Martin Dreyer on The Carpentries

Learners' Experiences from South Africa's Online Workshop

Thu, 28 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

COVID-19 has had an impact on in-person meetings globally, and South Africa’s Carpentries workshops are no exception. Under an ongoing national lockdown, tertiary institutions are closed leaving students without access to internet and computer laboratories. The General Household Survey of South Africa (2018) indicated that only 10.14% of households have access to internet at home.

There is a silver lining, some universities have stepped up to bridge the digital divide and are offering access to laptops and mobile data for students to continue the academic year online (on loan or reduced prices). SADiLaR used this ‘chopportunity’ to host its first three-day Online Data Carpentry Workshop from May 5-7. Six learners from South Africa and the United Kingdom attended the online workshop, which covered Data Carpentry’s R for Social Scientists curriculum.

With Thanks from Carpentries Instructors in Africa

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The African Instructors Community is made up of individuals who volunteer their time to teach foundational coding and data science skills to researchers on the continent. Ending 2019 on a positive note, not only was there a growth in the number of trained instructors, an increase in African countries joining The Carpentries community, but a Regional Consultant for Southern Africa has also been appointed to support the team of volunteer instructors across the continent.

Carpentries Community Discussion Sessions - A Primer for New Discussion Hosts

Sun, 05 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

In the past, we had discussion sessions for Carpentries Instructors that took place twice a week and provided a platform where experienced and novice instructors could discuss previous and upcoming workshops, share challenges and victories with the community, and complete their Carpentries Instructor checkouts.

These sessions had a few challenges that included timezone differences, limited availability of time slots for checkouts and debriefs, to name but a few. We found it difficult to meet all the demands for Carpentries discussion sessions, and felt the need to relax the discussion session requirement for checkouts. The community however, felt it necessary to keep the discussion sessions as a requirement, but in a different way with multiple pathways to participate.

First African Carpentries Instructor Training of 2018.

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

On 21-23 February 2018, the fourth South African Carpentries instructor training for African based Instructors took place in Kleinmond, Western Cape. The workshop was funded through the Rural Campuses Connection Project Phase II (RCCPII) Tertiary. The lead Trainer, Erin Becker, is the Associate Director of The Carpentries and currently based near San Francisco, California. Other Trainers included Senzo Mpungose, Scientific Data Center and Infrastructure Manager for Mathematical Sciences at WITS, Caroline Ajilogba, a Postdoctoral Researcher from the Microbial Biotechnology group, NWU Mafikeng Campus, and Martin Dreyer, an eResearch support consultant at NWU IT.

1 - 30 September, 2017: Future of the Carpentries, New Staff Members, Community Service Awards, CarpentryCon

Mon, 02 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Highlights

All the details on the joint future of the Carpentries explained. Please feel free to ask any questions that you need answered.
The very first ever Data Carpentry in Ethiopia was held and it was an extraordinary experience.
The Lesson Infrastructure Subcommittee had their 2017 September meeting and have come up with some resolutions.
We are pleased to anounce we have three new staff members who will be working for the Carpentries part time: SherAaron Hurt is the new Workshop Adminstrator for the Carpentries, Elizabeth Williams has joined as a part-time Business Administrator, and Karen Word has joined the Carpentries and will be the Deputy Director of Instructor training.
If you feel there is a community member who is working extra hard to help our organization, please consider nominating them for a Community Service Award.

Tweets

Why is Python growing so quickly?
Carpentry instructors - some great advice here on making workshops better for people with Dyslexia.
Want to submit a Carpentries blog post but nervous about GitHub? You can use a form.
Know an unsung hero of the Carpentries? Nominate them for a Community Service Award.
Want to report on a workshop? Write a Software Carpentry blog post.
Read our newsletter, Carpentry Clippings, to keep tabs on our community.
Want more Carpentries? Support our growth by becoming a member organization.
Report of recent in-person staff meeting for both Carpentries - what we discussed.
We now have a discussion group just for #assessment, led by @DrKariLJordan.
Our newsletter will appear on Tuesday. Not a subscriber yet? Sign up here.

