Help shape the future of open science education for librarians
Our lessons need instructors to test them in diverse contexts. Get recognized as a contributor and join our community of practice.
Lesson piloting is the process of teaching a lesson under development to a real audience and providing feedback to help refine it. It's a crucial part of The Carpentries lesson development process.
When you pilot a lesson, you're not just helping us test curriculum—you're actively shaping how librarians worldwide will learn about open science. Your feedback directly influences the lesson's final form, making it more effective for diverse audiences and teaching contexts.
Piloting isn't just helping us—it's a valuable professional development opportunity for you
Be acknowledged as a contributor in lesson metadata and citations. Your name will be associated with cutting-edge open science curriculum.
Be among the first to teach new open science curriculum before it's widely available. Stay ahead of trends in library services.
Connect with open science educators across libraries worldwide. Share experiences and learn from peers in our community of practice.
Your feedback directly influences the final lesson. Help ensure lessons work for diverse audiences and institutional contexts.
Expand your skills in teaching open science methods and tools. Deepen your own understanding by teaching others.
Help librarians worldwide support open science in their communities. Contribute to the global open science movement.
The pilot process is straightforward. Here's what to expect:
Browse our Alpha or Beta lessons below and select one that matches your interests, expertise, and audience. You can pilot all or part of a lesson.
Read through the lesson content, instructor notes, and setup instructions. We'll provide you with teaching guides and feedback templates.
~2-4 hours preparation
Deliver the lesson to your learners in-person, hybrid, or virtual. Don't worry about perfection—we want honest feedback on what works and what doesn't.
Varies by lesson (1.5-4 hours typically)
Use our templates to gather feedback from learners and observers during the workshop. Note what worked well, what was confusing, and timing issues.
~30 minutes
Submit a brief pilot report sharing your experience, feedback, and suggestions. You can use our web form or GitHub issue template.
~30-60 minutes
Participate in optional community debrief sessions to discuss your experience with lesson authors and other pilots. Share insights and learn from others.
10 lessons are ready for piloting. Choose one that interests you!
| Lesson | Status | Level | Duration | Topics | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open and Reproducible Research Cloud Workflows: A Firsthand Experience for Librarians | 🟡 Alpha | Intermediate | 3h 08m | Pilot This | |
| Collaborative Multilingual Search and Discovery Systems | 🟡 Alpha | Intermediate | 3h 00m | Pilot This | |
| Authoring Open Science | 🟡 Alpha | Introductory | 3h 00m | Pilot This | |
| Creating Data Dashboards for Open Science Using the R Programming Language | 🟡 Alpha | Intermediate | 3h 36m | Pilot This | |
| Research Community Outreach with Open Science Team Agreements | 🟡 Alpha | Introductory | 2h 15m | Pilot This | |
| A Path to Open, Inclusive, and Collaborative Science for Librarians | 🟡 Alpha | Introductory | TBD | Pilot This | |
| Open Qualitative Research (Taguette) | 🟡 Alpha | Introductory | TBD | Pilot This | |
| A gentle, hands-on introduction to containers and virtual machines | 🔵 Beta | Intermediate | 3h 00m | Pilot This | |
| Data Management (and Sharing) Plans for Librarians 101 | 🔵 Beta | Introductory | TBD | Pilot This | |
| Open Qualitative Research (QualCoder) | 🔵 Beta | Introductory | 4h 00m | Pilot This |
| Lesson | Level | Duration | Topics | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open and Reproducible Research Cloud Workflows: A Firsthand Experience for Librarians | Intermediate | 3h 08m | Pilot This | |
| Collaborative Multilingual Search and Discovery Systems | Intermediate | 3h 00m | Pilot This | |
| Authoring Open Science | Introductory | 3h 00m | Pilot This | |
| Creating Data Dashboards for Open Science Using the R Programming Language | Intermediate | 3h 36m | Pilot This | |
| Research Community Outreach with Open Science Team Agreements | Introductory | 2h 15m | Pilot This | |
| A Path to Open, Inclusive, and Collaborative Science for Librarians | Introductory | TBD | Pilot This | |
| Open Qualitative Research (Taguette) | Introductory | TBD | Pilot This |
| Lesson | Level | Duration | Topics | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A gentle, hands-on introduction to containers and virtual machines | Intermediate | 3h 00m | Pilot This | |
| Data Management (and Sharing) Plans for Librarians 101 | Introductory | TBD | Pilot This | |
| Open Qualitative Research (QualCoder) | Introductory | 4h 00m | Pilot This |
Browse the lessons above and select one that interests you and fits your audience. Consider your learners' backgrounds and your own comfort with the topic.
