Educational resources to make the best out of work from home periods during the corona pandemic
Around the world, many researchers have found themselves in self-isolation, and are unable to continue performing lab-based studies. However, this can be an opportunity to learn and expand professional and scientific horizons. We have created a list of resources to help you make the best of this strange and challenging time, and increase the quality of your research in the future.
I want to...
- 1. …manage my data better
- 2. …try out systematic reviews and meta‐analyses
- 3. …brush up on statistics.
- 4. …improve my programming skills
- 5. …improve my peer review skills
- 6. …plan new and better experiments for when I get back to the lab.
- 7. …make better figures.
- 8. …work on my scientific writing and reporting
| Name | Best Practices for Biomedical Research Data Management |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online course from Harvard Medical School |
| Details | Topics related to research data management (e.g. data types & formats, data storage & archiving, data sharing, policies, data management plans) |
| Credit available? | Free certificate |
| URL | bit.ly/3bmHif9 |
| More information | If you are members of BIH/Charité/MDC: For further resources on data management and data sharing, with a discipline‐specific focus where available, please contact evgeny.bobrov@bihealth.de. He will also support you with your implementation of RDM practices (e.g. documenting and validating data, choosing a repository, finding data for reuse, writing a data management plan) |
2. …try out systematic reviews and meta‐analyses
| Name | Cochrane Interactive Learning |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online courses from Cochrane Center, available free to members of the Charité |
| Details | Introduction to conducting systematic reviews for intervention studies |
| Credit available? | Certificate |
| URL | Instructions on how to register: bit.ly/ChariteSR |
| Cochrane Interactive Learning: bit.ly/3bqNfYy |
| Name | Systematic Reviews of Animal Studies |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online course from SYRCLE (SYstematic Review Center for Laboratory animal Experimentation, Radboud University) |
| Details | Introduction to conducting systematic reviews in animal studies |
| Credit available? | Unclear |
| URL | bit.ly/2WThYtl (use registration code “syrcle”!) |
| More information | If you are members of BIH/Charité/MDC: we have a new facility to help researchers plan and perform systematic review and meta‐ analysis of animal studies: CAMARADES (Collaborative Approach to Meta‐analysis & Review of Data from Experimental Studies) Contact: sarah.mccann@charite.de; bit.ly/CAMARADESberlin |
| Read about why we perform systematic reviews of animal studies: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4013765/ |
| Name | Points of Significance | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of resource | 'Nature Collection' of explanatory articles designed for biologists | ||
| Details | Curated collection of short pieces on key concepts in statistics | ||
| Credit available? | no | ||
| URL | go.nature.com/33I0v8s | ||
| More information | A link to similar resources from other publishers: go.nature.com/3dDsLxE |
| Name | Improving Your Statistical Inference |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Intermediate Coursera online course from Daniel Lakens |
| Details | Learn to better understand statistics for empirical research and experimental design |
| Credit available? | Basic participation free, can pay to fully enroll and have access to all course materials and certificate of completion |
| URL | bit.ly/3aj6u5T |
4. …improve my programming skills
| Name | RStudio’s Beginners’ Site |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online resource collection |
| Details | Step‐by‐step installation instructions and recommended reading from the makers of RStudio. In the Primer Section you can program yourself in your browser and practice on exercises |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/2wzOR3a |
| Name | R Programming |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Beginner online course from Coursera and Johns Hopkins University |
| Details | Provides and introduction to R and practical issues in statistical computing |
| Credit available? | Basic participation free, can pay to fully enroll and have access to all course materials and certificate of completion |
| URL | bit.ly/39fAhuX |
| Name | Learn Python 3 |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online Course from Codecademy |
| Details | Introduction to general programming concepts with Python. Free version offers interactive lessons and daily practice, pro version has additional resources and “portfolio‐building” function |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/3ahT6Pv |
| Name | GitHub Learning Lab |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online resource collection |
| Details | Courses and project from the makers of GitHub to help users improve their version control |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/3ak4ISe |
| More information | GitLab also has online training available: bit.ly/2UiFn5r |
| Name | Science of Science Reading List |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Curated list of helpful papers |
| Details | Helps potential peer reviewers learn to identify & fix common problems with scientific papers |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/3bsylke |
| Name | Publons Academy Course |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online course from Publons aimed at early career researchers |
| Details | Interactive course with exercises and feedback from mentors |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/2Uj0Uem |
| More information | Many publishing companies also offer free “in‐house” for peer reviewers. Here are a few examples: |
| Nature: go.nature.com/3bnjOGH | |
| Elsevier: bit.ly/2WGX5kJ | |
| Wiley: bit.ly/2Uzd8yy | |
| Wolters‐Kluwers: bit.ly/33J78ao | |
| The EQUATOR Network also provides excellent field‐specific guidance and guidelines for reviewers: bit.ly/3aikrkR |
6. …plan new and better experiments for when I get back to the lab.
