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On-line Work Experience

Courses available

3 Courses available:

  • Introduction to R Coding
  • Advanced R coding
  • Science & Geography

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Contact us to Find Out More

If you are a school teacher or student you can see our latest schedule here.

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  • Live online mentoring
  • Work with leading experts
  • Real-world work tasks

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 Science and Geography Internship or our Introduction to R Coding course)

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

    Building on the success of our Science and Geography Internships 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 or our Introduction to R Coding course and have both enjoyed, and felt comfortable, with the R coding we taught during those courses. Any student with this level of R skills on their CV and applications for university/masters will shine, and it will give a fantastic headstart for anyone wanting a career in the sciences.

    *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 Caribbean coral reefs and their fish communities and spider monkey behaviour. They will then complete five components 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 an independent research project towards their broader studies and which could also be used for IB Internal Assessments or as the start of an Extended essay or EPQ. 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.

     This internship would suit students with an interest in natural sciences and data analysis.

    *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?

For students on part-time courses, they 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. For students on 5-day courses, they will be expected to be available for 5 consecutive working days, starting at 9am (UK time) on the first day of the placement. Our international students will take part in each session at 9AM UK time, but will be contacted beforehand to discuss a schedule for the work around this that suits their time zone (e.g. with the option of catching up via recordings).

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?

We are gradually migrating all of our courses towards being part-time with flexible start dates, allowing most to run year round. Those courses still running over an intensive 5-days will have limited availability and will run dependent on levels of interest.

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 can book placements on behalf of their students.

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