How to use this site

Introduction

This WIO data training course was based on an interactive course that was held in June-August 2021. As training on data standardisation, formatting and visualisation has been identified as a key capability component for the WIO regional node, this project aimed to compile materials from the original course and structure the materials as a “self-paced” course.

This process combined clips of video and data examples from the original course, so course participants should be aware that some dates and references in the instruction materials may seem out of context.

Navigating the Course materials

The course material is organised into individual training Modules which have been organised as horizontal “menu” items, including:

• About - Background on how to use this site
• Monitoring - Tips on converting field data from monitoring into digital data for analysis
• Context - Provides broader context for this training course
• Standards - Introduction to the standards used by the GCRMN for coral reef monitoring
• Formatting - Core skills for standardising & formatting data for analysis
• Visualisation - Basic data visualisation for Status & Trends for coral reefs
• Spatial - Useful skills for putting your data in a spatial context
• Covariates - Skills for linking data tables for covariates (e.g. site characteristics, taxonomy)
• Reporting - How to include clean data and visualisations into reproducible reporting
• Reference - Additional links for further development of R skills

As the information in each module aims to build on successive modules, our recommendation is for course participants to progress through individual modules in sequence. Participants that have more advanced skills (e.g. already have mastery of data formatting) can jump to more advanced topics to build on specific skills.

Our intention is to add/modify modules for particular courses, and this course format provides us with a flexible structure in which to make such changes in future.

Module evaluations

At the end of each training module, we are including a short evaluation form to receive feedback on the course materials. Completing the forms will help us to gauge the suitability of the training materials and make improvements where needed.

These evaluations use Googleforms. If you do not already have a Google account, instructions on how to create one can be found here.

Using your Google account to fill out the form helps us keep track of individual participants’ progress and understand the reach of this course. If you work for an organisation and use a general organisation account, we ask that you use or create an individual account to assist in tracking individuals’ progress.

All responses and information supplied in the evaluations are confidential and will only be used for producing general statistics about the course.

How to get in touch

If you have additional questions or are needing support to complete the training materials in this course, please send a short email with your name, organisation and question to:

We are currently automating this as part of site access, which will automate the registration process.

This initial contact will also provide you a contact if you have questions or require further assistance with material on the site. As part of the role in coordinating the WIO regional node for the GCRMN, this will also allow us to keep track of further training needs and improvements to the training materials.