our efforts to offer greater diversity in the spoken languages we teach and interact in, recognize and appreciate the different cultural norms that exist around data, programming, teaching, and volunteering in different regions to improve our programs and services, collaborate with existing organisations to reach broader communities, and authentically engage broader communities, working with, not for them.

An update on our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan progress

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Last October we shared progress toward our strategic plan for 2020-2025. We are excited to share more updates with you, and to hear your thoughts about the road ahead. Read on to learn more.

Strategic Plan Progress Updates by Team

Business Team

In Q4 2020, The Business Team explored the revenue applications of The Carpentries current assets and organisational strengths. We researched fundraising strategies and took advantage of fundraising training opportunities offered to Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) grantees. The information from these initiatives was used to support the development of a fundraising plan. As part of this project, the team launched a mailing list for members of our community who are interested in helping broaden The Carpentries’ impact on the world around us. For more information, please view the blog post: Announcing The Carpentries Philanthropy: A New Way to Get Involved with The Carpentries (2020-10-01)

A New Year Message from The Carpentries Executive Director

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year Carpentries Community! I did a mindfulness exercise recently that helped me see all the possibilities the new year holds. Many of us set goals at the beginning of the year, or “resolutions”, but I was reminded that setting intentions is an even more powerful exercise. Goals focus on what you want to achieve, while intentions focus on how you want to think, act, or be in the present moment.

Why give to The Carpentries?

Tue, 24 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This week I received a lovely note from a Carpentries community member who wanted more information about why The Carpentries has initiated a fundraising campaign. This provides me with a fantastic opportunity to inform our community about how non-profit projects, including The Carpentries, are structured.

The Carpentries is very grateful to have received grants from various foundations and organisations, including the Sloan Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the California Digital Library, the Moore Foundation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). While we were awarded $2.86 million in grant funds over the next 3 years, only a portion of those funds are made available for use each calendar year. Earlier this year, as we assessed our finances and upcoming work, we estimated a $130,000 deficit for fiscal year 2021, despite improving the way we budget and taking advantage of several non-profit discounts. In years prior, we were able to rely on membership income to cover this difference, however, membership income as compared to last year at this time is down 55%. To account for this deficit, we explored several revenue generation models and applied for small grants in addition to launching our first fundraising campaign.

A Call to Action: Donate to The Carpentries

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I keep a picture of my grandmother in my line of sight at my desk. Every now and then I shift my eyes from my computer screen to her lovely face for inspiration. She believed in community, higher education, and the value of contributing what you could to help others. She taught me these values, and how to use my voice to empower others to realise their potential. I am so grateful for the values she instilled in me. These values drive my work and philanthropic engagement. I am passionate about this organisation because my personal values directly align with our Nine Core Values. I am where I need to be.

Updates to Our Platinum Membership Tier

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The Platinum tier is our most customisable membership type. Organisations choosing a Platinum membership have many options, in terms of both membership benefits, and in discount options available for in-kind time provided to The Carpentries. With growing community interest in Platinum memberships, we’ve updating our pricing structure to increase the transparency and equity of our membership program. A breakdown of this updated pricing structure is available on our Membership page.

Members of our team are on hand to help you in constructing a Platinum membership that best suits your organisation’s needs for training and community support. To request a meeting with our team, please send us an email.

We are Hiring Three New Team Members. Join Our Team.

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The Carpentries is hiring!

The Carpentries is searching for two new full-time team members, and one temporary employee or contractor to join our global, mission-driven organisation. These new roles will work with and serve our volunteer community - comprising approximately 70,000 learners, 2,500 instructors, 100 Trainers, and 85 partner organisations from research institutions around the world. See below for descriptions and links to apply.

Director of Partnerships / Deputy Director of Partnerships

We are hiring a Director or Deputy Director of Partnerships to provide planning, vision, and implementation of the partnership program and represent the needs of partner organisations in planning and strategic development. Individuals with work authorisation in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, or the United States should apply.

Progress Towards The Carpentries 2020-2025 Strategic Plan

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In early June we shared a summary of the work to be completed in year one of our 2020-2025 strategic plan (see this blog post). I enjoy reflecting on our progress because it is a continuous reminder of how strong and vibrant our community is. Read on to learn what we have accomplished as a result of your engagement, and what is to come in the next two quarters.

Strategic Plan Progress Updates by Team

Business Operations

The Carpentries Business Team has successfully piloted a quarterly budget workflow that helps us anticipate our income and expenses. Additionally, our Capacity Building project gave us space to explore revenue generation models and develop a fundraising plan. We documented all of our current Memorandums of Understanding, and developed a wish-list for in-kind support that will be shared with the community very soon. Can you say, “Carpentries Philanthropy”?

Our Long-Term Survey is Open for Responses

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In April 2020 we released version 2 of The Carpentries Long-Term Survey Results. We learned that more than half of survey respondents use self-guided Data, Library, or Software Carpentry material months after attending a workshop. As the unprecedented Coronavirus pandemic has pushed our community to transition to virtual instruction, we are interested in receiving feedback from individuals who participated in a workshop in the last 6 months. There is much to learn about where learners are in their journey.

