03 computing infrastructure

# 03 <br> computing infrastructure
## 💫 with RStudio Cloud! <br> 🔗 <a href="https://bit.ly/teach-ds-wsc">bit.ly/teach-ds-wsc</a>
### <br> dr. mine çetinkaya-rundel <br> dr. colin rundel
### 23 june 2021

---

---

- Install R
- Install RStudio
- Install the following packages:
  - rmarkdown
  - tidyverse 
  - ...
- Load these packages
- Install git
]
--
.pull-right[
### much less friction

- Go to rstudio.cloud
- Log in

```r
>hello R!
```
]

---

.pull-left[
### go from this
<img src="img/jonathan-borba-PZBjJ12Xv2s-unsplash.jpg" title="Students working in a computer lab and instructor helping out." alt="Students working in a computer lab and instructor helping out." width="70%" />
]
--
.pull-right[
### to this easily
<img src="img/sincerely-media-o5Key-1HzaY-unsplash.jpg" title="Student working on their laptop sitting by themselves on the bed, seemingly at home." alt="Student working on their laptop sitting by themselves on the bed, seemingly at home." width="80%" />
]

---

---

You have...
- sysadmin experience / IT support
- hardware / local VM / cloud computing credit
- RStudio experience

.midi[See [RStudio Academic Pricing](https://rstudio.com/pricing/academic-pricing/), freely licensed for teaching purposes.]
]
.pull-right[
**RStudio Cloud**

You have...
- RStudio experience
]
  
.footnote[
.small[
__*__ Çetinkaya-Rundel, Mine, and Rundel, Colin. "Infrastructure and tools for teaching computing throughout the statistical curriculum." The American Statistician (2018). Part of the Practical Data Science for Stats collection. [[Peer J]](https://peerj.com/preprints/3181/) [[TAS]](https://doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2017.1397549)
]
]

---

---

## What is RStudio Cloud?

<br>

.pull-left-narrow[
<img src="img/cloud.png" title="Illustration of a blue cloud." alt="Illustration of a blue cloud." width="264" />
]
.pull-right-wide[
.large[We created [**RStudio Cloud**](https://rstudio.cloud/) to make it easy for professionals, hobbyists, trainers, teachers, and students to do, share, teach, and learn data science using R.]
]

---

---

---

## Why RStudio Cloud?

- Does not require IT support

--
- Git works out of the box
- Knit to PDF and Word works out of the box

--
- Features designed for instructors

---

## Contexts

- Shorter workshops: Likely no opportunity to communicate pre-workshop instructions, varied computing background and learning goals

- Semester long courses
  - Intro data science / statistics: little to no background in stats, data science, programming
  - Upper level data science / statistics: Varied computing background and different computer setups

---

## RStudio Cloud: First look

---

## Workspaces

- When you create an account on RStudio Cloud you get a workspace of your own

- You can add a new workspace and control its permissions

- Projects in either workspace can be public or private

---

## A framework for workspaces

---

## Projects

.pull-left[
A new project in RStudio Cloud
<img src="img/new-project-cloud.png" title="Screenshot of RStudio Cloud with the 'New project' button highlighted." alt="Screenshot of RStudio Cloud with the 'New project' button highlighted." width="90%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />
]
.pull-right[
is a new project in RStudio IDE
<img src="img/new-project-local.png" title="Screenshot of RStudio with the 'New project' window overlaid." alt="Screenshot of RStudio with the 'New project' window overlaid." width="90%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />
]

.alert[
**PSA:** If you use RStudio, use projects! Trust me, you won’t regret it. Find out more on [R for Data Science](https://r4ds.had.co.nz/workflow-projects.html).
]

---

## Projects from Git

.pull-left[
A new project from Git repo in RStudio Cloud
<img src="img/new-project-git-cloud.png" title="Screenshot of RStudio Cloud with the 'New project from Git' button highlighted." alt="Screenshot of RStudio Cloud with the 'New project from Git' button highlighted." width="90%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />
]
.pull-right[
is the same as a new project from Git in RStudio IDE
<img src="img/new-project-git-local.png" title="Screenshot of RStudio with the 'Create project from version control' window overlaid." alt="Screenshot of RStudio with the 'Create project from version control' window overlaid." width="90%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />
]

Both options `clone` a Git repo

---

## Sharing options

- Option 1: Share a single project

- Option 2: Invite users to a workspace (presumably with many projects)

---

# Sharing option

---

.center[
<img src="img/cloud-setup-tweet.png" title="Screenshot of tweet that reads 'Easy peasy, it'll even fit in a tweet: Go to http://rstudio.cloud -&gt; Login -&gt; New Project. Install packages, add scripts, Rmds etc. Gear icon -&gt; Access -&gt; Everyone. Copy URL and share.'" alt="Screenshot of tweet that reads 'Easy peasy, it'll even fit in a tweet: Go to http://rstudio.cloud -&gt; Login -&gt; New Project. Install packages, add scripts, Rmds etc. Gear icon -&gt; Access -&gt; Everyone. Copy URL and share.'" width="80%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />
]

---

---

## 👩‍🏫 Creating and sharing a single project

<br>

**Follow along!**

- Create a new project and give it a name
- Install a package of your choice
- Create a template R Markdown document in the project
- Change the access level of the project so others can see it as well
- *Optional:* Copy the project URL and share it with the rest of the group in the chat
]

---

## Pros / cons: Sharing a single project

- Students land directly in a project upon login
- Works well for workshops where all work will be completed in a single project
- Also great for sharing code in general, e.g. collaboration, reprexes, etc.
]
--
.pull-right[
### Not so good...