General

Everything you need to know about CarpentryCon.

15 July -15 August, 2017: Writing a blog post, Instructor Training Curriculum, Merger, League of Champions.

Fri, 18 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Highlights

It should not be a painful experience to write a blog post, so please reach out to us!
Have a look at the approved motions for the Carpentries merger.
We are pleased to announce the Instructor Training Curriculum has been updated and will be released end of August.

Tweets

Our Carpentry Clippings newsletter is out. Read it here if you missed it.
Contributed to a lesson? Let us know so you get credit.
Donate to Software Carpentry to support workshops in new places.
Want to get a Software Carpentry workshop at your institution? Here’s how.
Show your support for opensource datascience — become a NumFOCUS member.
Did you know we have a mailing list to discuss our R lesson + other R-related issues? Post questions there.
Building a community: 3 months of Library Carpentry.

General

Please feel free to provide suggestions to our Community Lead via the Google form.

1 - 15 July, 2017: Learner Impact, Instructor Training, Community Building, Author Information.

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Highlights

Our pre- and post-workshop surveys show that the Carpentries have a significant impact on the learners.
We are working to better the instructor training material to ensure we have a good up to date curriculum.
You do not have to be an expert to be a good instructor.

Tweets

Are you on our mailing list yet? Sign up here to get our newsletter.
The teams at @swcarpentry and @datacarpentry keep fighting the good fight! Good enough practices in scientific computing.
Help bring workshops to new countries + communities in 2017 - make a donation to Software Carpentry.
Read our experiences in ELIXIR with @swcarpentry and @datacarpentry.
Research libraries and tools curation in digitalhumanities: new report.
Wonder what’s going on @swcarpentry? You can see our community calendar here - it will correct for your time zone.

General

You do not need to be an expert to be a workshop helper.

15 - 30 June, 2017: Reorganisational Timeline, HPC-in-a-day, Good Enough Practices for Scientific Computing, Opensource Survey.

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Highlights

The reorganization timeline has been drafted and awaiting approval from the respective steering committees.
Learn about the HPC-in-a-day course that brings the fun back to HPC.
we are pleased to anounce the publication of Good Enough Practices for Scientific Computing.
We are very excited for Maneesha Sane that is moving from Program Coordinator to Program Manager of the Carpentries.

Jobs

Software and Data Carpentry are looking to hire a part-time Workshop Administrator to help set up workshops and ensure that they run smoothly.

Tweets

Top 10 tips for image acquisition if you are going to do image analysis. Spread the word and happy quantifying!
Just out, “Good Enough Practices in Scientific Computing”
Ten simple rules for collaborative lesson development.
Good essay on value of empathy in work. Empathy of @swcarpentry instructors humanizes technical skills for learners.
How open is your opensource? Check out the Open Source Survey.

General

Our secretary has commited to write a monthly blog post to ensure better transparency between the Steering Committee and the community.
Macquire University held their first ever instructor training and it went very well.
17 workshops were run over the past 30 days. For more information about past workshops, please visit our website.
Upcoming Workhshops:

1 - 15 June, 2017: Steering Committee retreat, Community Development Lead, Library Carpentry Instructors,CarpentryCon.

Mon, 19 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Highlights

The Carpentries might look a bit different in future.
The Software Carpentry Steering Committee retreat went really well and they have provided five key areas in which the committee wil provide oversight.
We are pleased to welcome Belinda Weaver as our new Community Development Lead we wish her all the best!

Tweets

For detailed review computation and data: Research Software Engineers report.
A good read. A Comprehensive Survey on Open Source.
Awesome, Tireless, Excitable Library Carpentry Champion Belinda Weaver is the new Software Carpentry Community Development Lead!
If you care about research data practices & have #genomics #bioinformatics experience we’ve got a great opportunity.
Hear about how Software Carpentry built community on campus through University of Oklahoma Libraries from Carl Grant and Sarah Clayton.
Sheffield University is now a Software Carpentry Parnter!

