Participation

We invite participation spanning scientific disciplines (social, natural, computational), career stage, and professional roles (faculty, librarians, or other staff supporting computational or quantitative research). We particularly encourage participation from experts in liberal arts education, science and technology studies, or the humanities who are interested in the role reproducibility and replicability may play in the liberal arts curriculum. The midd.data program may provide additional support for Middlebury faculty participation, and academic deans or provosts may provide additional support from other AALAC member faculty.

Application

Please prepare a pdf of your CV and consider answers to four short questions. A short paragraph of a few sentences will be sufficient for each.

  1. Are you currently participating, or have you recently participated, in any groups, activities, or projects related to reproducibility or replication in higher education? If yes, please list or describe them.
  2. Please describe what you think the main strengths of the liberal arts are with respect to teaching reproducibility and/or replicability.
  3. Please describe a teaching or research experience, resource, or assignment related to reproducibility & replicability that you would like to share with other liberal arts scholars.
  4. Please describe an aspect of your courses, curriculum, or research with liberal arts students that you would like to develop or improve with regard to reproducibility or replicability.

Preparation

A Google Drive collaborative space for the workshop is available to participants only here.
As the date approaches, participants will be asked to fill a form for meal preferences.
Participants should bring a laptop or tablet for collaborative writing, enthusiasm, and comfortable walking / light hiking shoes. The welcome dinner is in a more formal venue while the remainder of the workshop is in comfortable venues.

R&R in the Classroom Session

We ask participants to select a syllabus, lesson, workshop, or similar pedagogical material related to reproducibility and/or replicability for peer discussion and review in breakout groups. For some participants, this may be a course or lesson in which you’d like to add or improve R&R components in teh future. For other participants, this may be best practices and approaches you’d like to share with the group. Participants in the workshop may upload the material to this google drive folder.

R&R in the Curriculum

For this session, participants should be familiar with the requirements and course descriptions for the majors and minors they are most closely affiliated with. In breakout groups, we will share and discuss ways to best integrate R&R into curricula at multiple levels.

R&R in the Liberal Arts College

For this session, participants should be familiar with the institutional context for R&R at their college, including:

  • Mission and strategic goals
  • Distribution / general education requirements
  • Cross-curricular or interdisciplinary programs and support, e.g. Middlebury’s midd.data program funds projects, supports interdisciplinary data science courses, and hosts research talks.

In breakout groups, we will share and discuss ways to align reproducibility and replicability with the liberal arts mission and to support R&R within liberal arts colleges.

Schedule

  • Sunday, July 14 : Arrival
  • Monday, July 15 : Kirk Alumni Center
    • Breakfast 8:00-8:45
    • Welcome Orientation 8:45-9:20
    • Guest Speaker Peter Kedron, University of California Santa Barbara 9:30-10:15
    • Break 10:15-10:45
    • Guest Speaker Anne Nurse, The College of Wooster 10:45-11:30
    • Lunch 11:45-12:45
    • R&R in the Classroom 12:45-2:15
      • Lightning Talks by Laurie Tupper (Mount Holyoke) and Scott Lacombe (Smith College)
      • Breakout Groups
      • Report Back
    • Break 2:15-2:45
    • R&R in the Curriculum 2:45-4:15
      • Lightning Talks by Matthew Lavin (Denison) and Ben Gebre-Medhin (Mount Holyoke)
      • Breakout Groups
      • Report Back
    • Dinner 5:30-
  • Tuesday, July 16 : Kirk Alumni Center
    • Breakfast 8:00-8:45
    • R&R in the Liberal Arts College 8:45-10:15
      • Lightning Talks by Sarah Supp (Denison) and Emmanuel Kaparakis (Wesleyan)
      • Breakout Groups
      • Report Back
    • Break 10:15-10:45
    • Soap Box 10:45-11:00 (pariticipants: sign-up)
    • Sythesis Discussion 11:00-11:45
    • Lunch 11:45-12:45
    • Outline white paper 12:45-2:15 (paper on R&R in the Liberal Arts classroom, curriculum, and college)
    • Break 2:15-2:45
    • Social walk / hike / outing
    • Dinner 5:30-
  • Wednesday, July 17 : Middlebury Inn
    • Breakfast 8:00-8:45
    • Planning future collaboration 8:45-11:45
    • Departure Lunch 11:45

Locations

Here is information about getting to Middlebury, Vermont

Lodging: Historic Middlebury Inn. Participants just need to provide their name, ID, and credit for any additional/incidental costs at the Inn to access their room. Check-in starts at 4pm.

Welcome Dinner: Jessica’s at Swift House Inn will host our welcome dinner in the library.

Meeting Room for Monday and Tuesday: Kirk Alumni Center at the Middlebury College Ralph Myhre Golf Course. Middlebury has the eduroam WiFi network. Parking is free without passes at the Kirk Alumni Center lots on Golf Course Rd.

Meeting Room for Wednesday morning: The Williard Room in the Middlebury Inn.

Digital spaces for workshop participants

Expenses

Three nights of lodging (July 14, 15, and 16) and all meals will be covered for invited participants. Participants shall travel to and from Middlebury, Vermont at their own expense, and many AALAC colleges support participation in these workshops. There is no registration fee or per diem payment associated with the workshop.