Thanks for starting this discussion, Dan. In developing the semester-long biology course for Data Carpentry [1], we specifically included self-learners in our approach to organizing the materials. We have a very clear starting point for self-learners that is accessible from the home page [2]. Self-learners are then able to follow the start-up steps and schedule of lessons for a thorough introduction to SQL and R. Each lesson is accompanied by reading materials and an assignment of exercises for practice, which is the major contribution that the semester-long course has made to the Data Carpentry materials. Often, the SWC/DC workshop lessons are the reading material for the assignments. We also provide lecture notes for instructors that are a helpful reference for learners.
As has been mentioned before, we don't have a way to track self-learners and have not been contacted by anyone who has taken that track. We would be very interested in getting some folks to give it a try and report back. Thanks, ~Zack [1] http://www.datacarpentry.org/semester-biology/ [2] http://www.datacarpentry.org/semester-biology/START-for-self-guided-students/
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