General

Library Carpentry will have some new instructors soon and we cannot wait to welcome them to the instructor community.

1 - 15 May, 2017: Lesson Printing, Instructor training, Successes of the Carpentries.

Mon, 15 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

Printing our lessons has never been easier!
Sign up for the community call about the restructuring of the carpentries.

##Tweets

Heartworming to hear about the success of Software and Datacarpentry from Dr Karli Jordan.
Share your fun coding applications to inspire learners.

##General

The second in-person Instructor training for South Africa took place and was very successful.
What are the reasons why we volunteer our time so enthusiastically toward the Carpentries.

1 - 30 April, 2017: Library Carpentry, Instructor training, relevant to Learning.

Sun, 30 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

Great news for Library Carpentry, we won the British Library Labs Awards 2016.
University of Puerto Rico taught an Instructor Training Workshop and it was special in many ways.
Libarary Carpentry along with Mozilla science lab will have a lesson sprint in June 2017.

##Tweets

Have you considered making a donation to Software Carpentry?
Author Carpentry a research training initiative complementary to Software and DataCarpentry.
A great atricle for a Software Carpentry Workshop.
To folks in Software Carpentry: please take the survey in this blog post and sign up for the community calls!

##General

1 - 28 February, 2017: Inclusivity, Career Pathway Panel, Community Development Lead, BaseCamp.

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

The Carpentries stand for inclusivity and freedom of movement for each and every volunteer, researcher, or professional in industry. If you have been affected by any action or policy that is preventing you from partaking in the carpentries in any way, please contact us.
The second Career Pathway Panel will be held on 1 March 2017, please register.

##Tweets

Have you considered making a donation to Software Carpentry?
ResBaz 2017 was a big success! Thank you to all that participated.
Need a helping hand to get started with coding? Have a look at our website.
Have you subscribed to our monthly newsletter?

##Jobs

1 - 15 January, 2017: CarpentryCon, Steering Committee Elections, Rubic for online Instructor training, TalkPython.

Sun, 15 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

If you are interested in attending or helping with the planning of CarpentryCon, please sign up!
Steering Committee elections will take place on January 23-27, and all members will be receive a ballot via email. Please look at the membership details to ensure you get the email.

##Tweets

Have you considered making a donation to Software Carpentry?
Talkpython episode #93 Spreading Python through the sciences with Software Carpentry.
Huge thank you to the instructors who joined the new mentoring program!
8 best practices to improve your scientific software.
Sign up for the Collaborations Workshop 2017.
First DTL programmers meeting for 2017 scheduled for January 20 in the Netherlands.

##General

1 - 31 December, 2016: Instructor Training, Community Service Awards, Career paths, Steering Committee Elections.

Sat, 31 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

We are pleased to announce the first ever Library Carpentry instructor training in 2017.
The very first Software Carpentry community service awards have been awarded.
Greg Wilson will be taking up a position as Computer Science Educator Lead at Shopify, and will continue to work as a volunteer with the Carpentries.
We are exited about the upcoming series of panel discussions on the variety of career paths available for our community members.

##Jobs

15 - 30 November, 2016: Instructor Training, UCSF Library, Code of Conduct, Announcement List, Steering Committee minutes.

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

We are gratefull that Open Instructor training is going well with participants from all over the world.

##Jobs

The UCSF Library’s Data Science Initiative is looking for a biomedical researcher, please visit the UCSF recruit site.

##Tweets

Remember to abide by the Code of Conduct.
Incase you missed it, the low volume announcements list is up, please sign up.
Think of replacing awk with bioawk, you can contibute to the development.

##General

1-15 November, 2016: Research in Action, The Jackson Laboratory, Reproducability of Research, Announcement List, RStudio.

