NHS-R Community Introduction to R and R Studio

# NHS-R Community Introduction to R and R Studio
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## **Train the Trainer**
### Zoë Turner | January 2022
</br>

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# Agenda

2 hours 
 
Introductions
  
Quick run through of materials
  
Technical
  
Tips and tricks
  
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# Introductions

Questions for you!

* What is your name?
* Why do you want to train the introduction to R and R Studio course?
* What are you most apprehensive about when thinking about training?

???

Get people talking! Introduce themselves to the group if small enough.

Like the actual course, this is also an informal space where there is no "stupid question".

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# Quick run through

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# Materials

All the materials are free to use and published online:

- [GitHub repository](https://github.com/nhs-r-community/intro_r)
- [Links to rendered slides](https://nhs-r-community.github.io/intro_r/)
- [Prettified website](https://philosopher-analyst.netlify.app/collection/) - free to use but hosted by Netlify through my account. Has [pre-work set up](https://philosopher-analyst.netlify.app/collection/nhsr-intro/prework/) and [FAQs](https://philosopher-analyst.netlify.app/collection/nhsr-intro/faq/)

???
Open each link and look around the resources. Not everyone will necessarily be familiar with things like GitHub.

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# RMarkdown

* Teaching RMarkdown can be tricky - see this [blog](https://www.apreshill.com/blog/2020-05-how-i-teach-r-markdown/) from Alison Hill who is amazing at all things RMarkdown

???
I'm reluctant to drop RMarkdown from the introduction course as, although it comes at the end of the course when everyone is tired (if it's a day workshop), it's such a powerful tool to combine all that people learn in the day.

Saying that, the NHS-R Community has commissioned a specific [RMarkdown workshop](https://github.com/nhs-r-community/intro_rmd) that was run at the 2021 conference so I often mention this as a future possibility in courses through NHS-R Community.

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# Run through the section

* Use the wizard template for creating a template RMarkdown 
* Detail the main parts:
  - YAML
  - Visual Markdown Editor (in the latest version of R Studio)
  - Markdown language
  - Index of headers (button next to the compass/A for Visual Markdown Editor)
  - Chunk names in bottom of Editor
  - Global options for chunks (warnings, error, eval, echo)
  - Point out that the code is not ggplot2 but uses base R for the plot </br>

* Show how to Knit the document (it will require saving)
* Suggest changing the title and then re-knitting
* Then show my more detailed RMarkdown

???
Use the opportunity to highlight the work of other NHS-R Community members. For example, the RMarkdown examples are heavily based upon the work by Simon Wellesley-Miller who has both created a readable, standalone RMarkdown document and was recorded in a workshop at an NHS-R Community conference.

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## Flexibility

* You don't have to follow the section order

???
1 The order of the slides was from the [original presentation slides](https://github.com/andrw-jns/r_workshop) which were based on the order of the [R for Data Science](https://r4ds.had.co.nz/) book so starts with ggplot2.

* You don't have to do a one day workshop

???
2 The course can be broken up over 2 or more days to suit you and who you are training.

* You don't have to train all the sections

???
3 [Section 11](https://philosopher-analyst.netlify.app/collection/nhsr-intro/11-sql-connection/) on SQL connections was written by Chris Mainey and Emily Jones of NHS England/Improvement and I haven't been able to pace the day (yet!) to cover this appropriately.
--

* You don't have to have a helper

???
4 It's fantastic to have a helper but there can be occasions when that's not possible. NHS-R Community always sit on the call just in case you drop your own connection and are super fast at replying to emails to the central [email](mailto:nhs.rcommunity@nhs.net) and, of course, there is always [Slack](nhsrcommunity.slack.com).

* End on a positive - You can contribute to changes to the course

???
5 Contributions and corrections can be made to the materials through [pull requests](https://github.com/nhs-r-community/intro_r#cloning-this-repository) or [issues](https://github.com/nhs-r-community/intro_r/issues)

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# Technical - Zoom

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# Beware!

* Zoom restrictions in Trusts 
* Overlays other programs 
* Chat needs to be clicked on to open
* Late arrivals or people dropping in and out lose chat history

???

1 The licence is owned and run by NHS-R Community but sharing of the link may be blocked by your security

2 Try to have two screens if possible.

The most comfortable set up I've found is to have the R Studio Cloud on half a screen, with the slides on the other half. Being {xaringan} they automatically resize. I leave the laptop screen for Zoom to see participants and the chat.

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# Attendee communication

* People often work with their camera off!
* The chat is very popular for asking questions/clarification
* Screen sharing has been really helpful for all attendees

???
1 It can feel like you are talking to yourself. If you are comfortable watch for your own face. There is some research that this isn't a good thing necessarily but it's guaranteed feedback in terms of seeing a human face.

3 Eagle eyed attendees sometimes spot the problem before I do!
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# Tricks

* Possible to write directly onto your screen  
* Break out rooms are available
* Settings for sharing the screen by other people
* Settings for messaging people in the waiting room or muting people as they enter automatically

???
2 I've only used break out rooms when I've had a helper to splitting into R Studio v own computer set up or if someone is struggling and needs more interaction to solve the issue.

