# OCESE project, TLEF funded, progress report

(At Oct 7th, 975 words)

## Progress summary

Infrastructure and tools development is our priority in year 1 because these are prerequisite to implementing educational initiatives in courses and professional development activities for instructors.

The following are works either accomplished or in progress. For a list of pointers to current activities see [https://hackmd.io/iKHYFs8-QK22jW-iybvrrQ](https://hackmd.io/iKHYFs8-QK22jW-iybvrrQ).

1. Implementation of Jupyter hubs for running executable Jupyter notebooks for instructional and student assignment purposes. Accomplished:
1. [EOSC 350 course jupyterhub](https://jupyterhub.eoas.ubc.ca/)
2. [Kazarinoff: Problem Solving book jupyterhub](https://atsc_hub.eoas.ubc.ca/)
3. [A301 course jupyterhub](https://a301_hub.eoas.ubc.ca/)

2. Establishing reliable procedures for running codes, notebooks and dashboards in containers. Results will ensure that learning and teaching software can run consistently for all users and on all platforms.

3. Tools for Jupyterbook editing including conversion of DOCX, PPTX, LaTeX to MarkDown text.

4. Converting notebook-based quiz documents for deployment as Canvas quizzes

5. Printing notebooks for exams

6. Batch printing of Jupyter notebooks

7. Running a Jupyterhub container with an executable book on a laptop

8. Developing "containerization" strategies to enable sustainable and reliable deployment of teaching and learning resources regardless of computing platform or software versions.

9. A Conda package channel for this project's outcomes.

10. Progress beyond expectations has been achieved due to having attracted students who are particularly well suited for this work during summer and fall terms.

11. Our github project board is tracking tasks and progress. [https://github.com/eoas-ubc/eoas\_tlef/projects/2](https://github.com/eoas-ubc/eoas_tlef/projects/2)
12. Impact of COVID-19 has mainly been limited to a reduction in planned faculty development activities. However, this is probably an advantage because many tools and tactics are being developed and faculty training will be best delivered when all these strategies have been established as (approximately) routine.

## Progress on specific items listed in the original proposal

1. Literature review
1. There is a growing Zotero reference list of sources about teaching and learning computing, programming, datascience and quantitative Earth sciences.
2. Much continues to be learned by working in the GitHub community because many academics and institutions are conducting parallel open source projects. See section "Open source contributions" for examples.

2. EOSC 211
1. Converting materials to markdown is nearly complete. These resources are in use this term.
2. Converting from MatLab to Python will be largely completed before spring 2021.
3. Use of GitHub by instructors is starting. See here [https://phaustin.github.io/eosc211/info\_and\_announcements.html](https://phaustin.github.io/eosc211/info_and_announcements.html).

3. ENVR 300
1. 3 Dashboards are under development, based on discussions with instructors. See [https://github.com/fhmjones/dashboards-envr300](https://github.com/fhmjones/dashboards-envr300) .
2. Term2: Deploy and assess their use and value.

4. EOSC 410 / 510
1. Converting from MatLab to Python is "done" by previous instructor. Course currently allows students to work in either setting, but most who chose MatLab were undergraduates who have eosc211 as their background.
2. eosc510 GitHub website, generated using sphinx by student Chris Rodell. Still work in progress but will become available on GitHub when he and the instructor (Prof. Valentina Radic) decide it's OK to do so.

5. Quantitative core courses: integrated curriculum
1. Curriculum level work is being carried out under the auspices of a (currently) internal EOAS project headed by Dr. Christian Schoofe called "Quantitative Earth Sciences Transformation" or QUEST. Details available upon request.

6. Community of practice
1. First CoP meeting will likely occur in mid-Nov with a second planned for mid-Feb.
2. Ad-hoc support for faculty in eosc211 is happening via a two-instructor partnership teaching the course this term. Prof. C. Johnson has taught the course many times while Prof. P. Austin is spearheading the OCESE project.
3. Ad-hoc support for eosc350: from project PI to get Jupyter notebook – based labs running in a Jupyter hub. Also F. Jones is providing ad-hoc support with running the course and delivering it online for the instructor, Prof. M. Bostock.
4. Ad-hoc interactions with eosc410 instructor: Prof. V. Radic meets with OCESE project personnel to discuss priorities for adapting to Jupyter notebooks, incorporating Python, and aligning the course as an elective for the emerging Data Science program.

7. Training for faculty & others: Materials for Python and Jupyter notebook carpentry sessions are being developed, targeting EOAS Faculty, Postdocs and Graduate students. See for example [https://fhmjones.github.io/](https://fhmjones.github.io/) .

8. Evaluation:
1. All deliverables and faculty interactions constitute input for evaluation purposes. This report is the result, to date.
2. A computing-oriented attitudes and expectations pre-post survey is being implemented in eosc211, 301, 410.

9. Students in courses: concrete impacts
1. All students taking eosc211 are gaining exposure to GitHub as the source of information.
2. Envr300 students will be using several Dashboards.
3. ATSC301 students will be using updated GitHub, Jupyter Notebooks and Python programming.
4. EOSC350 students are using pre-existing Jupyter notebooks (developed in EOAS) for all labs.

10. Student contributions
1. By May 2021, 6 worklearn or volunteer students will have gained education-oriented collaboration and software skills, especially in use of GitHub. They are currently making significant contributions, which will reflect well on their CV's.

## Additional progress beyond original plans

1. Eosc350
1. Jupyter [notebooks](https://github.com/geoscixyz/gpgLabs) needed a cloud-based server environment so students will be unconstrained by computing capacity. This has been accomplished. Although this work was not identified in the proposal, the work establishes technical and organizational capabilities needed for other courses targeted in this project.
2. Support provided to convert course for online delivery, including use of Canvas.
3. Tool [_text2qti_](https://pypi.org/project/text2qti/) was found and tested to facilitate converting quizzes from PDF (or Word) for Canvas deployment.

2. Eosc 301: serving as a testbed for tools, tactics and technologies. For example:
1. Established student documentation is undergoing revision.
2. Use of GitHub by instructors and students is normal. See [https://clouds.eos.ubc.ca/~phil/courses/atsc301/](https://clouds.eos.ubc.ca/~phil/courses/atsc301/).

3. Scholarly contributions as of October:
1. Aug 14: Presentation at UBC Jupyter Days by P. Austin and student M. Colclough; [Writing Canvas quizzes with Jupyter](https://ubc-dsci.github.io/jupyterdays/schedule/day3.html).
2. July 13: Presentation at Pycon 2020: [https://eoas-ubc.github.io/scipy/scipy\_bof\_slides.slides.html#/](https://eoas-ubc.github.io/scipy/scipy_bof_slides.slides.html#/)
3. August: Abstract submitted for AMS: [https://ams.confex.com/ams/101ANNUAL/11python/papers/viewonly.cgi?password=582729&username=384767](https://ams.confex.com/ams/101ANNUAL/11python/papers/viewonly.cgi?password=582729&username=384767)

4. Eosc340: legacy climate modelling app is being adapted for dashboard deployment.