As the UBC Library Research Commons (Research Commons) enters the second year of its 2-year TLEF grant, there is already much to celebrate. Though the initial TLEF proposal was submitted prior to the pandemic, the team—especially the GTAs (Graduate Teaching Assistants) hired to create new content—has already met and exceeded expectations for the first year of the project.
The objective of both years is to create new workshop content to meet the quickly evolving data, GIS, and digital-scholarship needs of the UBC student population, especially graduate students. The Research Commons team of Jeremy Buhler, Data Librarian, Allan Cho, Research Commons Librarian, Eka Grguric, Digital Scholarship Librarian, and Evan Thornberry, GIS Librarian, worked together to develop a learning-pipeline model for workshop creation, sharing, and reuse. The model works like a constantly expanding expertise net. In the first year the team identified GIScience as an area where the UBC graduate community, in particular, was seeking more skills training.
With the help of Jacqui Brinkman (Director, Graduate Student Professional Development, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS)), the team then recruited four GTAs with GIScience expertise and teaching experience.
In May 2020, Maya Daurio, ArcGIS expert, Arthur Marques, R and Python expert, Nicolas Martino, machine learning and computational design expert, and June Skeeter, an open-source GIS & data visualization expert, were selected to develop the new workshop content. June, Arthur, Nicholas, and Maya bring the precise expertise needed to respond to the rapid increase in the use of GIS, R, and Python in research-data modelling.
Over several months, they developed workshops with the intent of creating end products that researchers could view, at their convenience, for asynchronous learning, but also that could be used as modules other teachers could employ in an online or in-class environment. Joseph Topornycky (Manager, Graduate Student Programs, Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT)) provided his expertise on the design of the workshops. Built around the concept of reuse, the workshops also allow for different active learning-based approaches and support learners in different time zones.
The workshops that Arthur, Nicholas, June, and Maya created this year are:
- Understanding Spatial Data: Map Projections
- Intro to ArcGIS Online and Story Maps
- Spatial Network Analysis with QGIS
- Intro to Spatial Data Analysis with R
- Geocoding and Web Mapping with Python
- Geospatial Analysis and Visualization with Python
Once the workshops were developed, they were promoted through the RC and G&PS channels. The workshops were delivered by Nicolas, Maya, Arthur, and June over Zoom to audiences that responded with enthusiasm. Some representative feedback from participants about these workshops includes:
“Facilitator was great, the workshop was well-designed and delivered. I gained valuable knowledge for my research project.”
“I loved the pace for online learning and that it was easy to follow.”
“The workshop was well designed with practical examples.”
The Research Commons will continue to work on this project until the end of 2021. The team has shortlisted many popular digital-scholarship topics to add to its roster of new workshops for the coming year and will recruit a new set of GTAs with specialties in these areas.
The Research Commons team has been fortunate to retain June Skeeter and Maya Daurio, where they continue to lead workshops, offer consults, and work on special projects under the leadership of Evan Thornberry. To book a consult with June, Maya, or another member of the Research Commons team, please visit our consultations page.
Make sure you don’t miss out on any of the mentioned or related offerings. Subscribe to both the Research Commons Newsletter and to the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Weekly Update. The new TLEF job postings will appear on the Careers Online website sometime this spring.
If you have any questions related to these new workshops or any other offerings at the UBC Library Research Commons, please reach out to us at research.commons@ubc.ca. Click on the link below to see what is coming up next at the UBC Library Research Commons.