Data Management in the Research Environment, Of Course

Abstract

After years of building the infrastructure for data literacy and data management through various library information sessions, faculty consultations, patron surveys, and workshops, the University of Miami Libraries (UML) proposed a formal, credited, graduate level course to be taught in spring 2016 at the Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science (RSMAS). The course was entitled Data Management in the Research Environment, to be taught by Tim Norris (CLIR Postdoctoral Fellow at UML) and Angela Clark-Hughes (RSMAS Librarian Associate Professor). The course was unanimously approved by the RSMAS curriculum committee as a 500/600 level two-credit course, open to all graduate students. As a new elective course, enrollment was small with two Ph.D. students, three Masters of Professional Science (MPS) students, and one Research Staff member auditing. This paper will focus on the review and assessment of that course; from the curriculum structure and design (including the implementation of two Data Carpentry Workshops), the learning curves and objectives, the teaching strategies employed, to the final student evaluations of the course. In addition, a summary of lessons learned and next steps for this course, as well as a comprehensive literature review, are also covered.