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# Technical - R Studio Cloud

???

Take a quick break?

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# Benefits

Use NHS-R Workspace - log in via Gmail, R Studio account of GitHub

* All packages are installed
* Default settings for appearance
* Useful to set up two accounts 
* README in R Studio includes private links

???

3 Two accounts - one to see things as a trainer (and doesn't have admin rights if they have been given on the workspace)

If you work from the original workspace, rather than setting up a new one, then remember to reset the settings that you've changed ([Restore .RData](https://nhs-r-community.github.io/intro_r/01-workshop_intro.html#26), [Text and appearance](https://nhs-r-community.github.io/intro_r/01-workshop_intro.html#27))

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# Beware!

* Cloud projects are different
* Keyboard shortcut to create a new script opens an [Incognito browser window](https://nhs-r-community.github.io/intro_r/01-workshop_intro.html#23) 
* Although rare, the Cloud has been unavailable to the group
* Project creation isn't necessarily intuitive 
* It doesn't work on Internet Explorer

???
1 [slide6 of Using R Studio section](https://nhs-r-community.github.io/intro_r/02-workshop_projects.html#6)

4 [Instructions for pre-work](https://philosopher-analyst.netlify.app/collection/nhsr-intro/prework/) are written to help with the set up and seem to be working well.

5 Some people still have this as the default browser due to other NHS program dependencies.

The [FAQ](https://philosopher-analyst.netlify.app/collection/nhsr-intro/faq/#why-does-the-course-use-the-cloud) explains some of the reasoning why I use both (where available).

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# Technical - {xaringan slides}

???

These are {xaringan} and I also recommend {xaringanExtra} for some interactive add ons

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## Benefits

* Slides resize automatically
* Getting them from the html site means they are up-to-date
* The html pages can be downloaded from the [GitHub repository](https://github.com/nhs-r-community/intro_r/tree/gh-pages) 
* They are accessible and can be read by a screen reader

???

The html files are self-contained which means that they should be available to use offline and without supporting files (like .css or images).

You can save these in advance of the workshops just-in-case, as the pre-work details for downloading the [data files](https://philosopher-analyst.netlify.app/collection/nhsr-intro/prework/#course-materials) used in the course.

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# Tips and Tricks

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# So much to learn!

There is a temptation to impart too much of your knowledge

We need a balance of referring to things we can already do and hint at what is possible.

???
Link to what you and participants know already around SQL/Excel (are common) or statistics packages.

You might get...

> "I do all of this in SQL already, why do I need R?"

Paraphrased quote from a _previous participant to one of the courses_

... so you might wish to explain why R is good for your work, what attracts you to using R?

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# Live coding

* You'll make mistakes and that's a good thing
--

* Read out what you type, as you type it

???
2 When you read out your code you'll repeat yourself, that's a good thing
--

* Show when things can go wrong

???

Just be slightly careful that you don't do too much 'incorrect' coding as that may, inadvertently stick, particularly if people are not quite paying attention
--

* Make your mouse icon bigger on the screen (Windows/Mouse pointer)

???
If it's possible to show, demonstrate this.
 
--

* If you move your mouse about, try to do it calmly

???

Give an example of showing something by wiggling around the word on the screen versus highlighting it or just pointing to the word.

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# Highlight new terminology

Example: table

* In SQL it's a "table"
* In R it's a "data frame" (or "tibble") - these are new concepts
* Vectors and lists are objects in R

???

This might be the very first time the person has heard the R vocabulary, or concept so repeating even if that sounds odd to you, is a good thing.

I try not to get into too much detail around vectors and where it says c() for combine I often stumble and say it's a list BUT that a list is a defined thing in R so that's not the right thing to say but vector is not something I've seen before.

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# Timing

* Take mini breaks 
* Encourage people to get up and away from the screen
* Exercises require silence which is uncomfortable

???
Everyone benefits from a break.

Timing can be built into RMarkdown using  [{countdown}](https://github.com/gadenbuie/countdown) package. This hasn't (yet!) been added into the workshop slides.

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# NHS-R Admin team

The lovely NHS-R Community Admin team for example:

* Manage the event
* Send out the email with links on preparatory work
* Collate feedback from the event
* Register attendees and send out certificates of attendance

[<img class="center" alt="Coffee cup in a heart made of beans on a desk. Photo by Jessica Lewis Creative" src=https://images.pexels.com/photos/867470/pexels-photo-867470.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940 width="40%"/>](https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-ceramic-mug-filled-with-brown-liquid-on-heart-shaped-coffee-beans-867470/)

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# It's more than learning R...

It's encouraging people to be part of our community.

We are all part of it and are here to support!

[<img class="center" alt="People in a circle with their hands all reaching to a central point from the circle. Only their hands can be seen. Photo by Dio Hasbi Saniskoro" src=https://images.pexels.com/photos/3280130/pexels-photo-3280130.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=1&w=500 width="40%"/>](https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-doing-group-hand-cheer-3280130/)

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# Further reading

https://education.rstudio.com/teach/

https://wtf-teach.netlify.app/