Cycle Deimos wrapup

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

We’re wrapping up Cycle Deimos! Here’s what we accomplished over the past six weeks and what we’re still working on. To help with any of these projects, please get in touch!

Assessing Our Impact on Learners

What did we do? Data and Software Carpentry launched a long-term assessment survey in March 2017. The goal of this survey is to hear from our learners about what has transpired in their work and career since completing a Carpentry workshop. More information about this survey and our assessment efforts in general is located on the Assessment pages of both the Data Carpentry and Software Carpentry websites. The results show that a majority of respondents gained confidence in working with data (65%) and in using the tools we teach (77%), and also improved their coding practices (70%) as a result of completing a Carpentry workshop. Most of our respondents (86%) were also motivated to continue learning after the workshop, demonstrating our continued impact on learners.

What are we still working on? The results from our long-term assessment survey are very exciting! We’re working on writing up publication materials for communicating these results to the broader data science community. We’re also working on finalizing new pre- and post-workshop surveys for Data Carpentry.

How can you help? If you have ideas for disseminating the results of our long-term assessment, please email Kari.

Training New Instructor Trainers

What did we do? A new cohort of ten Trainers completed the Instructor Trainer Program and will be teaching in the coming months. Please join us in welcoming Aleksandra Nenadic, Chris Hamm, Jeffrey Oliver, Jonah Duckles, Karen Word, Kari L. Jordan, Maneesha Sane, Mark Laufersweiler, Martin Callaghan, and Naupaka Zimmerman to the Trainers team!

As we grow, we want to be sure we’re communicating clearly with our partner sites concerning instructor training events. We’ll be offering several events each month across United States and UK/European time zones. You can read more about how an instructor training event works for a partner site on our Members page.

What are we still working on? We’re looking for our next cohort of Trainers to join the Instructor Trainer Program starting in July and will be sending out an application to become a Trainer soon! We’re also working on creating more documentation to support hosts and Trainers in running instructor training events.

How can you help? If you’re interested in becoming a Trainer, please fill out the application (coming soon!).

Publishing Data Carpentry Lessons

What did we do? Data Carpentry had our first official lesson release this cycle. With the help of hundreds of contributors, many of whom participated in the Issue Bonanza and Bug BBQ, we’ve published the Ecology lessons for working with SQL, R, Python, Spreadsheets and OpenRefine as well as a curriculum overview. For more details, check out our blog post.

What are we still working on? We’re working on planning a lesson release for the Data Carpentry Genomics curriculum. More details and a timeline for that release coming soon!

How can you help? To find out how to get involved with the Genomics lesson publication, check out this blog post or get in touch with Tracy.

Hiring Community Lead

What did we do? Software and Data Carpentry Staff and steering committee members created a job posting, circulated it to the community and identified 4 candidates to interview. After the first round of interviews we had second-round interviews with two candidates, involving members of the mentorship and trainer community.

What are we still working on? We are now in the process of finalizing an offer and will be announcing the position soon.

How can you help? The hiring and interview process is now complete.

Small Batch Projects

What did we do? We’ve been using a Django-powered database called AMY to track workshops, instructor activity, and more. We’ve been working with our team of developers to start cleaning up some little bugs in the system. One big change that we’ve recently made is to allow certified instructors the ability to login to view and edit their own profiles, using their GitHub account. You can also see what workshops you’ve been a part of in any role. Check it out by visiting the AMY login page and click on “Log in with your GitHub account.” Any problems logging in please email Maneesha.

What are we still working on? Later this year we will be exploring enhancements that will make AMY an even more useful tool for us.

How can you help? If you’re interested in helping with AMY development, please contact Maneesha.

In Case You’re Wondering

At the start of this cycle we announced that Data Carpentry would be changing over to a new logo. With ongoing discussions around merging the Software and Data Carpentry organizations, we’ve decided to hold off on this for now. Thanks for your patience!

We also piloted a new system for tracking expenses as they are submitted. We’ll have more news on this later.

Our next cycle - Cycle Phobos - May 29nd through July 21th

You might notice this cycle is longer than the previous two. After giving six week work cycles a try, we’ve decided to move to an eight week model, reserving the first week for planning and the last for wrap-up and reporting.

Stay tuned for an announcement of what’s coming up! As always, if you there’s something you’re excited about and would like to see, post your idea to our Conversations repo or get in touch.