Student‐led workshops: Filling skills gaps in computational research for life scientists

Abstract

Computational skills are increasingly important for conducting research in the agricultural and natural sciences. However, barriers to training availability and accessibility have left many life scientists under-prepared. To address these challenges, we developed a workshop series led by graduate students to cover topics relevant to research needs among life scientists. Our workshops incorporated guided practice to facilitate a student-centered learning environment. Further, in response to changes mandated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop series was converted to a virtual format and extended to life science researchers beyond our home institution. We highlight how to effectively structure workshops to develop computational skills and adapt in-person activities to the virtual environment. Survey data shows our workshops reached a highly diverse group of scientists, representing more than eight departments, in both in-person and virtual renditions. Further, we demonstrate an increase in self-reported confidence in student abilities to apply concepts to their own research following content delivery. This increase was facilitated in both virtual and in-person environments, showing that adapting content for online delivery is capable of supporting student learning gains. The success of this workshop series shows the importance of hands-on, guided practice in developing computational skills to fill gaps in training in the agricultural and natural sciences.

occupancyTuts: Occupancy modelling tutorials with RPresence

“…The R package, occupancyTuts , provides a new entry into teaching quantitative methods to students of ecology. As an open‐access contribution available to anyone with access to a computer and internet for download, occupancyTut s provides one option for increasing quantitative training opportunities for students that can be used in both in‐person and on‐line classrooms (Bachner & O'Bryrne, 2019; Touchon & McCoy, 2016), workshops (LaTourrette et al., 2021), clubs (Hagan, 2020; Johnston et al., 2019), or as an independent study. The use of learnr as an instructional tool builds not only background in ecology theory and statistical underpinnings, but also builds confidence in coding (Juavinett, 2022) and performance (Freeman et al., 2014).…”

Experimenting at an outreach science lab versus at school—Differences in students' basic need satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and flow experience

“…As a result, the number of online workshops and virtual laboratories on offer increased considerably (Haupt & Stamer, 2021;Liu et al, 2022;Rookwood et al, 2021;Stamer et al, 2021). It is unclear whether these online programs are adequate substitutes for traditional faceto-face workshops (see Stamer et al, 2021) because hands-on, experiential, and collaborative learning are essential pedagogical elements of outreach science labs (Euler & Schüttler, 2020;Goldschmidt & Bogner, 2016;Scharfenberg et al, 2019) that are quite challenging to implement in an online format (LaTourrette et al, 2021;Rookwood et al, 2021). In addition, based on our results on student motivation exhibited during the hands-on face-to-face workshop, we argue that visiting outreach science labs should conduct hands-on experiments to the greatest possible extent.…”

Natural sciences education in a COVID‐19 world

“…A third group, consisting of six papers, evaluates student and instructor perceptions of engagement. Article topics include using student-led workshops (LaTourrette et al, 2021), collaboratively investigating scientific literature (Stengel et al, 2021), student and instructor perceptions of engagement (Walker & Koralesky, 2021), student and faculty perceptions of the rapid transition to online education (Rees et al, 2021), student participations of an online soil physics course (Wyatt, 2021), and student perceptions of higher education (Moorberg et al, 2021). Somewhat similar to the previous group of papers, the fourth group (consisting of three papers) examines student and instructor participation in courses revised to serve online needs.…”