Category Archives: Training opportunities

Training offer: Making your research data open

There are spaces available on our training session ‘Making your research data open‘ on Tuesday (27th November 2018), 10:00 to 11:30.

Photo by Finn Hackshaw on Unsplash

In this session we will look at why, how, what and when to share data:

  • Why should you share your data? We’ll discuss the benefits and the reasons why data sharing is such a hot topic at the moment.
  • How can you do it? We’ll take a look at the OU’s data repository, ORDO, and provide guidance on preparing data for sharing, including sensitive data
  • What should you share? Do you need to share everything? What do funders and publishers want you to share?
  • When should you share? We’ll the look at the stages of the research process when sharing data is most useful to you and others.

Sign up via My Learning Centre – any if you have any questions, get in touch at library-research-support@open.ac.uk.

Practical Strategies for Research Data Management: workshop slides

Yesterday I ran a session on Practical Strategies for Research Data Management, where we talked about the basics of research data management, including options for data storage and organising data. We also looked at how to write a data management plan using a DMP template, and ended with a game of DMP Bingo.

Thanks to everyone who took part and contributed to the discussions.

The slides are available here:

 

A reminder too that will be running two online sessions covering the same material in January. Sign-up and see full details on My Learning Centre.

Online library training – advanced literature searching and systematic reviews

We are happy to announce a series of online Library training sessions on advanced literature searching and systematic reviews. These are aimed at postgraduate researchers but any interested research staff are welcome to attend:

Advanced literature searching 1 (online)

Date – Monday, 22.10.18

Time – 15.00-16.00

 This session involves reflecting on a model of the literature search process in order to (re)conceptualize literature searching, increase confidence with the process and assess the model in relation to your practice. We will then look at formulating and revising a search strategy in order to perform a systematic and comprehensive search – this includes choosing databases, choosing keywords and recording your searches.

Please note that you are required to undertake a brief exercise in advance of this session and be prepared to discuss your thoughts on the exercise in the session itself. Details of this exercise are on the booking page.

To book a place, please go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/advanced-literature-searching-1-tickets-50694626994

Advanced literature searching 2* (online)

Date – Wednesday, 31.10.18

Time – 11.30-12.30

This session involves identifying techniques for narrowing and broadening searches and when to apply them in order to construct and revise a search strategy. We will then identify and reflect on means of saving and exporting search results, this will allow us to manage search results effectively and understand the benefits of doing so

Please note that you are required to undertake a brief exercise in advance of this session and be prepared to discuss your thoughts on the exercise in the session itself. Details of this exercise are on the booking page.

To book a place, please go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/advanced-literature-searching-2-tickets-50695850654

Advanced literature searching 3* (online)

Date – Monday, 05.11.18

Time – 10.00-11.00

This session involves analysing search results using the CRAAP framework in order to identify the most appropriate papers on a topic and revise your search strategy. We will then describe and apply a scoping search process in order to establish the extent of the literature that exists on a topic.

Please note that you are required to undertake a brief exercise in advance of this session and be prepared to discuss your thoughts on the exercise in the session itself. Details of this exercise are on the booking page.

To book a place, please go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/advanced-literature-searching-3-tickets-50696279938

Systematic reviews* (online)

Date – Monday, 17.12.18

Time – 14.00-15.30

This session will describe, apply and reflect upon the methodology of a systematic review in order to ensure attendees understand what systematic reviews involve and feel more confident in undertaking them.

This is an advanced session that builds on existing knowledge of database searching. It gives attendees knowledge of how to carry out structured, comprehensive searches to help them undertake systematic reviews on their own.

To book a place, please go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/systematic-reviews-tickets-50696809522 

*Note – Advanced literature searching 1, 2, 3 and Systematic reviews are designed to complement each other. You are very welcome to attend (or watch the recordings of) whichever of the sessions you need but please note that familiarity with content from previous sessions may be assumed and won’t be recapped in detail.

All sessions will take place online in the Research Support online training room. We plan to make video recordings of all sessions available to watch via the View previous recordings link in this room.

You can also download  a printable PDF detailing these sessions: Library online training for researchers-Autumn-Winter-2018

 

We look forward to seeing you at the training!

ORDO online drop-in

Our monthly online drop-in session for ORDO is tomorrow, Tuesday 4th September, 11:30 – 12:30.

Ask Dan about using our research data repository, ORDO, for data preservation, data sharing, showcasing your work, collaborative projects… and anything else.

To join, go to our Adobe Connect “Research Support” page and click on “join room” (and if you find the link takes you to the “DISS Home” page instead, click on “Resources” at the top and scroll down to “Research Support”).