| Name | Aspredicted |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Tool to generate quick preregistration template for you and your coauthors |
| Details | Asks a series of simple questions about your study and generates a (citeable) PDF and URL for your project |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/2wwAnBo |
| More information | The Open Science Framework also provides templates and online infrastructure for project preregistrations: bit.ly/3btPdYc If you’re conducting preclinical experiments, you can also consider the Preclinicaltrials.eu database: bit.ly/39n8VTI |
| Name | Experimental Design Assistant |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online tool from NC3Rs |
| Details | Helps streamline and reduce bias in planning of animal studies |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/2UiIKJD |
| More information | The NC3rRs also has lots of e‐learning opportunities for improving scientific practice and animal welfare: bit.ly/2QKcjBO |
| Name | protocols.io |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Webinar from protocols.io |
| Details | Learn how to share and cite your protocols to make your research more transparent and reproducible |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/2UFqCIS |
| Name | Webinar Report: Everything you need to know about Research Resource Identifiers |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Webinar from eLife |
| Details | Ever had problems implementing a protocol because you couldn’t determine what animal, antibody, plasmid, software tool, etc. the authors used? Find out how you can use research resource identifiers to quickly solve this problem. |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/2Uhc6YO |
| Name | Electronic Laboratory Notebook Training |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online training from the QUEST Center |
| Details | A short course in English or German on how to use electronic lab notebooks |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/3dueiUx |
| More information | If you are members of BIH/Charité/MDC: For more information, contact ingo.przesdzing@charite.de |
7. …make better figures.
| Name | Webinar Report: Transforming data visualisation to improve transparency and reproducibility |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Webinar from eLife |
| Details | Find out why you shouldn’t use a bar graph for continuous data, and what to use instead |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/2UBZsCW |
| More information | Twitter thread outlining some of the key concepts: |
| bit.ly/39ngV7e |
| Name | Sample Size Matters |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online course from the Mayo Clinic, 9‐12 hours, $50 USD |
| Details | Learn to identify and fix common problems with data visualization and analysis in small sample size studies |
| Credit available? | Certificate |
| URL | mayocl.in/3dz7STY |
| Name | Data visualization, bar naked: A free tool for creating interactive graphics |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Paper and accompanying resources for visualizing and interacting with data |
| Details | Using small sample‐size studies, the authors provide examples of best (and worst!) practices, as well as tools to explore them yourself |
| Credit available? | No |
| URL | bit.ly/39k6yBo |
| More information | Want to learn more about transforming data visualization? Check out this paper: bit.ly/2UmbykH |
8. …work on my scientific writing and reporting
| Name | Writing in the Sciences |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online course from Coursera and Stanford |
| Details | This course teaches scientists to become more effective writers, using practical examples and exercises |
| Credit available? | Basic participation free, can pay to fully enroll and have access to all course materials and certificate of completion |
| URL | bit.ly/33L1YuI |
| Name | Massive Science |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | Online training for authors from Massive Science |
| Details | One‐time membership fee ($10 USD) provides training on scientific communication, with emphasis on narrative and sharing findings with non‐scientific audience |
| Credit available? | No, but you can write for their online publication after you’ve finished the training |
| URL | massivesci.com/consortium/ |