Announcing Library Carpentry efforts with the Network of the National Library of Medicine

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce our efforts to build the data skills of information professionals through our relationship with the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM). NNLM members will make use of the skills taught in Library Carpentry (LC) workshops to benefit health, health information, and biomedical research communities.

The NNLM Training Office (https://nnlm.gov/nto) at the Eccles Health Sciences Library - University of Utah will work with The Carpentries to bring core lessons of Library Carpentry virtually to NNLM. In addition to virtual Library Carpentry workshops, The Carpentries will train NNLM members as Library Carpentry instructors, and pilot additional curriculum in the online environment.

Transition for The Carpentries Membership Team

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Carpentries Community,

I am writing to share that Elizabeth Williams (former Director of Membership) has departed The Carpentries effective 9 September. While we are sorry to see Elizabeth go, we are pleased to say there will be minimal disruption to the efforts of our Membership Program. We have established a plan to maintain routine membership tasks and inquiries, make progress on membership program development and infrastructure, and engage in new membership inquiries and conversations. Our membership@carpentries.org email is the best place to send questions and inquiries during this time.

Letter from The Carpentries Executive Director, July 2020

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Carpentries Community,

On 12 June our Core Team participated in the first Reading and Reflection Day. On that day I spent time reading resources on building and sustaining non-profit projects. I learned many things in the time I spent reading, but what leapt from the pages were strategies to move beyond survival and into thriving.

Now, do not get me wrong. The Carpentries is not only surviving - we are thriving! Your feedback and continued engagement has allowed us to establish processes for piloting our workshops online, and in 2019, we increased our number of trained instructors and workshops by 29% and 20%, respectively. That combined with support from CZI and the Moore Foundation and Mozilla’s Open Source Support (MOSS) program, the road ahead includes scaling instructor training, curriculum development, community development, and our equity, inclusion, and accessibility (EIA) efforts. We have lots to do - and I am here for all of it!

Reading and Reflection Days for The Carpentries Core Team

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In several conversations between Carpentries Core Team members, it has come up that, with all of the day to day work in community engagement, workshop operations, infrastructure, and supporting our various community segments from Members and Trainers to Maintainers and Instructors, we sometimes run short on time to (i) read up on resources that could help us in the work we do to support The Carpentries and (ii) reflect on the programs we support and how they can be improved. As members of the Core Team, we would like to reflect more on our existing workflows as well as how they can be improved so that our processes, programs, and infrastructure are in line with our core values. Sometimes we just need a day to read and reflect.

The Carpentries’ 2020 Strategic Focus and Path Forward

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

On January 30, 2020 The Carpentries released its strategic plan for 2020-2025. This plan outlines six strategic goals for the next five years. The full strategic plan is published on The Carpentries website.

Carpentries Core Team members contributed to the discussion of which Strategic Plan objectives to prioritise in 2020. Priorities were based on the significant progress that had already been made toward some of the strategic objectives, personnel time, and grant obligations. We are delighted to share the goals and priorities for the first year of our strategic plan with the community.

A Call for Allyship and Solidarity

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. Philando Castile. Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Sandra Bland. Atatiana Jefferson. Botham Jean.

As we consider these and countless other Black Americans who were victims of senseless acts of violence, hatred, and racism, we are emotionally drained. Their deaths have reminded us that racial amnesia causes those in positions of power to forget the systemic inequalities that built America. Persons of African descent have been disproportionately targeted by law enforcement and others in positions of privilege, as evidenced by racial disparities in America’s criminal justice system. The ripple effect of this injustice has made its way around the globe. Add to that the unprecedented challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic - We can’t breathe.

Introducing Our New Executive Director

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Kari L. Jordan is the new Executive Director of The Carpentries, effective 16 April, 2020. This announcement comes after a rigorous international search conducted by Marcum LLP and members of the search committee (Karen Cranston, Amy Hodge and Elizabeth Wickes) appointed by the Executive Council of The Carpentries.

Kari has been on the Core Team of The Carpentries since 2016 and succeeds the former Executive Director, Dr. Tracy Teal, who moved on from the role in January of 2020 to pursue other opportunities. Before becoming Executive Director, Kari served as the Acting Executive Director following Dr. Tracy Teal’s departure.

Recommendations for Staying Healthy During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

As Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is impacting our global community, we want to provide information and considerations for travel to community meetings, workshops and instructor training to support our community as you prepare during the COVID-19 outbreak.We are closely monitoring the ongoing and evolving global Coronavirus situation, and the potential impact for our community around the world.

Workshops, Instructor Training, and Community Meetings

There are more than 50 Carpentries workshops scheduled in the next three months and several instructor training events. The Workshop Administration Team, Regional Coordinators, and Instructor Training Team are encouraged to cancel events where instructors/trainers are unable to travel or participate. Additionally, if you have been banned from travel, you are encouraged to follow those regulations. If you have been selected to teach and need to withdraw please contact the host immediately and copy team@carpentries.org. We will work with the host to find a replacement (if needed) and ensure they follow up regarding any reimbursements needed.

