FOSTER Open Science trainer bootcamp

From 18-20 April 2018, FOSTER invited 30 participants to learn about open science training. Sunny weather and the Centre of Genomic Regulation welcomed everyone in Barcelona.

FOSTER Plus does not only develop new materials for online-learning, but follows a train the trainers approach to strengthen the capacity of open science training.

The three-day workshop gave insights into the main aspects of open science such as open access, open peer review, licenses, open innovation, open source software and workflows etc. and focused on how to spread the word about open science principles most effectively.

While preparing dinner during a tapas workshop the atmosphere for the workshop was set: hands-on, collaborative, interactive & fun.

Bianca Kramer and Jeroen Bosman gave an interactive session about how to give training and how to interact with your audience. In a role-play, they challenged the participants in their roles as trainers. Pedro Fernandes talked about theoretical and practical aspects of learning theory and gave advice on how to organize feedback.

Afterwards the participants started to put what they have learned into practice. They developed and conducted mini training workshops and outlined a roadmap about their training plans for the upcoming months.

The FOSTER bootcamp aimed to initiate a community of open science trainers that exchanges experiences, learns from each other and shares materials. All bootcamp participants will conduct trainings in their own institutions during the following year. Thereby FOSTER offers support and provides the infrastructure for learning, reuse and sharing of materials, as well as the promotion of training events and the maintenance of a trainer’s profile.