Open Research Pathway

<h3>Open Research Pathway</h3> <p>Modern STEM research increasingly demands computational literacy—proficiency with version control, reproducible environments, data management, scientific programming, and open publication practices. Yet these essential skills remain largely absent from undergraduate curricula, forcing students to acquire them haphazardly through self-teaching or trial-and-error in research labs. This gap handicaps both students, who struggle with steep technical learning curves, and faculty, who inherit enthusiastic researchers lacking the infrastructure to conduct work efficiently. Open Research Pathway addresses this systemic deficiency through an eight-module curriculum covering the complete lifecycle of computational research. Students progress from foundational skills (environment setup, command-line proficiency, version control) through data acquisition and research question formulation, to active experimentation, manuscript preparation, peer review, and public archiving with DOIs. The modular structure allows flexible implementation: instructors can adapt individual modules to discipline-specific contexts, or students can work through materials independently. Emphasizing open science principles and reproducible workflows, the curriculum treats students as co-creators rather than passive consumers of knowledge. Beyond technical competencies, students develop professional research habits—project planning, progress documentation, advisor communication, and collaborative workflows—that transfer to both academic and industry careers. By providing structured exposure to tools and practices typically learned reactively over years, Open Research Pathway establishes computational research literacy as a foundational component of undergraduate STEM education, preparing students to contribute meaningfully to modern scientific inquiry from the outset of their careers.</p> <h3>File Contents:</h3> <ul> <li>Open Research Pathway Overview is a written document describing the project in more detail and the various modules.</li> <li>Open Research Pathway Flow Chart is a diagram depicting the modules and the project flow in a single diagram while also grouping similar modules together.</li> <li>Research Pathway Resource Guide is a document listing additional resources that correspond to each module with a short description of that resource.</li> <li>Octopus_final_cut is an mp4 file that is an ≈10 min presentation about the project.</li> </ul> <h3>Introductory video:</h3> <p>[[Video(/community/groups/octopus/File:/uploads/movies/Octopus_final_cut.mp4)]]</p> <p><a href="https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/octopus/File:/uploads/movies/Octopus_final_cut.mp4">Download the video (300MB)</a></p> <p><a href="https://qubeshub.org/publications/5735/supportingdocs/">View the publication files and links here</a>.</p> <hr /> <p>Please visit the <a href="https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/octopus">OCTOPUS Group page</a> for additional information and other curriculum resources.</p> <p>OCTOPUS was generously supported by the <a href="https://www.orcaopen.org/" target="_blank">Open Research Community Accelerator (ORCA)</a> with additional support from the <a href="https://bioquest.org" target="_blank">BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium</a>.</p> <p style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/octopus"><img alt="OCTOPUS logo" src="https://qubeshub.org/groups/octopus/File:/uploads/images/octopus_logo.png" style="height: 70px; width: 100px;" /></a>    <a href="https://www.orcaopen.org/" target="_blank"><img alt="ORCA logo" src="https://qubeshub.org/groups/octopus/File:/uploads/images/ORCA_logo.png" style="height: 100px; width: 100px;" /></a>    <a href="https://bioquest.org/" target="_blank"><img alt="BioQUEST logo" src="https://qubeshub.org/groups/octopus/File:/uploads/images/BQ_logo.png" style="height: 41px; width: 150px;" /></a></p>