The Carpentries Receives Mozilla Mission Partners Grant

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Mozilla’s Open Source Support (MOSS) program is a $2M annual fund that supports open source projects which broaden access, increase security and empower users. MOSS works directly with practitioners to fund work that helps eco systemically-important open source projects achieve sustainability.

Each year, the Mozilla Open Source Support (MOSS) program makes awards to open source sustainers which help them advance their work in ambitious ways. At the end of 2019, the MOSS committees elected to make four end-of-year core support grants to a selected number of allied organisations.

New Year Message from The Carpentries Acting Executive Director

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Not too long ago, a few members of our team participated in a ‘mini book club’. We read Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. In this book, author Zaretta Hammond recommends that we find real and virtual mentors who have walked the path of committing to be effective educators of culturally diverse learners. Reflecting on that recommendation, I realised that it describes The Carpentries community.

Our vision is to be the leading inclusive community teaching data and coding skills. That vision is fueled by each and every Instructor, community leader, and Champion advocating for our Core Values in workshops, instructor training, and virtually through our communication pathways.

Expressing Gratitude to Our Instructor Development Committee

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

When we onboarded the leaders of our Instructor Development Committee back in April 2019, we were confident their term would be successful. This group brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from all over the world!

From that time, this committee has put in a lot of thought and effort into resources and initiatives that are designed to empower instructors. For example:

The Instructor Development Committee Mentoring Chair (Marco Chiapello) successfully facilitated our Mentoring Groups. Did you miss the showcase? Check it out on YouTube! Marco and the other mentors, Angela Li and Mike Trizna, are also currently discussing the mentoring program guidelines and ways to improve the mentoring experience. Go Marco!
The Instructor Development Committee Discussion Chair, Martin Dreyer, organised countless pre- and post-workshop discussions, themed discussions, and #CarpentriesConversations and wrote a . Check them out. You can get involved with our discussions by becoming a Discussion Host.
Our Instructor Development Committee Secretary (Megbowon Kemi) and Communications Chair (Tobin Magle) kept us informed by publishing minutes from committee meetings and posting to our blog, TopicBox, Slack and Twitter.
Last, but definitely not least, our Instructor Development Committee Co-Chairs (Arindam Basu and Sarah Stevens) organised and facilitated committee meetings, set goals for the year, developed project plans, and helped push the committee forward with ideas to develop our growing instructor community!

But wait, there’s more! The committee successfully completed an assessment project! They analysed the results of our community discussion surveys and shared the results on our blog.

With gratitude, to the Code of Conduct Committee

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We have a deep appreciation for the Code of Conduct Committee (CoCc). Though its main goal is to maintain, update, and enforce The Carpentries Code of Conduct (CoC), this committee has contributed to instructor training material (pull requests #950 and issue #897 , clarified overlapping responsibilities with core team members and the Executive Council, onboarded two new members (welcome Ivo and Benjamin!) and finalised its governance structure.

Additionally, the committee contributed to recommendations for incidents that fall outside its mandate (see recommendations), all while exhibiting our core values.

The Carpentries Long-Term Survey is Open

Thu, 28 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Our long-term survey was developed to collect information from learners at least six months after completing a Carpentries workshop. To date, we have received 633 responses to our long-term survey between March 2017 and September 2019. We are officially opening our Long-Term Survey and would like anyone who has taken a Data, Software, or Library Carpentry workshop between April 2018 and December 2019 to provide feedback by completing the survey.

Long-Term Survey

We are Hiring Four New Team Members. Join Our Team.

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Carpentries is hiring!

The Carpentries is searching for four new full-time team members to join our global, mission-driven organisation. These new roles will work with and serve our volunteer community - comprised of 50,000 learners, 2,000 instructors, 80 Trainers, and 85 member organisations from research institutions around the world. See below for descriptions and links to apply.

Deputy Director of Instructor Training

We are hiring a Deputy Director of Instructor Training to support our global Instructor Training community, train and onboard new Instructor Trainers (who teach our Instructors), and develop an assessment strategy to examine the impact of our Instructor Training and Trainer Training programs.

The Carpentries Vision Statement

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

In January 2018, The Carpentries was formed as a unifying organisation for Software Carpentry, Data Carpentry, Library Carpentry and other lesson programs. Over time, we have built awareness for foundational coding and data science skills through our workshops, instructor training program, and community events, but we have not yet made clear our vision - What type of organisation do we want to be? Who and what do we represent? Our vision is more than just a statement; it spells out where we see The Carpentries in the future and guides our decision making and priorities in the present. Over the past two years we have developed programs and grown as a community. Today, thanks to everyone’s work co-creating these messages through conversations, discussions, and requests for comments, we are proud to release our vision statement.

