This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

We’ve been enjoying the added focus and sense of accomplishment we’ve gained from working in cycles. If there’s something you’re excited about for the next round, let us know! If you’d like to join (or organize) a team for one of the next few cycles, let us know! Please post an issue on our conversations repo or email (ebecker@carpentries.org)[mailto:ebecker@carpentries.org].

Our second cycle - Cycle Deimos (March 27th - May 19th)

Our second cycle starts this week and goes through the middle of May. Here’s what we’re hoping to accomplish in this cycle.

Assessing our impact on learners

With help from our community members, Kari has developed and will be piloting new pre- and post-workshop surveys for Data Carpentry workshops as well as a long-term follow-up survey for learners who completed workshops at least six months ago. She will be collecting and analyzing data from these new surveys, updating analysis of previously collected data for both Data and Software Carpentry and adding more content to our assessment page to communicate our ongoing assessment efforts with all interested community members.

Training new instructor Trainers

A new cohort of instructor Trainers has started the training process and will be starting to teach instructor training events this June. Erin is leading the training efforts for this new cohort and, in conjunction with Christina Koch, working cleaning and reorganizing our instructor training curriculum to address the needs of our Trainer community. At the same time, Maneesha is working to develop documentation for hosts and Trainers to clarify expectations and responsibilities for running instructor training events.

Publishing Data Carpentry Lessons

We’re wrapping up the lesson release process for the Data Carpentry Ecology lessons at the end of April. Carpentry community members came together March 16th-17th to develop a “to-do list” of current issues with our Ecology lessons and we’ll be making on final big push at the Bug BBQ to clean everything up for publication on April 21st. As we go through this process, we’re establishing and documenting the steps involved for future lesson release efforts. We’re also planning for publication of the Data Carpentry Genomics lessons in Cycle Phobos. Stay tuned for more information about how you can help with lesson publication!

Small batch projects

In addition to the “big batch” projects detailed above, we’re also working on a few smaller projects. Maneesha is planning the next stage of enhancements to our internal database (AMY) and cleaning up past issues and PRs. Tracy and Jonah are working on clarifying the financial tracking process for Data and Software Carpentry. Kari, Jonah and Tracy are carrying out interviews for our new Community Development Lead and Tracy and Erin are implementing a new logo for Data Carpentry. It’s going to be an exciting six weeks!

Continuing Work

We’re also continuing to work on our many ongoing projects, including (but not limited to):

• Publishing our monthly newsletter
• Running our blogs
• Maintaining our websites and lessons
• Coordinating workshops and instructor training events
• Teaching at workshops and instructor training events
• Hosting discussion sessions and instructor teaching demos
• Speaking publically about Data and Software Carpentry
• Running our Virtual Assessment Network
• Organizing our Mentorship Program
• Serving on the mentoring subcommittee, trainers group and bridge subcommittees

If you’re interested in helping with any of this ongoing work, or would like to make suggestions about what to tackle in our next cycle, let us know! Please post an issue on our conversations repo or email ebecker@carpentries.org.

Our next two cycles will be: Cycle Phobos - May 22nd through June 30th Cycle Ganymede - July 3rd through August 11th