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Organize one-off workshops §

Pattern Summary §

Organize short, one-off workshops to educate students, researchers, staff and faculty and to provide basic information on open source and related topics.

Problem / Challenge §

There is limited knowledge across a university of how to create and use open source software (OSS) effectively; and how to follow best practices/standards.

The OSPO has also become aware of basic knowledge gaps in related areas (e.g. open science, computer sciences).

Pattern Category §

  • OSS Education & Skills
  • Sharing OSS Best Practices

Context §

A university with a large research and instructional cohort across multiple disciplines.

There may be a lack of formal research software support and educational programs to support open source software development.

There is inconsistent awareness about the role of OSS standards in improving scientific quality and generating results that are reproducible and trustworthy.

A wide and diverse range of open source creators, users and projects operate within the university.

Forces §

There is a growing or established interest and demand for open source workshops beyond what’s currently on offer in academic courses.

There are knowledge gaps amongst some faculty members on open source and best practices.

Students and researchers on open science/open source projects are time-poor.

OSPO staff have the capacity and/or resources to teach or host workshops.

Solution §

Develop and deliver one-off workshops that address very specific knowledge gaps and basic questions that can be efficiently resolved in bite-sized training sessions.

Identify specific knowledge gaps that can be addressed by short workshops §

A training needs assessment can be carried out in a number of ways: * Individual consultations with students, researchers and faculty. * A survey on training and/or open source needs. * Consultation with the OSPO’s advisory committee/user group.

Planning §

Planning should take the following into account:

  • The cohort that will be targeted.
  • Learning goals.
  • What can realistically be covered in the selected timeframe (e.g. one hour, morning or afternoon workshop).
  • The most appropriate format e.g. virtual or in-person.
  • How best to promote the workshop.

Promotion of workshops §

Training workshops can be promoted via the following channels:

  • The OSPO website and social channels.
  • The OSPO mailing list.
  • Through key partners’ channels (e.g. the Office of Research, the Office of Computer Science, the Library).
  • Through student groups and students’ informal networks.

Workshop delivery §

Training format and timeframe will be based on the training needs identified.

A feedback survey should be used to evaluate the training and to identify further training needs.

Resulting Context §

Students, researchers and faculty at different points of open source development in their research can attend bite-sized, stand-alone training workshops that provide the basic information they need to progress and improve upon their current usage of OSS.

Additional Learning from the University of Texas OSPO §

OSPO staff and contacts teach the seminars. Our goal is to hit audiences from across our OSS participation pathway.

We always try to provide lunch at our in-person workshops.

Additional Learning from University of Wisconsin-Madison §

Our curricula is a collaboration with Software Carpentries on OSS.

Additional Learning from Syracuse University §

We run workshops on computing 101 and intros to Python/R. They usually entail 4-6 x 2 hour segments in the style/format of Carpentries Workshops.

Additional Learning from George Washington University §

Timing and marketing can be key to improving attendance at workshops. For example, our 5 day Python Camp is always sold out becuase it is held right after finals, and it has built up great word of mouth from faculty and students over the many years it has been offered. It is more challenging to get people to attend new workshops. Some advice is to keep workshop titles simple like "Intro to Git" and work with faculty champions to help promote the workshops.

Our most successful workshops were tailored for a specific project team. One such workshop was for an open source project called LAiSER with 20 members. We coordinated with the project lead to present targeted information and the team was very grateful to learn about testing, python package management, and community building strategies.

Another successful workshop was held at the George Hacks Innovation Hackathon. The OSPO sponsored an Open Source Spot prize and therefore we had a captive audience when we presented our Introduction to Open Source workshop. The students did all the work organizing and marketing the event and the OSPO was able to focus on our content.

Known Instances §

References §

Contributors & Acknowledgement §

  • Dr. Angela Newell (University of Texas at Austin)
  • Dr. Alex Marden (University of Texas at Austin)
  • David Lippert (The George Washington University), https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6444-9595
  • Ciara Flanagan, https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3153-7673