Green Tea and Velociraptors

Alright, let’s do this.

Research is getting a global makeover, in part thanks to the power of the internet and the tools it provides for us and in part due to a growing call for accountability (e.g. reproducibility and data provenance) in science. Global policies are popping up all over that include some aspect of ‘Open Research’ or ‘Open Science’, and inclusive of all research disciplines. But our universities are letting us down, and they are not teaching us the tools we need to do research effectively in the 21st century.

Open Science is about increased rigour, accountability, reproducibility. It is based on principles of inclusion, fairness, and sharing. We see Open Science simply as research done properly. 

So let’s do something about it, and build a MOOC to teach Open Science! Here’s a draft framework already in place, which anyone can contribute to.

This MOOC is designed to equip students and researchers with the skills they need to excel in a modern research environment. It brings together the efforts and resources of hundreds of researchers who have all dedicated their time to making research just that little bit more awesome for us all.

Each module will comprise a complete range of resources including videos, research articles, dummy datasets and code, as well as ‘homework’ tasks to complete as individuals. Because you don’t learn how to do Open Science by reading; you learn by doing it.