Research Data Management

The Texas State University Libraries are now members of The Carpentries, offering workshops and a training program for students, faculty, and staff.

The Carpentries is a global community of volunteers who develop and teach interactive, hands-on workshops on computing and data skills, addressing basic training needs that are unmet in most disciplines.

The University Libraries will be hosting two Data Carpentries Workshops in the Spring & Summer 2024. These are two-day workshops, and 8 hours each day, led by certified Carpentries instructors. More information is coming soon, including dates and sign-up information.

Workshop One: May 13-14, 2024 (in-person, Alkek 452, San Marcos) - Registration Closed

R for Reproducible Scientific Analysis

A more introductory R lesson. In addition to the Carpentries standard content, this workshop covers data analysis and visualization in R, focusing on working with tabular data and other core data structures, using conditionals and loops, writing custom functions, and creating publication-quality graphics. As our more introductory R offering, this workshop also introduces learners to RStudio and strategies for getting help. This workshop is appropriate for learners with no previous programming experience. For audiences with some experience with R or other programming languages, we recommend our Programming with R lesson. Read more about the workshop session here. 

Workshop Two: July 15-16, 2024 (Virtual)

Shell, Git, and Programming with R

A more advanced R lesson. In addition to the Carpentries standard content, this workshop covers data analysis and visualization in R focusing on working with core data structures, using conditionals and loops, writing custom functions, and running R programs from the command line. This is the more advanced of our two R offerings for Software Carpentry and is appropriate for learners with some previous programming experience, in R or other languages. For audiences with no previous programming experience, we recommend our R for Reproducible Scientific Analysis lesson.

Registration Closed

As part of our Carpentries membership, the Research Data Services Department at the University Libraries offers several seats for people from Texas State University to complete The Carpentries’ Instructor Training program and become certified Carpentries Instructors. Certified Instructors can co-teach Carpentries workshops here at Texas State, helping us reach more people and build these skills across our community. In addition, Carpentries instructors also have the opportunity to teach as part of a team at other institutions in The Carpentries network, meeting others with similar skills who enjoy sharing them. Hosting institutions cover travel and expenses for volunteer Instructors teaching workshops in-person. 

Carpentries Instructors are sought after in a variety of academic and professional teaching roles. Participation as an Instructor builds skills as well as a track record in teaching while expanding your professional network. 

The Carpentries Instructor Training is primarily focused on evidence-based teaching practices and does not include technical skills training. It is expected that trainees will have or will develop the technical skills necessary to guide learners through the entry level curricula for one or more Data Carpentry, Library Carpentry, or Software Carpentry workshops. 

If you are interested in being trained and certified as a Carpentries Instructor, please express your interest by filling out this Microsoft Form. 

Note. For registered Instructor Training attendees, please consult the Attendance Policies and email our Data Curation Specialist, Dr. Xuan Zhou, at x_zhou@txstate.edu should you need to make any adjustments to your scheduled training courses.