Code of Conduct Mandate Task Force Releases Recommendations

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The global Carpentries community is growing. Community members are running more workshops, engaging with each other and sharing our content broadly, and speaking on behalf of The Carpentries at various meetings and on social media. With our growth comes an added awareness of the different ways our community engages with each other inside and outside our spaces and in the broader open scholarship/open data ecosystem. As such, potential conflicts or breaches of our Code of Conduct can arise. Currently, some incidents we may want to be aware of and respond to are outside our Code of Conduct Committee’s (CoCc) formal guidelines and processes. As a vanguard organisation with a digital and technological purpose, the organisation needs to respond to these incidents transparently, respecting multiple countries traditions and practices, and legal considerations. To address this, a Code of Conduct Committee Mandate Task Force was convened to make recommendations to help respond to incidents that happen outside the existing mandate of the Carpentries Code of Conduct Committee.

Your experiences will help us recommend support for our CoCc

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Carpentries has convened a task force to make recommendations for support structures and potential guidelines for incidents outside our Code of Conduct Committee’s (CoCc) mandate. This undertaking has come about as our community continues to grow and expand in the number of workshops we run, communities we reach, and diversity of our instructors and learners. Our Code of Conduct and CoCc are serving its purpose, but when incidents fall outside its mandate what can we do?

Recruiting Task Force Members for Incidents Outside the mandate of The Carpentries Code of Conduct Committee

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

With a growing community and an increasing number of Carpentries spaces (online and in-person), The Carpentries is encountering circumstances where we feel we should respond to cases of inappropriate conduct that happen outside of our formal guidelines and processes. Our Code of Conduct (CoC) and Code of Conduct committee are now quite mature with a fairly tightly defined scope. There is less clarity around incidents outside the Code of Conduct committee’s current mandate, including incidents that may have occurred outside of Carpentries spaces, incidents that happen within Carpentries spaces that are not reported, or where people would like to share information or get feedback, rather than formally report an incident. These incidents may impact the ability of members to feel safe working in our community. We want to respond to these events in a timely manner and in a consistent way that balances transparency, confidentiality and legal considerations.

The Carpentries Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Roadmap

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Carpentries envision a world where all people have access to data and a true understanding of the software skills they need to address questions that are important to them, bringing diverse perspectives to challenges in science and society. We understand that comprehensive knowledge is not enough, however. Creating an environment where contributors have access to the tools they need, and feel included in the open science/open data community is imperative. This is where equity, inclusion, and accessibility come together.

Lessons Learned from our Call on Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Our first Community Discussion on Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility had such an impact on my work. Between the two calls we had 31 participants. I was so happy to see so many people on the calls, and appreciate everyone for their time, honesty, and perspective. We kicked off the call by reviewing The Carpentries [Code of Conduct]({{ site.code_of_conduct_url }}) and had everyone share something they’re proud of. Then we did a little jargon busting. If we were going to discuss our experiences around diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, it was important that we all had a shared understanding of what these terms meant.

Diversity is our Goal. Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility is how we get there.

Thu, 16 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Community Discussion: Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Roadmap

Whether you are new to The Carpentries community or have been part of the community for a long time, we want you to share your experiences, ideas, and perspective around equity, inclusion, and accessibility at the upcoming Community Discussion (21-22 May). Join the discussion at the following dates/times:

Tuesday, 21 May 1500 UTC
Wednesday, 22 May 0100 UTC

Sign up on the Community Discussions Etherpad to attend. Connection details for Zoom (video conferencing) and audio connection details are located on the Etherpad.

Introducing the New Carpentries Instructor Development Committee

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Instructor Development Committee (originally the Mentoring Subcommittee) was established in 2015 to develop and maintain a mentorship program to support instructors as they progress through training, teaching, curriculum development, and other community-related activities. The committee helps promote community-building and networking by providing virtual spaces where instructors from all over the world can share teaching success stories and discuss strategies for overcoming challenges. Any Carpentries community member is welcome to join the Instructor Development Committee. You can find more information in the Instructor Development section of our handbook.

Leadership Opportunities with The Carpentries: Interest Meeting April 3, 2019

Mon, 18 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Revisiting the 2016 Mentorship Subcommittee Roadmap reminded us how important volunteerism is, especially as pertains to growing and developing our instructor pool. Our past Instructor Development Committee (formerly Mentorship Subcommittee) Co-Chairs (Jamie Hadwin, Marian Schmidt, Toby Hodges, and Christina Koch) worked hard to set the course for creating a positive, cohesive, diverse, and open worldwide community of instructors and helpers for The Carpentries. We owe our readiness to onboard the next leaders of the Instructor Development Committee (IDC) to the efforts of these four outgoing co-chairs, and thank them for their immense contributions!

Code of Conduct Documentation Revised for Transparency and Clarity

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

In September 2018 the Code of Conduct Committee released revisions to The Carpentries Code of Conduct. The updated Code of Conduct now provides straightforward examples of both beneficial and unwanted behaviour in order to clarify expectations for our community members. The committee quickly realised during this process that updates to our reporting guidelines, and enforcement manual were needed as well. The Executive Council authorised a small committee to make updates to these documents, and to our Incident Response Procedure. A request for comments for the drafts of these documents was open from 31-January through 17-February, and the documents have been revised. Check out the documentation in [our handbook]({{ site.code_of_conduct_url }}).

