Designing Data Resources: Tools for the provision of interactive research data management workshops IDCC13 Workshop, Am

1. Designing Data Resources:Tools for the provision of interactive research data management workshopsIDCC13 Workshop, Amsterdam

2. Designing Data Management Training at the University of Bath • Catherine Pink • Data Scientist, Research360 • Jez Cope • Technical Data Coordinator, Research360

3. University of Bath • A leading UK research university • >15,000 students & 2,500 staff. • Applied science and engineeringresearch focus • ‘Small Science’ in collaboration with industry Research360 • 18-month Jisc-funded project • Developing human and technical infrastructure for research data management • Focused on Faculties of Science and Engineering • Piloting resources in the CSCT Doctoral Training Centre

4. The next 45 minutes • Structured around some of our training workshops • Content modified for IDCC13 • Interactive survey • Format modified for IDCC • Presentation • How we’ve developed our workshops and what they contain • Exercise • Data management planning

5. Before we start: Clicker exercise • What we did • Multiple choice questions asked at start and end of each session • Why it worked • Simple activity with clear instructions (hard to get wrong!?) • “Safe” for students – they can compare their knowledge/opinions to the group without being singled out • Students engaged with the material from the start • Catalyses learning by encouraging reflection

6. Before we start: Clicker exercise • How we did it • TurningPoint Audience ResponseSystem (ARS) • Simple voting system for classroom use • Provided by the University’s e-learning team • Today we will use PollEverywhere.com instead

7. How to vote • Laptop, tablet or smartphone: • Go to pollev.com/r360 • Use the buttons there • Mobile phone: • Send text message to +447624806527 • Codes for each option will appear on the slides • Normal network charges apply (UK mobile number)

12. What training did Bath already provide? • Single annual data management presentation for postgraduate students • Responsibility for delivery passed between senior academics • Content based on external resources (M.I.T) • Content not customised to the University or recently updated • Focus on why, not how, to manage data • 2011: Poor understanding of data management despite some training • 2012: Highlighted main risks of poor data management

13. What did we start to do • Re-designed workshop from scratch, including original content and external training resources e.g. DataTrain, MANTRA • Focused on generic data management with achievable solutions we that can already provide • Aimed at researchers - postgraduate students & academics • Delivered by data management experts from Research360 project • Tested new content on our pilot group of research students • Observers to capture all comments/questions to help with development

14. Style & Format – several approaches tried

15. Structure of content based on data lifecycle

16. 2 hours – How much can you cover? • Limited time to cover a large and complex subject • Provide links to further information • Key Content

17. Share with your future self! Demonstrate relevance & support with practical advice Will you be able to write your thesis/final report in 3 years time? Use better file names and capture contextual information What would happen if your computer failed? Request your 1TB of centrally managed research data storage Your digital data is safe, but what about your lab / research notebook? Daily scans of your notebook for free to your personal storage area Can you or anyone else understand your older research data? Capture methods and abbreviations in metadata or ‘readme’ files Does your funder require you to make your data accessible? Publish your data in a data repository or data journal

18. At the end of the workshop • Get participants to plan what they will do after the training “Request central storage space” “Back up my data” “Write a data management plan” • Participant feedback essential for continued training development What was missing? What was useful? “How to store data securely” “Cloud storage solutions e.g. Dropbox “Bias towards science” “Helped to focus my data management plan” “Data organisation” “Preparing a data management plan” “Reminded me how easily I could lose my data” “Where to get help & find more information” “To much group discussion” “Not enough group discussion”

19. Exercise: Data Management Plans • What we did • Produced 4 different DMP templates and split students into groups to try them • Why it worked • Clear time period, clear objectives • Data management plans cover many of the issues raised by data management, so lots of subjects can be covered by one exercise • Outcomes • Students produced their own Data Management Plans • Students were contributing to our project — felt some ownership of the process

20. Data Management Plan (DMP) Exercise • Templates • Digital Curation Centre Checklist: bit.ly/idcc13-dcc • Jez’s PGR Student Template: bit.ly/idcc13-dmppgr • David Shotton’s Twenty Questions: bit.ly/idcc13-20q • What to do – compare the three templates • After training, will your researchers know where to find the information to fill in each template? • Are different templates suited to different types of researchers?

21. Future plans • Short /Medium Term • Continue to develop training format in response to feedback • Extend training to include / encourage academic staff • Provide additional online support for self learning • Long Term aims • Train more professional support staff to deliver training (“train-the-trainer”) • Develop subject specific training • Broader embedded training plans included as part of business case for sustainable data management infrastructure • Updated data management website go.bath.ac.uk/research-data • Developing an online self-learning module • (see our poster!)

22. Find out more…. • Research360 Blog • blogs.bath.ac.uk/research360 • University of Bath Research Data Management Website • www.bath.ac.uk/research/data • Training slides • opus.bath.ac.uk/32296 • Contact us • research-data@bath.ac.uk

23. Discussion • How have you developed & designed research data management training resources at your institution? • How have you identified the skills gaps of your researchers/professional services staff? • Issues associated with new training programmes vs. embedding training in existing programmes • What are the most appropriate formats for training? • How will you ensure your training is sustainable? • How do you engage with the academic and professional support communities? • Benefits of discipline specific vs. cross-discipline training.