Teaching and learning R in the cloud with RStudio Cloud

Much has been written in the statistics and data science education literature about pedagogical tools and approaches to provide a practical computational foundation for students. However, a common friction point for getting students (and faculty) started with computing is installation and setup. Circumventing the installation and setup steps early in the course by having students access R and RStudio in the cloud can minimize frustration and improve buy-in. RStudio Cloud is a lightweight and easy to set up / use solution to this problem. In this talk, I will discuss pedagogical reasons for teaching computing with R on the cloud as well as share best practices and tips for setting up your learners for success on RStudio Cloud. We will also provide an opportunity for the audience to experience computing in RStudio Cloud first hand, demo its newest features, and highlight a suite of ready-to-use resources for teaching R to new learners.

Transcript

1. Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel Duke University + RStudio RStudio Cloud Teaching and learning with 🔗 rstd.io/rscloud-whyR
2. RStudio Cloud is a lightweight, cloud-based solution that allows anyone to do, share, teach and learn data science online, in the browser. There is nothing to configure, no dedicated hardware, no installation.
3. Hello RStudio Cloud
5. Why? RStudio in the cloud
6. lots of friction points ‣ Install R ‣ Install RStudio ‣ Install the following packages: ‣ rmarkdown ‣ tidyverse ‣ ... ‣ Load these packages ‣ Install git much less friction ‣ Go to rstudio.cloud ‣ Log in ‣ Start coding…
7. How? RStudio in the cloud
8. RStudio Workbench* You have ‣ sysadmin experience / IT support ‣ hardware / local VM / cloud computing credit ‣ RStudio experience rstudio.com/pricing/academic-pricing ✓ Free licensing for teaching with RStudio’s academic pricing ✓ Çetinkaya-Rundel, Mine, and Rundel, Colin. "Infrastructure and tools for teaching computing throughout the statistical curriculum." The American Statistician (2018). doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2017.1397549
9. RStudio Workbench* You have ‣ sysadmin experience / IT support ‣ hardware / local VM / cloud computing credit ‣ RStudio experience RStudio Cloud You have ‣ RStudio experience
10. Why? RStudio Cloud
11. RStudio Cloud in a nutshell ‣ Does not require IT experience to set up ‣ Features designed for teaching ‣ Organize class as workspace ‣ Leverage roles (instructor, teaching assistant, student) ‣ Turn projects into assignments ‣ Peek into student projects ‣ Ensure same setup with a base project ‣ System libraries work out of the box (e.g., Git) ‣ Knit to PDF and Word works out of the box
12. Projects in RStudio Cloud
16. Teaching with RStudio Cloud
17. Shorter engagement Longer Engagement ‣ Workshop, short course, etc. ‣ Content can be organized in one (or few) project(s) ‣ Not keeping track of learners share project ‣ Semester-long course, multi-day workshop, etc. ‣ Content best organized in multiple projects ‣ Keeping track of learners invite to workspace
18. Share an RStudio Cloud project 1
19. instructor view
20. student view
21. + ‣ Students land directly in a project upon login ‣ Great for sharing code in general, e.g. collaboration, reproducible examples (reprexes), etc. - ‣ Students need to remember to make a permanent copy of the project ‣ You can't keep track which students started their assignment ‣ You need to be granted permission to peek into student projects ‣ Permanent projects count towards students’ free hours ‣ Students control permissions + / - Sharing an RStudio Cloud project
22. Invite to an RStudio Cloud workspace 2
23. instructor view
24. instructor view
25. instructor view
26. instructor view RStudio Cloud role permission course role Admin Manage users, view, edit and manage all projects Instructor Moderator View, edit and manage all projects TA Contributor Create, edit and manage their own projects Student Viewer View projects shared with everyone Auditor, Guest
27. instructor view
28. instructor view Base projects ‣ Anything you might want in all projects: ‣ R version ‣ Installed packages ‣ Files (e.g., code of conduct, submission instructions, etc.) ‣ Update as many times as you like! ‣ Changes are not retroactive
29. + ‣ Various permission levels ‣ Base projects with desired packages installed ‣ Assignments, which remove the need to remind students to make a copy of the project before starting work ‣ Ability to peek into students’ projects - ‣ Students land in the workspace, may need instructions for next steps (e.g., start the assignment titled Getting started) ‣ Student work counts towards (instructor/institution) workspace hours ‣ Instructor controls permissions + / - Inviting to an RStudio Cloud workspace
30. Tips for teaching with RStudio Cloud
31. Tips for teaching with RStudio Cloud ‣ Changes to an assignment student has started won’t propagate to student copies ‣ Packages in the base project are installed, but not loaded ‣ The latest information is always on the RStudio Cloud Guide and the What’s New page ‣ If you encounter slowness/glitches, check the System Status
32. Tips for teaching with RStudio Cloud ‣ Create an additional account, log in as a student to see what they see ‣ Test assignments to set sufficient computational resources ‣ Use the “peek at your students’ project” feature sparingly ‣ Use the “assignment” feature for live coding starters
34. Programming with 📦 rscloud
36. Learn more about RStudio Cloud
37. rstd.io/cloud-playlist
38. Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel Duke University + RStudio RStudio Cloud Teaching and learning with 🔗 rstd.io/rscloud-whyR