Day 7. We Learn Better Together, Community of Practice and Education.

Foto de John Cameron en Unsplash

Collaborative learning theories hold that people learn best when they learn in groups, cooperating to build knowledge. Learning how to teach is not the exception. Becoming part of and building a community of practice is a fantastic way to help teachers and students learn together.

Etienne Wegner defines a Community of Practice as

Groups of people who share a passion for something that they know how to do, and who interact regularly in order to learn how to do it better.

So, communities of practice are at the heart of education. It is a place where people get together to learn something and share their insights, joys, and concerns.

In 2017, I joined R-Ladies, my first international tech community of practice. Since then, I have worked in several roles in many communities, from volunteer Instructor to Community Manager to member of the Board of Directors. Being part of these organizations boosts my career, allowing me to change jobs and become an international teacher and keynote speaker.

These are the four communities of practice I encourage you to follow and join:

Community 1: R-Ladies

R-Ladies is working to reduce the gender gap in data science and open science by connecting and empowering people of genders currently under-represented in those fields.

R-Ladies is a global organization operating in 65 countries that supports local chapters with a centralized infrastructure. Its 233 chapters and 102,118 members have organized almost 4000 events in 8 languages. All events are free, and each chapter has a policy about attendance. Most online events are available on the R-Ladies YouTube Channel.

Community 2: rOpenSci

rOpenSci fosters a culture that values open and reproducible research using shared data and reusable software. You can find answers to your questions about software development and packages in their blog, newsletter, and forum.

You can also attend the Community Calls and Social and Co-working sessions where different speakers and hosts present topics about software development. You can also access the open books on R package development and send your software to an open, transparent, and non-adversarial peer review.

Community 3: The Carpentries

This global organization teaches researchers foundational coding and data science skills worldwide and trains instructors on how to teach these skills.

One of the most wonderful things about The Carpentries is that all their lessons are available for reuse. The community of instructors and students collaboratively develops and maintains these lessons.

Community 4: Data Science Learning Community

First known as the R4DS Community, the Data Science Learning Community’s goal is to develop tools and resources to foster a diverse, friendly, and inclusive community of data science learners and practitioners.  Book clubs on data-related topics and weekly TidyTuesday data sets are among the most popular activities you can join. 

Honestly, I wish someone had told me about these communities earlier in my career.

But I’m at least glad I can pass them along to you.