Short introductory course for learning the basics of R, tailored for ADF&G biologists.
This course does not assume that you have any prior R knowledge, so don't be intimidated!
Attendees will watch the instructor present the PowerPoint presentation. At the end of each section, students will collaboratively write code and save a script, highlighting concepts associated with that section. Next, they will work through a "learnr" tutorial in a guided app to learn a bit more.
In the code folder there are several groups of scripts. In general, these belong to one of three groups.
Tutorials: There are several "learnr" tutorials, each contained in their own folder.
Scripts: A stand-alone script that demonstrates PowerPoint concepts, and will either be reviewed together or independently.
Motivating Examples: Completed scripts showcasing several types of analyses, charts, and data types.
To open the code, ALWAYS start by double clicking the ADFG_R_Intro_Workshop.Rproj file. Next, open the files as normal. This will ensure that the files run properly. Don't worry if this sounds a little confusing, we'll cover all this in class!
Code is numbered to be associated with each section in the PowerPoint, i.e., concepts covered in PowerPoint Section 3 "Programming Basics 1 - Poke the Box" will correspond to code in script 3 and also learnr tutorial 3.
To run the learnr tutorials on your own computer you will need to paste the following code into R and then run it:
install.packages(c("learnr", "shiny", "tidyverse", "lubridate", "scales", "palmerpenguins", "patchwork"))
Then open the desired tutorial script in RStudio and click "Run Document" above the script pane.
Welcome to the course! Your instructors are Justin Priest and Matt Tyers, a biologist and biometrician for ADF&G. We have both learned R through a variety of methods including self-taught instruction, formal courses, reading books, and just by playing around in the program. We designed this course specifically based on many of the difficulties we both encountered on our journey. Justin and Matt both have experience teaching R to others and have taken a workshop on how to improve our teaching styles. That said, please ask us questions at any time!
This course will be split over two days of about 8 hours each day. Before each section we will take a small break.
09:00-09:30 - 1: Course Welcome
09:30-10:30 - 2: About R & RStudio
10:30-12:00 - 3: Programming Basics, Part 1
12:00-13:30 - Lunch Break
13:30-15:00 - 4: Programming Basics, Part 2
15:00-16:30 - 5: Reading Real Data
16:30-17:00 - Review of Material
09:00-09:30 - Welcome Back and Review
09:30-11:00 - 6: Data Manipulation
11:00-12:00 - 7: Amazing Charts in ggplot, Part 1
12:00-13:30 - Lunch Break
13:30-14:30 - 7: Amazing Charts in ggplot, Part 2
14:30-15:00 - 8: The Extras
15:00-16:30 - 9: The Project
16:30-17:00 - 10: The Wrapup
- Recognize basic codes / commands
- Know the how & why of what code does
- Use this knowledge in new situations to create a visualization
- Recall resources to use after the class
Be kind: all else is details. Remember, this includes being kind to YOU
We are teaching & learning this together. Teach each other
Every mistake is a lesson. Ask us or yourself why something didn’t work
Communicate when we're going too fast. Let’s keep this a dialog