Katrin Tirok on The Carpentries

Tips and Tricks for Teaching R

Fri, 17 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Following a few Data Carpentry workshops, we (a.k.a. Bianca and Katrin) shared some of the strategies we employ to enhance participants’ R learning experience in a Community Discussion with other Carpentries Instructors from Africa. In this post, we will expound on some of these strategies and welcome you to try them in the workshops you facilitate, and share your outcomes with the broader Carpentries community.

Pen-on-paper exercise

In the R episodes on Data Manipulation and on Visualisation, code and challenges become quite complex and may contain new concepts of coding as well as of data analysis for novices. Individual code blocks can easily run over several lines when using pipes (%>%) or when building plots with ggplot, thus increasing cognitive load for learners. To enhance understanding of the concepts behind the R commands and also to give participants a break from sitting in front of the computer, we included group exercises with pen and paper. We divided participants into groups of four to five and gave each group a blank sheet of paper (it works particularly nice with big sheets stuck to a wall so the groups can stand around it). We then wrote a challenge on the Workshop Etherpad/whiteboard and asked the groups to discuss and write down the steps (not necessarily the commands) they would need to subset their data accordingly.

Wrapping Up the Rural Campuses Connection Project Capacity Development Initiative.

Tue, 09 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Rural Campuses Connection Project (RCCP) ran since 2010 in South Africa with the aim of bringing better internet connectivity to various rural campuses of publicly funded universities and research institutions. In the earliest phase the project included funding for physical infrastructure as well as design and implementation of networks. During RCCP phase 2 (RCCPII) a portion of funding was set aside for capacity development around internet connectivity. RCCP was funded through the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), managed by Universities South Africa (USAf), and implemented by the Tertiary Research and Education Network (TENET).

Highlights from the recent Instructor Training in South Africa

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa, hosted its first Carpentries instructor training from 18th to 20th of March 2019. This training was conducted by us - Katrin Tirok (Durban), Samar Elsheikh (University of Cape Town), and Saymore Chifamba (Siyavula, Cape Town), the three brand new trainers in South Africa, and Malvika Sharan (EMBL) from Germany.

Katrin organised this training in association with the Research Flagship in Big Data and Informatics at UKZN and the RCCPII Capacity Development Initiative managed by Talarify. Co-funding the training allowed us to invite participants from different institutions to enhance the networking of future instructors and convey the idea of a larger community right at the training. Our participants came from the University of Fort Hare, University of Zululand, Rhodes University, Mangosuthu University of Technology, TENET as well as from UKZN. They represented postgraduate students, lecturers, professors and support staff coming from the computer, environmental, health, information and library, life, and social sciences.

A Wrap-up from the African Task Force

Tue, 29 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

At the end of 2017 eight Carpentries community members volunteered to serve on the African Task Force to help strengthen the local community. At a meeting in February 2018 we decided to focus on mentoring trained instructors and on creating awareness of The Carpentries in Africa. In this short report we share some of the highlights of the past year, give an overview of our activities, and also reflect on the lessons learned.

CarpentryCon Experienced by the African Carpentry Task Force

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks to The Carpentries and funding from conference sponsors, as well as TENET, the members of the African Carpentry Task Force were all able to attend the inaugural CarpentryCon event that took place at University College Dublin, Ireland, between 29 May and 1 June, 2018. Each of us has written a brief summary of our experience and takeaways from the conference, and we all agree that the event was an extremely valuable experience that exceeded all our expectations!

Revival of the African Task Force

Tue, 13 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Over the past five years, the Carpentries have gained considerable traction in Africa. Since the first online instructor training in 2015, more than 100 African-based instructors have been trained of which more than 40 had qualified. An estimated 50 workshops have taken place on the continent in countries including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mauritius, Kenya, Ghana, Gabon, and Ethiopia. More than 15 instructors from other continents have visited the continent to join local instructors in building community and teaching workshops. These include instructors from the UK, several states in the USA, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.