2020 Twin Cities StatChat

Version control as a learning objective in statistics courses

February 26, 2020

Abstract

Version control tools (e.g. Git/GitHub) are integral to a reproducible workflow. There are many resources out there for learning Git/Github, but most are written for people with more technical experience. How can we onboard students efficiently? How can we help students avoid common problems? This session intends to (1) introduce the audience to version control principles, (2) make a case for version control as a substantive learning objective in teaching/training statisticians and analysts, and (3) share resources and engage participants in implementation details to begin integrating Git/GitHub as a meaningful part of a statistics course. We will discuss an implementation model suitable for both technical and non-technical students without prior experience needed. We also discuss GitHub Classroom as a means to preserve academic integrity while still providing students real experience with tools designed to facilitate collaboration and code sharing. The session includes hands-on experiences with methods to first introduce GitHub to students, to streamline Git & RStudio linkage, and to use GitHub Classroom to distribute assignments that include instructions, starter code, and data.

Agenda

• What’s all the excitement about?
• First contact: https://mdbeckman.github.io/GitHub-Practice-StatChat-SP20/
• Basic workflow with RStudio & Git(Hub)
• Examples:
  • Graphical Exploration (Link)
  • Popular Names (Link)
• GitHub Classroom (Site Link; Instructions Link)
• Creating Assignments
  • Individual Assignment
  • Group Assignment
• Assessment Remarks

Resources

• Beckman, Cetinkaya-Rundel, Horton, Rundel, Sullivan, & Tackett (in review). Implementing version control with Git as a learning objective in statistics courses. URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.01988

• Bryan, STAT 545 TAs, & Hester (2020). Happy Git and GitHub for the UseR. URL: https://happygitwithr.com/

• Kaplan & Beckman (2020). Data Computing (2nd edition). URL: https://dtkaplan.github.io/DataComputingEbook/

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Danny Kaplan for developing Bird Species & Popular Names activities among many other contributions that helped shape ideas presented here. Thanks as well to Adam Sullivan for his collaboration to develop an earlier session that we presented at the 2019 US Conference on Teaching Statistics.

Contact

Matthew Beckman
Department of Statistics
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802

email: mdb268 [at] psu [dot] edu
website: https://mdbeckman.github.io/