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Teaching with RStudio Cloud
December 08, 2020

Teaching with RStudio Cloud

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with RStudio

We used RStudio Cloud to introduce students to coding in R and statistical computing. The class, "Visualizing Society," is typically in person, but because of COVID we had to transition to online learning. RStudio Cloud allowed us to avoid installation and dependency issues for our students, often the most challenging problems for individuals new to coding. Every student would just log into RStudio Cloud and have the materials they needed for the day.
  • RStudio Cloud allows instructors to have control over the materials and RStudio setup students are working with.
  • RStudio Cloud also gives instructors instant access to student materials so that they can check progress and see where students are stuck.
  • RStudio Cloud is a very clean and easy-to-navigate interface for students and instructors.
  • The biggest missing functionality, which I know RStudio is working on, is allowing Google Doc-style multiple editors per project. This would really enhance the opportunities for peer collaborations.
  • Relatedly, it would also be helpful if instructors could update project materials after students have already cloned a project. There were multiple times when students would clone a project and it would be brought to my attention that one piece of information was missing. The only solution at the time was to go into each student's project individually, but this was very time consuming.
  • We avoided install issues so students had a more positive experience.
  • We increased efficiencies for instructors in terms of tracking student progress.
RStudio Cloud is fantastic for introductory coding classes and workshops. It gives instructors total control over student setup and file dependencies, allowing instructors to sidestep install issues that often derail a classroom. This is really helpful for in-person classes, but even more so for remote learning environments when it may be difficult for an instructor to figure out what's going on with a student's local environment. RStudio Cloud may not be quite as helpful for advanced coding/statistics classes, as in those classes you may want students to practice setting things up on their local computer.