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Online Work Experience - Courses Available

  • Introduction to R Coding

    £125 – part-time course requiring approximately 40 hours to complete

    The ability to code in R is fast becoming an essential skill for all professional scientists or students wanting to progress into PhD research and beyond. But the level of R teaching varies massively between universities, leaving many students at a disadvantage, whilst others find they would benefit from being taught multiple times in order to feel comfortable applying R to their own work. Coding in R can seem extremely daunting, or something only those with advanced computer skills can manage, and whether students realise it or not this fear of the unknown is usually the biggest obstacle to becoming a proficient coder because in reality it’s a lot easier than people think! This course will therefore focus primarily on building students’ confidence with using R. We will start with the basics, assuming zero prior experience, and gradually work through a range of different uses for R, with a particular focus on data visualisation by producing graphs but also covering how to run simple statistical tests and how to create maps.

    *Start dates

    • This course is part-time and can be completed over any timeframe that fits around a student’s other commitments – start date is completely flexible and can be agreed with our team after booking

     

    Book Here
  • Advanced R Coding

    (Applicants must have already completed our Introduction to R Coding course or Science and Geography Internship)

    £125 – part-time course requiring approximately 40 hours to complete

    Building on the success of our Science and Geography Internships and our Introduction to R Coding course where we introduced students to the basics of R coding (now one of the most fundamental skills in the sciences), this course will delve much deeper into the possibilities R provides. We will start by exploring the world of advanced data visualisation by creating more complex and visually pleasing graphs beyond the simple bar and scatter plots covered in the original internships. We will then jump into the world of data wrangling, where we will use R to manipulate and clean our data – one of the most underestimated parts of the scientific process. Finally, we will introduce you to Rmarkdown to create entire documents all within R, completely removing the need to ever open Microsoft Word or Excel! To join this course we require you to have already completed our Science and Geography Internship and have both enjoyed, and felt comfortable, with the R coding we taught during that course. Any student with this level of R skills on their CV will shine and be at an advantage in applications for masters, PhDs or careers beyond.

    *Start dates

    • This course is part-time and can be completed over any timeframe that fits around a student’s other commitments – start date is completely flexible and can be agreed with our team after booking
    Book Here
  • Science and Geography Internships

    £125 – part-time course requiring approximately 40 hours to complete

    Students choose from a selection of projects they wish to work on, including Community structure of coral reef fishes and Caribbean coral reef health in space and time. They will then complete a week-long programme designed to support them through the entire research process, from project conception and data collection, to data analysis and science communication, producing a final scientific report that would be ideal as practice for an undergraduate dissertation or as extra experience in delivering scientific reports from raw data. Our programme will include introductions to computer coding in R, GIS and the production of maps, and statistical analysis of data, which are transferable skills that would look great on any students’ CV and university application. For those more interested in the specific skills of R coding, we would recommend our Introduction to R Coding course as an alternative.

    *Start dates

    • This course is part-time and can be completed over any timeframe that fits around a student’s other commitments – start date is completely flexible and can be agreed with our team after booking
    Book Here

FAQs

What is this?

A real world training course and professional experience with expert tuition in a variety of fields accessible from home.

What is the fee for?

The fee pays for the expert supervision and tuition you will receive. Opwall is a primarily a research organization that supports global conservation and not a purely profit-driven commercial venture.

What does the student get?

Real experience in running aspects of world leading and unique conservation organization which bridges the often separate worlds of conservation and business. Students will gain professional contacts around the world, a taste of a future in conservation, science, marketing or project management and tuition from world leading experts.

What is expected of the students?

Students will be given access to a series of online resources including recorded lectures/workshops and tasks to complete. We anticipate these courses to require approximately 40 hours to complete, but with no defined deadline allowing students to approach them with as much flexibility as needed. Our teams will be available to chat and provide support via Microsoft Teams.

What do the students need in order to undertake the placement?

Students would require access to a computer with a good enough internet connection to support VoIP (voice over internet protocol calling such as skype, teams or whatsapp). No formal qualifications are required. We would recommend that students apply for placements relevant to their career or further study interests. Other than that though we only ask that students are keen to learn.

How long are these internships available for?

Since migrating our courses towards being part-time with flexible start dates, we expect to be able to run them year round.

What about students who couldn’t pay for work experience?

We can offer schools a range of options to support keen students who are in financial need. Schools that have larger numbers of students who are interested in the placements should get in touch to discuss options. Our resources include a free conservation series: Ex Situ. This includes Q&A sessions with expert speakers and rising stars alike in the world of conservation.

Do teachers have to do anything?

No. Students can book their places directly with us, or the school/university can book placements on behalf of their students.

Wallace House, Old Bolingbroke, Spilsby, Lincolnshire PE23 4EX, UK
| +44 (0) 1790 763194 | info@opwall.com