RStudio Cloud Demo

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 we 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 Demo
   🔗 rstd.io/rscloud-demo
   

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2. Hello RStudio
   
   
   Cloud
   

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4. Why? RStudio
   
   
   in the cloud
   

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5. 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…
   

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6. How? RStudio
   
   
   in the cloud
   

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7. 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
   

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8. RStudio
   
   
   Workbench*
   You have
   
   
   ‣ sysadmin experience / IT support
   
   
   ‣ hardware / local VM / cloud
   computing credit
   
   
   ‣ RStudio experience
   RStudio
   
   
   Cloud
   You have
   
   
   ‣ RStudio experience
   

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9. Why? RStudio
   
   
   Cloud
   

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10. 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)
    
    
    ‣ Render to PDF and Word works out of the box
    

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11. Projects in
    
    
    RStudio Cloud
    

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15. Teaching with
    
    
    RStudio Cloud
    

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16. 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
    

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17. Share an
    
    
    RStudio Cloud
    
    
    project
    1
    

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18. instructor view
    

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19. student view
    

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20. +
    ‣ 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 on their projects
    + / -
    Sharing an RStudio Cloud project
    

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21. Invite to an
    
    
    RStudio Cloud
    
    
    workspace
    2
    

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22. instructor view
    

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23. instructor view
    

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24. instructor view
    

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25. 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
    

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26. instructor view
    

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27. 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
    

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28. +
    ‣ 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
    
    
    ‣ Ability to view stats on student
    engagement
    -
    ‣ 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 of students’ projects
    + / -
    Inviting to an RStudio Cloud workspace
    

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29. Tips for
    teaching with
    
    
    RStudio Cloud
    

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30. 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
    

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31. 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
    

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33. Programming
    with
    
    
    📦 rscloud
    

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35. Learn more about
    
    
    RStudio Cloud
    

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36. rstd.io/cloud-playlist
    

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37. Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel
    
    
    Duke University + RStudio
    RStudio Cloud Demo
    🔗 rstd.io/rscloud-demo
    

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