Building Digital and Data Trainers at CSIRO

CSIRO has 9 more expert digital and data instructors after Carpentries Instructor training was held at CSIRO’s Dutton Park site last month in partnership with the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC).

The Carpentries is a global community of practice centred around teaching foundational coding and data science skills to researchers worldwide, and the instructor training prepares researchers to become Carpentries instructors. 

These 9 Carpentries instructors join a pool of 22 other CSIRO instructors who have learned these evidence-based teaching practices, lesson development and essential data skills to support them as peer educators and mentors.

Liz Stokes, Coordinator of the ARDC Carpentries Partnership said the Instructor Training aims to uplift digital research skills for Australian researchers.   

“The program alternates between theory and hands-on opportunities, offering enough instruction without participants having to do a full-blown teaching degree,” said Liz.

“One of the strengths of the program is the checkout process following training, where people demonstrate their teaching skills in a community assessment process.

 “The program has provided scalable skills delivery to the researchers who need it, strengthened regional relationships across Australia and New Zealand, and has developed a flourishing community of researchers who can apply new skills to increase productivity.”

Lara Tzafaris, Senior Impact Advisor in CSIRO’s Strategy team attended the Carpentries training with the goal of gaining greater insights for project design, by building existing facilitation skills with the add-on of the Carpentries training experience.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the in-person knowledge sharing with experienced data peers from across the organisation,” Lara said.

“This sharing allowed us to actively consolidate our breadth of knowledge, bringing One-CSIRO to life.”

CSIRO IMT Data Management Specialist Tracey May attended the training and appreciated the focus on creating a psychologically safe learning environment.

“The training focused on inclusive practices in teaching and design, by offering accessible, hands-on training in essential data skills and building a sense of community and belonging,” Tracey said.

“It prepares participants to be digitally capable and effective instructors in data analysis.”

Carpentries trainer Dr Sara King, Training and Engagement Lead at AARNet said that participants had the opportunity to practice together and learn from valuable feedback from their peers.

“Participants can feel confident that they now have the skills they need to teach effectively,” Sara said.

“The best thing about the Carpentries Instructor training is the giving and receiving of structured feedback and the ability to focus on different aspects of the practicalities of being an instructor in a classroom.”

Learn more about the ARDC Carpentries Partnership.

This article was republished with permission from CSIRO.