Fri, 18 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

Listen to the postcast about Research in Action by Dr. Tracy Teal, Executive Director of Data Carpentry.

##Jobs

The Carter Lab at The Jackson Laboratory is seeking a Postdocoral fellow in Computational Genetics.
The Carter Lab at The Jackson Laboratory is seeking an Associate Research Scientist in the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease.
The Churchill Lab at The Jackson Laboratory is seeking a Postdortoral fellow in systems biology.
The Jackson Laboraty has a scientific sofgtware engineer position avalable.

##Tweets

18 - 31 October, 2016: Community Call on Assessment, Steering Committee, Library Carpentry, Machine Learning.

Mon, 31 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

Several members of our community have published a new paper on Ten Simple Rules for Digital Storage.
Library Carpentry is one year old and still gaining momentum.
The Steering Committee election is taking place in January 2017, please consider standing.

##Tweets

@UniOslo is an affiliate of the @Swcarpentry foundation
The latest comnbined capentries newsletter is now online.

##General

A new book on machine learning with python has been released. You can find it at O’Reilly Media

12 September - 17 October, 2016: Community Service Awards, Steering Comminty Elections, Lesson Maintainers Meeting, Newsletter, Carpentries Community Call.

Mon, 17 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

The very first Community Service Awards will be awarded before the end of the year.
We are pleased to welcome two new Intsructor Trainers to the Carpentries.
Please vote on the special election to amend the procedure of the Steering Committee elections.
Some highlights on the progress made by our lesson maintainers on streamlining our decision-making process.
The first joint Carpentries newsletter is out, please sign up.

##Jobs

17 August-12 September, 2016: Steering Committee, Google Summer of Code, rOpenSci, Small Teaching, Ten Simple rules.

Fri, 09 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

We are amending the steering committee election procedures.
Some members of our community co-authored research papers, and would appreciate some feedback.
A very succesful Google Summer of Code 2016 has come to an end.
Openness can still lead to a frustrating situation.
You can now log in to the etherpad to let us know if you will be attending the monthly Carpentries Community Call.

##Tweets

Excel might be to blame for your conversion mistakes.
Software Sustainability Institute fellowship programme 2017 applications now open.
Learn how to make your research analysis better and reproducible at PyConZA 2016.
Read more about Academic archetypes.
What would you like to have at the Brisbane Research Bazaar (ResBaz)?
A good read on how to be a Modern Scientist.
If you have innovative ideas for open science the arnold foundation may be the place for you.

##Vacancies

1 -16 August, 2016: Assessment Deputy Director, Policy Subcommittee, Code of Conduct, Workshop Resources, Bug BBQ, and Vacancies.

Mon, 15 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

Dr. Kari L. Jordan has been appointed as Data Carpentry’s new Deputy Director of Assessment.
Join the Policy Subcommittee and/or provide feedback on the Reporting Guide for handling potential Code of Conduct Violations.
Data Carpentry has put together a terrific resource for workshop organisation.
Read about our recent Bug BBQ that was held in the lead up to publishing our lessons.

##Vacancies

NCSA at the University of Illinois are looking for applicants for the position of Training Coordinator.
NumFOCUS is looking for a full-time Projects Director.

##Tweets

1 - 28 July, 2016: Lesson Publication, Instructor Training Open, Creating New Material, Revamped Lesson Template, and Instructor Testimonial.

Thu, 28 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

##Highlights

Congradulations and thanks to everyone who contributed to Version 2016.06 of the Software Carpentry lessons which have just been published.
You can now partner with Software and/or Data Carpentry to develop new lessons. Get in touch to discuss your ideas.
Please take note of our new lesson template.

##Intstructor Training

Apply now for online instructor training.
Some frequently asked questions about the reopening of the Instructor training have been addressed.
Why attend a Software & Data Carpentry instructor training workshop?
About ten hours is all you will need to qualify as an instructor after the initial training event.

##General