Workshop Structure - AlexsLemonade/2020-may-training GitHub Wiki
Our goals in constructing the virtual workshop structure are the following:
- You will be introduced to R, the Tidyverse R packages, and processing and analysis of bulk RNA-seq data through a series of hands-on exercises.
- You are able to ask questions and receive 1:1 assistance as needed during instruction. Because our instruction is almost entirely through hands-on exercises, we want to make sure we can help you through any difficulties or errors you may encounter.
- You have the opportunity to practice the skills you learn during instruction on consultation days with the support of your instructors.
- You receive consultation about transcriptomic data you are working with to answer your research questions.
- You have opportunities to interact with other participants working on similar problems.
This document is designed to give you an idea of what your participation in the workshop will be like and outlines the communication processes we have developed in service of these goals.
Instruction days
On instruction days, you will call into a Zoom meeting and log into our RStudio Server. An instructor may present some slides to introduce the material and then they will instruct you to navigate to rstudio.ccdatalab.org, enter your RStudio login credentials, and guide you through the course material. Typically you will be asked to navigate to a specific R Notebook file and you will execute steps at the same time as your instructor. You will have access to a private training-specific Slack channel in Cancer Data Science Slack that you can use as a forum to post questions. This channel will be monitored by instructors. Instruction will be recorded and distributed to course participants (not posted publicly).
For this workshop, our instruction days are Monday May 4th and Wednesday May 6th from noon-4pm.
Your instructors' roles during instruction
On instruction days, your instructors function in one of three roles:
- One person leads the hands-on exercise.
- One person is the host of the Zoom meeting and is responsible for administering that platform. The host makes sure any time-sensitive questions or problems are addressed during instruction and is responsible for pairing anyone that needs 1:1 assistance with an available instructor.
- All other instructors are on-hand to monitor the training specific Slack channel, answer questions, provide 1:1 assistance, or help with technology or login issues.
We will clearly identify the role of each CCDL staff member at the beginning of instruction.
Using communication platforms during instruction
To make sure all your needs are addressed, we've put together a plan for how the communication platforms we use during instruction are intended to work together.
You can read more about how we use Zoom and Slack in the Zoom procedures and Slack procedures documentation, but we've put together the table below to serve as a guide at a glance.
| If this happens | Use this platform |
|---|---|
| I need something clarified before we move on with instruction | Use Zoom chat to message the meeting host with your question or use the Raise Hand button on Zoom |
| I am stuck with an error message and am no longer able to follow the hands-on exercise | Use Zoom chat to message the meeting host and let them know you need 1:1 assistance - they will pair you with an available instruction in a Zoom breakout room |
| I have a general or conceptual question that can be addressed later in the lecture or asynchronously | Post in the training-specific Slack channel |
| I am having trouble with my login credentials | Use Slack to direct message a CCDL staff member that is not leading instruction or the host of the Zoom meeting |
| I am having technical difficulties that preclude me from using Zoom and Slack | Email [email protected] |
Consultation days
On consultation days, you can work through exercise notebooks included as part of the course, with your own data, or with publicly available data related to your research. Your instructors are available to provide assistance from noon-4pm Eastern on consultation days.
The main method we use for communication on consultation days is Slack. You can use the training-specific private channel to post errors, get help with debugging, and interact with other participants as they work through exercises.
Zoom is the platform that we use to facilitate sharing your screen with an instructor, which may come in handy during consultation days. As such, you will receive an invitation to a Zoom meeting on consultation days, but you do not need to join the meeting unless you would like to be grouped with other participants in a breakout room. An instructor will reach out to you about pairing with other participants shortly before the start of or at the beginning of the consultation time.
If you need assistance and would like to share your screen, an instructor will initiate a Zoom call in Slack.
For this workshop, our consultation days are Tuesday May 5th and Thursday May 7th from noon-4pm and Friday May 8th from noon-2pm.
Your instructors' roles during consultation days
Your instructors will be available via Slack from noon-4pm Eastern on consultation days. They will also host a standing Zoom meeting, which will be used for breakout room functionality for grouping participants that want to work together. If you need to share your screen with an instructor during the a consultation day, the instructor will start a Zoom meeting and you will be able to join from Slack.
Using communication platforms during consultation days
Our goal during consultation days is to make sure you get the support you need from instructors, to facilitate peer-to-peer learning, and to maximize the information that is available to everyone a form that is discoverable in the future. For these reasons, the main process for communication on consultation days is the training-specific Slack channel.
Remember – if you have a question, another person in the course almost certainly has the same question!
In addition, because the CCDL team is also currently all-remote, keeping most communication to the training-specific Slack channel allows us to better coordinate our efforts and make sure you get the support you need.
You can read more about how we use Zoom and Slack in the Zoom procedures and Slack procedures documentation. We've put together the table below to serve as a guide at a glance.
| If this happens | Use this platform |
|---|---|
| I have a question about yesterday's instruction | Post in the training-specific Slack channel |
| I have a question about an exercise notebook | Post in the training-specific Slack channel - if you're seeing an error, please include the file name and line number |
| I am having an issue that requires me to share my screen | Post in the training-specific Slack channel - an instructor will initiate a Zoom meeting that you can join from Slack |
| I would like to be paired up with other participants | Post in the training-specific Slack channel |
| I have a question that is highly specific to my data | Use Slack to direct message a CCDL staff member |
| I am having trouble with my login credentials | Use Slack to direct message a CCDL staff member |
| I am having technical difficulties that preclude me from using Zoom and Slack | Email [email protected] |
Presentations
We will reconvene in a Zoom meeting on Friday at 2pm Eastern for presentations. You will give a short (5 minutes or less) presentation on what you worked on during the week to the rest of the group. This is meant to be a low-pressure opportunity to reflect on what you've learned! The content and format of the presentation is entirely up to you. Here are some examples of what people have presented in the past at our workshops:
- Talked through part of an exercise notebook, highlighting where they ran into issues and how they figured it out
- Shown a visualization they made with their own data
- Walked through a set of slides that included tools they've used in the past and how they compare to what they learned during the workshop
- Identified some publicly available data sets relevant to their scientific questions and talked about next steps
When it is your turn to present, you will share your screen on Zoom and unmute yourself.