In OLS, our learners are mentees, often referred to as project leaders, as they develop projects by implementing their Open Seeds learning. Read about mentees and their responsibilities.
Each Open Seeds cohort is organised by a team comprised of OLS staff and community volunteers, who manage resources, coordinate mentors and mentees, and provide ongoing support throughout the learning process. Read about facilitators.
Identify the persona that best aligns with your expectations for this program, whether as an Open Seeds learner or organiser for group-based learning.
Reference: Tools and Resources for Teaching Programming - Developed by The Carpentries community
Group-based Learning organised by ‘Trainers’ or Organisers¶
Each of these personas, although fictionalised, have been created using real-world example
- Gracielle: The Contextual Adapter. Gracielle, a previous mentor of Open Seeds, learns about the Open Seeds’ reusable materials and recognises their value for her work. She manages to secure funding to organise training for her research lab, adapting materials with field-specific examples and inviting expert mentors from within her institute for mentorship support and panel discussions.
- Taj: The Resourceful Facilitator. Taj is committed to delivering Open Seeds for a new cohort, but faces time and funding constraints to work with the OLS team and fund cost associated with expert and mentor recruitment. He leverages the organiser’s handbook for finalising a training plan and replaces 1:1 mentorship with open discussion calls that he hosts himself, ensuring learners can address their questions.
- Lena: The Community Builder. Lena is passionate about fostering open science within her research domains. She establishes partnership with OLS and her institute’s library to host Open Seeds workshop. Focusing on accessibility and inclusivity for diverse participants, she seeks out and offers stipend for each learner, as well as offers funding from her supporting accessibility requirements for participants from underrepresented groups.
- Carlos: The Institutional Integrator. Carlos, a research staff, is responsible for establishing an open science champions program across departments. He leverages Open Seeds as the core curriculum, tailoring it to align with the institution’s policies and research objectives. His focus is on empowering open science champions by enhancing their leadership abilities and facilitating the launch of community-engaged projects. To ensure sustainability, he and his department develop reusable open science workflows, which the trained champions are equipped to implement and promote throughout the institute.
- Mishka: The Collaborative Catalyst. Mishka is part of a Skills team that supports a distributed research network. They use the Open Seeds materials to organise a series of online workshops for network members, emphasising collaborative tools and practices. They facilitates cross-project knowledge sharing and encourages the development to maintain shared open resources for both learners and educators.
Individual Learner for Self-Paced Learning
- Seun: The Flexible Learner. Seun discovers the Open Seeds materials and plans a self-paced learning journey. Despite time constraints, he utilises the 16-week plan to schedule dedicated learning blocks (1.5-2 hours per session) and integrate the knowledge into his new project.
- Deborah: The Career Enhancer. Deborah is an early-career researcher looking to improve his research profile. She sees Open Seeds as an opportunity to gain practical skills in open science, which he believes will make his work more visible and impactful. She meticulously follows the curriculum and actively participates in online forums to network with other learners.
- Jyoti: The Skill Refiner. Jyoti has some experience with open science but wants to deepen her knowledge and refine her practices. She uses Open Seeds to fill gaps in her understanding and explore advanced topics, such as open data management and reproducible workflows. She uses the resources to improve her current workflows.
- Paula: The Project-Focused Learner. Paula has a specific project in mind and wants to apply open science principles from the start. They uses the Open Seeds materials as a practical guide, selecting relevant modules and adapting them to his project’s needs. They documents his progress and shares his experiences with his project team.
- Doaa: The Curious Explorer. Doaa is new to open science and is driven by a genuine curiosity to learn more about its principles and practices. She approaches the Open Seeds materials with an open mind, exploring different topics and engaging with the community. She enjoys the self reflection aspects of the course.
Mentorship and Accountability¶
The OLS team provides mentorship support in Open Seeds. Read about mentors and their responsibilities.
Although, in self-paced learning, mentoring is a matter of personal preference, we strongly recommend finding an experienced open science practitioner or a peer as an “accountability buddy” for bi-weekly check-ins (refer to the Open Seeds resources for the benefits of mentorship/accountability).
Alternatively, learners can utilise the provided progress check-in document for themselves after each learning session.