Highlights & Outcome: Birds of a Feather Unconference Session on the Carpentries Community at eResearch Australasia 2024 conference

Sara King (AARNet) and Nisha Ghatak (New Zealand eScience Infrastructure) led a Birds of a Feather (BoF) unconference session at the recent eResearch Australasia 2024 conference, with support from Amany Gouda-Vossos, Kit Greenhill, Kathryn Unsworth, and Matthias Liffers from ARDC. This session on the Carpentries community kicked off with an engaging icebreaker, where participants identified with various personas in the community, such as trainers, instructors, and learners. Hosts shared their roles within the Carpentries, setting the stage for a lively poll-driven agenda. This created a space for attendees to shape the discussion, with themes emerging around teaching challenges, tool adoption, curriculum development, and inclusive learning environments. The audience identified three key areas of focus through polls: Workshops and Lesson Development, Community Building, and Carpentries 101, and broke into groups to explore these topics in depth.

Workshops and Lesson Development Group

This group engaged in a robust 40-minute discussion, featuring participants from QCIF, ARDC, University of Auckland, and UNSW. Topics covered included:

  • The need for tailored Carpentries workshops or a shift toward "meta Carpentries" to adjust lesson structures.

  • Strategies for teaching data concepts to non-data researchers.

  • Ways to adapt material to fit session constraints and align with cohort expertise.

  • Managing cognitive load for trainers.

  • Contextualising content for specific environments, like High Performance Computing (HPC).

  • Enhancing content for specialised courses, such as those focused on using large language models (LLMs).

  • Dividing modules by field or discipline.

  • Developing a data-agnostic structure to accommodate diverse needs.

  • Addressing the challenge of selecting effective examples for lessons.

  • Managing participant expectations.

  • Integrating standard learning outcomes for key concepts.

Community Building Group

The group focusing on community building, which included representatives from AARNet, ARDC, and NeSI, discussed several critical issues facing regional community managers:

  • Expanding the instructor training pool and improving knowledge sharing across regions.

  • Enhancing organisational support to encourage and sustain instructor trainers.

  • Providing more resources for regional community champions, who face challenges in understanding member organisation needs.

  • Incentivizing instructors through microcredentials or recognition in organisational roles.

  • Clarifying the benefits of becoming a certified Carpentries instructor.

  • Differentiating upskilling from formal education and showcasing the Carpentries’ value of the Carpentries to for research and society.

  • Developing lessons relevant for Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) and indigenous researchers.

  • Receiving more guidance from the Carpentries core team on how to motivate researchers to conduct workshops and engage with the Carpentries community.

  • Building stronger community support and engagement within the Carpentries organisation.

Carpentries 101 Group

This group, led by veteran Carpentries community member and instructor Matthias Liffers, discussed the vision, mission, and objectives of the Carpentries as an organisation. With a mix of new and prospective members, the session introduced the opportunities within the Carpentries community and highlighted various ways to stay actively involved. Matthias shared insights into the Carpentries' offerings for researchers and encouraged community engagement.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

The active discussions across all groups provided valuable insights into both the opportunities and challenges within the AUNZ Carpentries communities. Recognising the need for continued dialogue, Sara and Nisha have proposed a follow-up BoF session at the upcoming eResearch NZ 2025 conference in Christchurch. This follow-up aims to revisit the challenges highlighted in this session, foster a stronger Trans-Tasman Carpentries partnership, and explore shared solutions. If you’re attending eResearch NZ 2025, be sure to join us as we continue building and strengthening the Carpentries community in New Zealand and Australia!

 
Topic: 
Community