Click the button below to open a Pilot Interest Issue on our GitHub repository. This is the best way for us to track requests and coordinate with lesson authors.
We'll reply to your issue, send you the instructor guide and feedback templates, and answer any questions. We're here to support you throughout the process!
We use GitHub Issues to manage our pilot program. It keeps our development transparent and ensures you get credit for your contribution in our project history.
Requires a GitHub account. If you don't have one, it's a great first step in engaging with open science tools!
Open Pilot Interest Issue Don't have a GitHub account?
Email us at tdennis@library.ucla.edu
and we'll help you get started.
No! You can pilot all or part of a lesson. Some instructors pilot a single episode or section that fits their workshop schedule. Any amount of piloting is valuable—even teaching one episode provides useful feedback about pacing, clarity, and learner comprehension.
That's perfectly fine! In fact, instructors who are learning alongside their students often provide valuable feedback about which concepts are confusing or need better explanation. The lesson materials include instructor guides to help you prepare.
If you're comfortable teaching the basics of a topic to your typical library audience, you're qualified to pilot. The authors are available to answer questions as you prepare.
Perfect! Finding problems is exactly what piloting is for. We expect there to be issues—that's why we need pilots. Your honest feedback about what doesn't work is just as valuable (if not more valuable) than feedback about what does work.
Simply note any issues you encounter (confusing explanations, technical problems, timing issues, etc.) in your pilot report. The lesson authors will use your feedback to improve the lesson.
Yes, but with caveats. Minor adaptations (changing examples to fit your context, adjusting pacing, skipping optional exercises) are fine and expected. However, please try to teach the lesson as written as much as possible—we need to test the actual content.
If you make significant modifications, please note them in your pilot report. Sometimes your adaptations will reveal ways to improve the lesson for everyone!
Preparation: 2-4 hours to review materials and prepare
Teaching: Varies by lesson (typically 1.5-4 hours)
Feedback collection: 30 minutes during/after workshop
Reporting: 30-60 minutes to write up your experience
Total time commitment is usually 4-9 hours depending on the lesson length and how much you already know about the topic.
Absolutely! Pilots are recognized in several ways:
Your contribution to open science education is valued and will be formally acknowledged.
No problem! You can use the web form on this page to express interest and submit your pilot report. We'll handle the GitHub side of things. While we encourage learning GitHub (it's a useful skill for open science!), it's not required for piloting.
Yes! If you have the time and interest, you're welcome to pilot multiple lessons. Some instructors pilot one episode from several different lessons to explore various topics. Others pilot complete lessons over time as they integrate them into their workshop series.
Just let us know which lessons you're interested in when you express interest.
Alpha lessons are being taught by the original authors and are ready for their first external pilots. These lessons may have more rough edges, and your feedback will significantly shape their development. You'll be among the very first to teach this content.
Beta lessons have already been piloted by one or more external instructors and are working well. We're seeking additional pilots to test them in diverse contexts (different institutions, audiences, teaching modalities) before broader adoption. These lessons are more polished but still benefit from broader validation.
There's no strict deadline! Some pilots teach within a few weeks, others plan workshops several months out. When you express interest, let us know your approximate timeline. We'll work with your schedule.
That said, timely feedback is more useful to lesson authors. If you can pilot within 1-3 months of expressing interest, that's ideal, but we're flexible.
Pilot testimonials will be added here as we receive feedback from instructors. Be among the first to contribute!
Your testimonial could be here! After you pilot a lesson, we'd love to feature your experience to inspire other instructors.
We're here to help! Don't hesitate to reach out if you need more information or have questions about piloting.