Job Plans, Teams, and Projects!

Tue, 12 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

During our recent in-person meeting, we thought about what we valued most in our work: teamwork and community. Themes that were discussed frequently were ‘inclusivity’, ‘growth mindset’, ‘engagement’, and ‘collaboration’. We want to be intentional in the work that we do to support and help each other grow, and to support our programs and community.

This community has grown so much over the last year! From 43 Trainers at the start of 2018 to 74 now, from 1649 Instructors to 2294 now, and with many new members of committees, task forces, and the Executive Council. There continues to be a lot of great ongoing work, as well as a need to innovate and build infrastructure that scales. The great thing about our community is we always want to do better and try new things.

Code of Conduct Documentation Open for Comments

Thu, 31 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Updates to The Carpentries Code of Conduct Documentation

The Carpentries Code of Conduct is core to who we are, because it describes how we interact with each other in our community. The Code of Conduct isn’t just a piece of (virtual) paper though; it’s how we communicate about it, the guidelines for how we handle reports, and how the Code of Conduct committee - a group of volunteers committed to working with staff and the Executive Council - responds to incidents and updates guidelines as needed.

Shaping Our Programs through the Lens of Equity.

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

We have officially been operating as The Carpentries for one year now. Can you believe it?

I joined Data Carpentry’s staff as Deputy Director of Assessment in August of 2016. Since that time, and with the help of countless community members, I’ve been able to streamline our workshop surveys, develop and revise our instructor training surveys, expand our mentoring program, and liaise with the Code of Conduct and Instructor Development Committees to revise our Code of Conduct and improve our Community Discussions. Every day I get to do meaningful work and collaborate with a global network of amazing people.

Announcing The Carpentries Community Discussions

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

TL;DR
Thanks for all the discussion on discussions! Based on your great ideas and feedback, we’re creating a set of Community Discussions - pre/post workshop discussions, themed discussions, and Carpentries Conversations - that will all qualify for the ‘discussion’ component of instructor training checkout and provide opportunities for more topics, more people to participate and small group discussions. Read more below for all the details!

The discussion about updates to instructor checkout requirements and the recent RFC Regarding Instructor Discussion Sessions has sparked the interest of many community members who value the importance of communication and collaboration, sharing resources and experiences, and advocating for who we (The Carpentries) are and what we do. Recommendations have been pouring in involving a new discussion session schedule and even discussion sessions on Slack to accommodate those who have difficulty participating in discussions on Zoom. Additionally, there was an overwhelming desire to revive Communty Calls!

Updates on Instructor Checkout Requirements

Wed, 05 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The goals of our instructor discussion sessions are for new trainees to meet community members and learn more about how a workshop is run, and how to prepare. We are fulfilling the community component with teaching demos, and more instructor training is happening online. Future instructors are meeting other members of the community through their trainings. Additionally, if instructors want to learn more about running a workshop, it may make more sense for them to do it right before they start preparing when they have questions.

You’re Invited! Mentoring Meetup November 8th

Mon, 05 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

As we approach the holiday season, I am reflecting on the year and what has given me joy. One thing I am truly grateful for is our Instructor Development Committee. Toby Hodges, the committee’s co-chair, has done a phenomenal job in his term thus far pushing us to think broadly about ways to engage and support our growing instructor pool. I’m grateful for you Toby!

In this State of Instructor Development slide deck, you’ll notice something else I’m grateful for: The Carpentries Mentoring Groups. Mentoring groups have been supporting each other since 5 September in several areas. A few of the groups’ activities include:

Updates to The Carpentries' Code of Conduct

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Since its inception as Software Carpentry, The Carpentries community has always subscribed to a Code of Conduct (CoC). Our Code of Conduct helps explain to community members and others what behaviours are acceptable and expected, and what constitutes unacceptable behaviour. Our CoC is a crucial part of making our community more inclusive and diverse, because it extends a welcome to everyone regardless of their background, ethnicity, skill level, gender, career stage, or beliefs.

Highlights from the Mentoring Groups Virtual Showcase

Fri, 17 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

My vision for our mentoring groups is that we offer opportunities for community members to be stretched, challenged, and empowered. The recent showcase that wrapped up the last round of mentoring groups showed that all three goals were achieved.

We have been running mentoring rounds for some time now. The highlights of the previous rounds can be seen here.

The highlights from this round included:

Exploring different teaching skills using Teaching Tech Together
Achieving an understanding of existing social barriers in classrooms such as language, or age
Using an etherpad to summarise and share progress
Using a group discussion format to facilitate peer mentoring

Participants found the mentoring round very useful. Mentee Erika Mias said:

Mentoring Groups Showcase Their Achievements - All Welcome

Wed, 25 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The most recent round of mentoring groups will wrap up in mid-August. As with previous rounds, groups will share what they have learned and achieved during their time together in a virtual showcase (also known as a get-together via Zoom).

To maximise attendance, showcases will take place at two different times and members of our community are invited to attend. You don’t need to be a mentor or mentee to attend the showcase, and you can come to either or both.