- Students need to remember to make a copy of the project (which means you need to remember to remind them!)
- You can't keep track which students started their assignment
- Students control permissions
- You can't easily peek into student projects -- they would need to explicitly share the project with you
]

---

# Sharing option

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## 👩‍🏫 Creating a workspace

.center[
<iframe width="896" height="504" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tqu1m9R1HLw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
]

---

## 👩‍🏫 Workspace membership

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## 👩‍🏫 Role permissions

<br>

| role        | permission                                       | course role |
|-------------|--------------------------------------------------|-------------|
| admin       | manage users, view, edit and manage all projects | instructor  |
| moderator   | view, edit and manage all projects               | TA          |
| contributor | create, edit and manage their own projects       | student     |
| viewer      | view projects shared with everyone               | auditor     |

---

## 👩‍🏫 Other permissions

<br>

#### Under the Members tab:

.pull-left-narrow[
<img src="img/permissions.png" width="100%" />
]
.pull-right-wide[
- By default, all permissions are turned off
- Think carefully before checking these boxes
]

---

## 👩‍🏫 Options

<br>

#### Under the Members tab:

.pull-left-narrow[
<img src="img/workspace-access.png" width="100%" />
]
.pull-right-wide[
- Make workspace shared for a short period of time, share link with students, enrol them as contributors.
- After initial round of enrolment (e.g. drop/add) switch over to this access level
- Use invitations for visitors added mid-semester
]

---

## 👩‍🏫 Inviting a student to a workspace

.center[
<img src="img/invite-to-workspace.png" title="Screenshot of the Members tab in an RStudio Cloud workspace. Under Options &gt; Access, Shared is selected. A dropdown menu shows that the initial role of someone who joins the space will be Contributor. Also highlighted is a button that says 'Copy sharing link'." alt="Screenshot of the Members tab in an RStudio Cloud workspace. Under Options &gt; Access, Shared is selected. A dropdown menu shows that the initial role of someone who joins the space will be Contributor. Also highlighted is a button that says 'Copy sharing link'." width="70%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />
]

---

## Base projects

One of the most attractive features of RStudio Cloud!

- Packages you want *installed* on all student projects

--
- Text documents you want to appear on **all** student projects (e.g. code of conduct, turn-in instructions, etc.)

--
- Applies to all projects created **after** base project has been specified, doesn't apply retroactively

--
- Can be updated as many times as you like throughout the course (without having to convince your IT!!!)

---

## 👩‍🏫 Setting up your base project

.center[
<iframe width="896" height="504" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fz9UR6uxAG4" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
]

---

## Git integration

🛑 Only relevant if teaching with Git & GitHub!

😁 Base project template can be used, so new project from Git also has the right packages installed!

---

## Pros / cons: Sharing a workspace

- Various permission levels
- Base projects with desired packages installed
- Assignments -- no more "make a copy of the project before starting work"
- Peek into students’ projects
<img src="img/view-derived-projects.png" title="Screenshot of RStudio Cloud workspace with many shared projects. Highlighted is information on one of these screens that reads 'View 17 derived projects'." alt="Screenshot of RStudio Cloud workspace with many shared projects. Highlighted is information on one of these screens that reads 'View 17 derived projects'." width="80%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />
]
--
.pull-right[
### Not so good...

- Students land in the workspace, may need to provide instructions for the next steps
- Git config for each project can get tedious and doesn't reflect realistic practice
]

---

## Common pitfalls

- Changes you make after student launches a project under either model (single project or workspace) won’t propagate to their project

- Packages in the base project will be **installed** in all projects in the workspace, but not **loaded**
  - If you need students to run code in the Console that requires a package, your instructions should remind them to load the package first
  - If using Rmd document, add a `load-package` chunk on top

---

## Feedback / questions / troubleshooting

- Check out [status.rstudio.com](https://status.rstudio.com/)

- Post on [RStudio Community](https://community.rstudio.com/c/rstudio-cloud)

- Email [support@rstudio.cloud](mailto:support@rstudio.cloud)

---

# Parting remarks

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## Tips

- Each project is allocated 1GB of RAM (but you can increase this!)
  - Test things out before assignments involving large datasets

- What your students see is not always what you see
  - Create a secondary account and add as a student

---

## More tips

Make brief screencasts for getting students oriented with the platform (especially if remote teaching), or use mine!

.center[
[Navigating RStudio Cloud on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNUVZZ6hfXX05Bs80Hg5MjbOPnEFmwiOM)
]

---

## More tips

## 📦 rscloud

- You can access RStudio Cloud's API to manage space members programatically using the **rscloud** package:

- You will need to create client credentials to use the package. You can create credentials at [login.rstudio.cloud/identity](https://login.rstudio.cloud/identity).

```r
# install.packages("rscloud")
devtools::install_github("rstudio/rscloud")
```

---

## Pricing