Launching An Research Data Management Toolkit: Creating and Adapting Oer In and Across Contexts

Educational materials for research data management (RDM) that support both synchronous instruction and asynchronous learning are important to service delivery models, particularly when providing services in a distance education context, with distributed staff and students. This presentation will discuss how a team who support researchers at Athabasca University developed, adapted, and deployed an open educational resource (OER) in the form of a toolkit for research data management (RDM) in the cloud. Our team members span three different departments that support researchers (information technology (IT), research office, and library), with backgrounds in research computing and cloud architecture, research data management, open educational resources, and knowledge mobilization. Additionally, three faculty researchers worked with us to develop detailed examples based on their own work.

Our aim in creating the OER is to address specific local needs for instruction while also creating a toolkit that can be adapted by others. The toolkit is composed of introductory materials on RDM and cloud computing, accompanied by specific tools and scenarios to demonstrate data management plans, including storage decisions, version control, and different types of project documentation. We tested the materials in an initial workshop and have created a Pressbook for distribution. In addition to presenting the development of the toolkit, we will discuss how the project was adapted to address changing needs at our institution as well as our next steps as we continue to incorporate it into our service offerings.