Evidence of Carpentries' Impact on Learners

Tue, 17 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Many community members who want to justify involvement with The Carpentries would like evidence that our workshops have an impact. We’ve had some exciting results from our surveys and want to make you aware of the impact our workshops have on learners.

Kari Jordan recently presented the paper, Short-format workshops build skills and confidence for researchers to work with data, at ASEE’s Annual Conference. Several community members collaborated on this work, and it offers a comprehensive look at data science workforce needs and training, Carpentries’ teaching practices, and the long-term impact (meaning six-months to a year after) our workshops have on learners’ skills and confidence.

Calling for Responses to our Long-Term Survey

Fri, 18 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Calling all learners! If you’ve taken a Software, Data, or Library Carpentry workshop in the past six months, I want to hear from you!

I would like to know what has transpired in your work and career since you completed that workshop. Have you changed what you do? Begun to work more efficiently? Passed on skills to others? Or perhaps you have gone on to learn other things, or to learn more about the skills you picked up.

Mentoring Groups Open for Multiple Timezones

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Did you miss the deadline to join a mentoring group? Do not fear, there are still openings for mentees to join groups in the following timezones:

To join, fill out the mentoring application.

Mentoring groups are beneficial to participants because group members are able to focus on specific goals, including teaching their first workshop and developing new lesson contribution material. Being a part of a group that addresses something important to you is both powerful and enjoyable. You do not want to miss out on The Carpentries mentoring opportunities. Join a mentoring group today!

Mentoring Groups Open for Multiple Timezones

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website Did you miss the deadline to join a mentoring group? Do not fear, there are still openings for mentees to join groups in the following timezones:

To join, fill out this application.

Mentoring groups are beneficial to participants because group members are able to focus on specific goals, including teaching their first workshop and developing new lesson contribution material. Being a part of a group that addresses something important to you is both powerful and enjoyable. You do not want to miss out on the Carpentries mentoring opportunities. Join a mentoring group today!

Mentoring Groups are Back!

Mon, 12 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

In February, we held our mentoring groups virtual showcase, and community members engaged with mentors and mentees virtually to hear about the accomplishments they made over the course of their mentoring experience. Not only were mentees able to finish their instructor checkout tasks and contribute to the CarpentryCon taskforce, mentors started local communities and reconnected with community members globally.

You’ve expressed to us and each other the benefits these mentoring groups have had on your growth in and outside of the Carpentries. You are building powerful, and meaningful connections by developing peer communities. Because of that, we want to continue to support these groups, and give more community members the opportunity to join, either as a mentor, or a mentee.

Mentoring Groups are Back!

Mon, 12 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

Call for Code of Conduct Committee Volunteers

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

The Carpentries are dedicated to developing and empowering a diverse community of data enthusiasts. Whether you are an Instructor, learner, Maintainer, Mentor, Trainer, Executive Council member, Champion, or member of our Staff, you belong to this community. We are committed to creating avenues for you to contribute that are welcoming and inclusive, whether in-person or online.

Our Code of Conduct (CoC) serves a vital role in this commitment, as it outlines our commitment to provide a welcoming and supportive environment to all people regardless of who you are, or where you come from. Our CoC outlines very detailed reporting guidelines and an enforcement policy, so that, should violations occur, members of our community can rest assured that their concerns are being handled appropriately and in a timely manner.

Call for Code of Conduct Committee Volunteers

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Carpentries are dedicated to developing and empowering a diverse community of enthusiasts around computational methods for research and data science. Whether you are an Instructor, learner, Maintainer, Mentor, Trainer, Executive Council member, Champion, or member of our Staff, you belong to this community. We are committed to creating avenues for you to contribute that are welcoming and inclusive, whether in-person or online.

Mentoring Groups Showcase their Accomplishments

Mon, 19 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We just finished our second round of mentoring groups and had an amazing showcase of their work and ideas. In this round, we were more specific and focused on multiple topic areas. There were groups on community building, lesson maintenance, and preparing for instructor checkout.

The feedback and outcomes were great! Participants were able to focus on specific goals, including teaching their first workshop and developing new lesson contribution material. Being part of a group that addressed something important to them, (e.g. developing new communities in Japan and Singapore), made the mentoring groups powerful and enjoyable.

Mentoring Groups Showcase their Accomplishments

Thu, 15 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website We just finished our second round of mentoring groups and had an amazing showcase of their work and ideas. In this round, we were more specific and focused on multiple topic areas. There were groups on community building, lesson maintenance, and preparing for instructor checkout.

The feedback and outcomes were great! Participants were able to focus on specific goals, including teaching their first workshop and developing new lesson contribution material. Being a part of a group that addressed something important to them, (ex. developing communities in Japan and Singapore), made the mentoring groups powerful and enjoyable.

Challenges Assessing Data Science

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

The Assessment Network was established as a space for those working on assessment within the open source/research computing community to collaborate and share resources. During our quarterly meeting in November, we engaged one another in a conversation revolving around data science education. This meeting was organized and hosted online by Kari Jordan, and six community members attended.