A roundup of free online training

There have been a few new, free online training resources for researchers released lately, so we thought with summer here it would be worth a roundup.

From a focus on working with data and data management to a broader range looking at different aspects of working openly, there should be something for everyone.

  • Data Tree is a new free online data management training course, funded by NERC. It’s especially aimed at PhD students and early career researchers in the environmental sciences, but useful for anyone who wants to learn new data skills. It includes ways to engage and share data with business, policymakers, media and the wider public.
  • FOSTER Plus is a 2-year, EU-funded project, carried out by 11 partners across 6 countries, with the aim of developing Open Science. Their draft Open Science training courses have just been released for use and public consultation, so early users have a chance to shape their development. Courses include What is Open Science?, Open Science and InnovationData Protection and Ethics, and Open Access Publishing.
  • We posted about the UK Data Service’s data skills modules back in May, but if you didn’t have time then, take a look now. They have introductory sessions on Survey Data, Longitudinal Data and Aggregate data.
  • We also posted before about the CESSDA ERIC Data Management course which takes you through each step of the research process working with data, from planning to publishing.

If you get a chance to work through any of these and have feedback that you’d like to share, please let us know so we can pass it on. Get in touch at library-research-support@open.ac.uk

 

 

 

ORDO online drop-in today

Our monthly online drop-in session for ORDO is today, 11:30 – 12:30.

Ask Dan about using ORDO for data preservation, data sharing, showcasing your work, collaborative projects… and anything else.

To join, go to our Adobe Connect “Research Support” page and click on “join room” (and if you find the link takes you to the “DISS Home” page instead, click on “Resources” at the top and scroll down to “Research Support”).

Training Offer: Making your research data open

There are still spaces available on our training session ‘Making your research data open‘ on Monday 21st May 2018, 14:00 to 15:30.

Image by Jorgen Stamp (CC-BY) at https://digitalbevaring.dk/

In this session we will look at the hows, whats and whys of data sharing:

  • How can you share your data? We’ll take a look at the OU’s data repository, ORDO and provide guidance on preparing data for sharing, including sensitive data
  • What data should you share? Do you need to share everything? What do funders and publishers want you to share?
  • Why should you share your data? We’ll discuss the benefits and the reasons why data sharing is such a hot topic at the moment.

Sign up via My Learning Centre – any if you have any questions, get in touch at library-research-support@open.ac.uk.

New online data skills modules from the UK Data Service

The UK Data Service has just launched three new online Data Skills Modules, to introduce data to non-experts via easy-to-use interactive sessions.

Data Skills Modules logo and link

Launched as beta versions, they are introductory level modules using short instructional videos, interactive quizzes and activities to test your knowledge, and are aimed at anyone who wants to learn more about using:

  • Survey data
  • Longitudinal data
  • Aggregate data

You can conduct the modules in your own time, and dip in and out around your schedule.

As always, we also recommend checking out the many other excellent resources for using and managing data on the UK Data Service site.

Online drop-in – find out about ORDO, the OU’s research data repository

ORDO (Open Research Data Online) is the OU’s research data repository, where OU research staff and students can upload their data, for:

  • secure long-term storage
  • sharing with others, by creating a metadata record describing it and, where appropriate, making the data itself accessible.

You can use it to publish data supporting a publication, or to archive at the end of a project.

“ORDO has proved incredibly useful for hosting sound clips generated by acoustic simulations and experiments, enabling us to provide a link to those clips within conference papers and journal publications” (Professor David Sharp)

We’ll be having an online drop-in next week on Tuesday 27TH March at 11:00-12:00, where we’ll show you how it works and be on hand to answer any questions you have. Feel free to join us at any time during the hour.

To join the session, go to our Adobe Connect online room page and click on “join room”.

If that time doesn’t work for you, or if you want to get started, you can find ORDO at ou.figshare.com and log in with your OU credentials.

For more information, see the ORDO information on our website or get in touch at library-research-support@open.ac.uk

 

UK Data Service training – GDPR and research data

The UK Data Service is running a training session on Friday 4th May, on Managing and sharing research data: What is new with the GDPR?

“In this hands-on workshop you will learn best practices for managing and publishing research data resulting from research with participants. Specific attention will be paid to new requirements of the GDPR when gaining consent, processing and de-identifying data and sharing them for future use”

The UK Data Service is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to meet the data needs of researchers, students and teachers from all sectors – but you don’t need to be an ESRC funded researcher to attend. It takes place at the University of Essex and the costs are £30 for UK registered students, £60 for staff from UK academic institutions.

Full details and the link for bookings are on the UK Data Service website.