Strategic Renewal of The Carpentries Curriculum Portfolio
The Carpentries’ mission is to empower a diverse global community by equipping individuals with essential data and computational skills. Core to achieving this mission is our lesson programs.
Our current lesson programmes: Data Carpentry, Library Carpentry and Software Carpentry are trusted by our global community to empower novices with essential data and computational skills. However, the global landscape in which these skills are developed and deployed is changing. To be able to continue to deliver on our mission, we need to ensure that our programmatic offering both meets our learners where they are and supports them on the next stage of their learning journey.
To facilitate this, the Board of Directors have approved the following resolution: Strategic Renewal of The Carpentries Curriculum Portfolio
In the resolution, the Board of Directors commits to the following actions:
- The Board affirms that strategic renewal of The Carpentries’ curriculum portfolio is an organisational priority and supports the continued evolution of curricula to meet emerging needs while remaining grounded in The Carpentries’ core educational principles.
- The Board directs the Executive Director and Core Team to develop and implement a strategic approach for curriculum renewal that:
- Enables more timely identification, development, testing, and refinement of new and existing lessons;
- Evaluates whether current curriculum governance and development processes effectively support timely innovation;
- Identifies opportunities to engage and develop the next generation of curriculum maintainers, lesson developers, and community champions; and
- Aligns curriculum investments with organisational strategy, community needs, partnership opportunities, and evolving funding priorities.
- The Executive Director will provide the Board and the community with periodic updates on this work, including progress, key findings, strategic recommendations, and any governance considerations requiring Board input.
- The Board recognises that this strategic renewal complements, but does not replace, the organisation’s immediate efforts to strengthen financial sustainability through partnerships, fundraising, and other revenue-generating activities. Rather, a renewed and responsive curriculum portfolio is viewed as an important component of The Carpentries’ long-term relevance, impact, and sustainability.
The Board expresses its support for this strategic renewal effort and commits to serving as thought partners and champions as The Carpentries continues to evolve its educational offerings to meet the needs of the global research and education community. As the organisation moves forward with this effort, the Board’s role is to provide strategic direction, oversight, and support for organisational renewal. The Programme Committee looks forward to working with the Director of Curriculum on the strategic renewal of our curriculum.
Following last week’s announcements about the transition of the executive leadership of The Carpentries as well as changes in the programmatic activities supported by the Core Team, responsibility for curriculum design, development processes, operational implementation, and prioritisation will remain with the Interim Executive Director and Core Team.