First, we discussed the definitions of data scientist, data analyst, and data engineer; second, we worked in pairs on a set of questions about assessing data science education.

Challenges Assessing Data Science

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

First, we discussed the definitions of data scientist, data analyst, and data engineer; second, we worked in pairs on a set of questions about assessing data science education.

Pilot Survey Focus Group Update

Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

In April 2017, Data Carpentry began to pilot a survey that includes skills-based questions. Check out the blog post about our assessment strategy, and the work involved leading up to this effort.

The survey includes the following statement:

 Please enter a unique identifier as follows: Number of siblings (as numeric) + First two letters of the city you were 
 born in (lowercase) + First three letters of your current street (lowercase). This identifier will be confidential to 
 you and will help us pair your results with the post-assessment.

 Example: If I have 4 siblings, was born in Arlington, and live on Creekwater Street, my unique identifier would be 
 4arcre

This unique identifier is asked of respondents so that our staff can run paired analyses of the pre- and post-survey results to measure significant gains post-workshop.

Our long-term assessment results are in!

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

A discussion of learner outcomes more than six months after attending a Carpentries workshop

What concrete changes are people implementing in their computational research practices as a result of completing a Carpentries workshop?

Our long term survey report shows that two-day Software or Data Carpentry workshops are effective for increasing skills and confidence, and the adoption of reproducible research perspectives. We see gains in our survey measures for learners’ motivation to continue their learning, change in reproducible research behavior, and frequency of use of computational skills and tools. We find this very exciting, especially since a recent general survey of bootcamps and short-format trainings reports no measurable impact on skill development or research productivity.

Our long-term assessment results are in!

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website What concrete changes are people implementing in their computational research practices as a result of completing a Carpentries workshop?

Carpentries Mentorship Program - 2.0

Thu, 12 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We’re starting a new round of mentoring groups, centered on specific lessons

Mentorship is an important part of the Carpentry experience. As Instructors, we both teach and mentor our Learners. We also mentor each other as Instructors, learning something new from each other every time we teach and interact with one another. The Mentoring Subcommittee offers guidance to new and continuing Instructors through weekly discussion sessions, where Instructors from the global Carpentry community gather to share their experiences and learn from each other. This is a fantastic opportunity to interact with other Carpentry Instructors from around the world.

Carpentries Mentorship Program - 2.0

Wed, 11 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

Mentoring is Back! Round Two of the Carpentries Mentoring Program begins October 25th

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Mentoring groups provide experienced instructors with the chance to help small groups develop confidence in teaching, lesson maintenance and community building

The inaugural Carpentries mentoring program was a great success, and we have used the feedback we received from both mentors and mentees to craft a new and improved mentoring experience in round two. The next round will run October 25th - January 10th.

Round Two of the Carpentries Mentoring Program begins October 25th

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website The inaugural Carpentries mentoring program was a great success, and we have used the feedback we received from both mentors and mentees to craft a new and improved mentoring experience in round two. The next round will run October 25th - January 10th.

According to round one participants, the benefits of mentoring included greater understanding of the challenges new instructors face, more clarity about why we teach what we teach, getting timely responses to questions, and community engagement.

Reflections on Assessment

Mon, 07 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website As I approach my one-year anniversary on staff with Data Carpentry, I’m reflecting on what we’ve accomplished this year. I came into this role with no data science experience whatsoever: self-efficacy had been the focus of my doctoral dissertation and post-doctoral work. That background knowledge made for an exciting time exploring our workshop survey data and letting the community know what our learners think about our workshops.

Analysis of Software Carpentry Workshop Impact

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

We’ve begun to look at our pre- and post- workshop surveys and are sharing the draft reports to stimulate conversation about our workshops and their impacts on learners. For this first cut, we looked at our post-workshop survey data.

From this survey data, we can see that learning to program can be quite intimidating for many learners. About 44.5% of Software Carpentry learners who responded to the post-workshop survey feel that at least one of the tools covered in the workshop they attended was either slightly or very intimidating to them before attending a workshop.

Instructor Access to Workshops

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Software and Data Carpentry share a mission to spread computational and data literacy to the broader research community at a wide range of institutional types across the world. We also share core community values of openness and inclusiveness.

Recently, we learned that some of our host sites have selective criteria that limit physical access to their sites on the basis of nationality. These policies have the effect of excluding some Carpentry instructors from teaching at these sites. We recognize that often these criteria are imposed by the broader security and bureaucratic apparatus at the organization that the host operates within and are beyond the control of our contacts at those sites. Nevertheless, these policies can cause conflict with our mission and core community values.

Instructor Access to Workshops

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

Instructor Training in South Africa 2.0

Tue, 09 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

One of the main goals of our community is to make Software and Data Carpentry workshops accessible for all researchers from all disciplines and all regions of the world. In the past three years workshops in South Africa and other African countries have started gradually picking up and I think we may soon see exponential growth!

This has been made possible thanks to a lot of effort and hard work from a number of amazing people, including Anelda van der Walt. In 2014 we realised that the biggest obstacle to running workshops in Africa, was the lack of qualified trainers on the continent. Since then we’ve put significant focus on building a local instructor pool to enable research organisations in the region to run Software and Data Carpentry training. In 2015 several instructors were trained online. Last year North West University at Potchefstroom hosted the first in-person Instructor Training with attendees from South Africa and other African countries. Just last week, between 30th April and 2nd May, we (Anelda, Kari Jordan and Aleksandra Pawlik) ran another Instructor Training in Cape Town with 28 participants.

Long-Term Assessment Strategy

Mon, 27 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website A fair amount of discussion around assessment took place during the Software and Data Carpentry Instructor and Helper Retreat. One of the recommendations that came out of this retreat was to include skills-based questions in our pre- and post-workshop surveys to improve the accuracy of our survey results. We know that our learners come to our workshops having varying knowledge levels for programming. A way that we can capture this information, and determine whether our workshops make a difference in learner’s ability to work with data, is to add skills-based questions to our surveys. With the help of our community, we have done just that.

Run a workshop this Spring!

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website Did you know that 95% of Data Carpentry learners are first-timers? As a community we’ve impacted hundreds of learners around the globe, and 93% of our learners told us that their level of data management and analysis skills were higher because of our workshops!

We’re doing very well as a community, so let’s keep up the good work. We want to encourage you to either request a workshop, or run a Self-Organised workshop this Spring (March-May).

Transfer of Learning

Mon, 13 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website Have you ever experienced déja vu? It’s when you have the feeling that what you’re currently experiencing has already happened. It can be extremely awkward, right? It’s a sensation that leaves you saying to yourself, “I did this already. This happened.” So, what do you do? Do you carry out the scenario as you remember it happening, or change it up? What about your perceived past experience makes you perform differently in the current experience?

Growth Mindset

Mon, 12 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website Each of us is born with a unique set of interests. Along the way we develop beliefs about our interests, and those beliefs determine whether we choose to cultivate our interests as we progress through adulthood.

For example, I think I’m a pretty “okay” singer, but I’ve always wanted to be a dynamic performer and sing in front of large audiences. Therefore, I learned to read music, joined several choruses and ensembles over the years, and frequently sing karaoke. I even auditioned for the American television series The Voice!

Belonging: Developing a Community of Practice among Data Carpentry Learners

Mon, 14 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website Two schools of thought regarding learning and how it is achieved are the acquisition metaphor and the participation metaphor.

The acquisition metaphor asserts knowledge is acquired individually, applied, and transferred.

The participation metaphor asserts knowledge is formed by becoming a member of a community of practice.

The computational scientist of old personifies the acquisition metaphor. She is someone who learned and worked in isolation, spending hours upon hours coding and debugging until her problem was solved.

Analysis of Data Carpentry Workshop Impact

Fri, 04 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website It’s funny. When I first started working for Data Carpentry, I had never heard the phrase, “reproducible research”. I can tell you now that having attended a Software Carpentry workshop, Data Carpentry workshop, and a Software/Data Carpentry instructor training, I wish I had learned the skills we teach when I first began my PhD program.

I even confessed to my colleagues that the data I left behind for up and coming grad students is so disorganized, I sent them an e-mail to apologize! This community has made a believer out of me, and for good reason: Our workshops work.

Community Call on Assessment

Thu, 20 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Dr. Kari L. Jordan, Data Carpentry’s Deputy Director of Assessment, will be speaking on the Community Call on the impact our workshops have on our learners. Kari will cover the results of our post-workshop surveys including learner attitudes, learner data management and analysis skills prior to and following our workshops, and learner attitudes toward Data Carpentry instructors. Come and hear about our successes and share your thoughts. It’s going to be an informative community call.

Community Call on Assessment

Thu, 20 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

I think I can - Self-Efficacy and the Carpentry Learner

Tue, 20 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

The Little Engine that Could had it absolutely right. Thinking you can is one of the best ways to succeed at a host of activities ranging from public speaking and bungee jumping to cooking a souffle and learning R. What the Little Engine didn’t know, however, is that this concept of “thinking I can” is actually a theory known as self-efficacy, and plays a major role in how we approach our goals.

Announcing our new Deputy Director of Assessment

Tue, 02 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

We are very happy to announce that Dr. Kari L. Jordan will be joining us as the new Deputy Director of Assessment! Kari is coming from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL where her postdoctoral research was focused on understanding the factors that influence faculty adoption of evidence-based instructional practices. She is also adjunct faculty at Embry-Riddle and teaches a Graphical Communications course. Prior to her postdoc, Kari completed a PhD in STEM Education at Ohio State. Her thesis focused on strategies for improving self-efficacy and sense of belonging in first-year engineering students. She holds a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Michigan Tech. Kari’s experiences in educational research are closely aligned with Data Carpentry’s efforts to create a welcoming and inclusive workshop environment that enhances learners’ confidence and helps them build identities as data-driven researchers. As the Deputy Director of Assessment, Kari will be focusing on assessment of workshop learning outcomes, including both skill-based and identity-based outcomes.