Much has been written in the statistics and data sciencez education literature about pedagogical tools and approaches to provide a practical computational foundation for students. However a common friction point for getting students (and faculty) started with computing is installation and setup. In this talk we introduce RStudio Cloud as a lightweight infrastructure solution to this problem. Circumventing the installation step early in the course by having students access R and RStudio in the cloud can minimize frustration and improve buy in. We share logistics of setting up a course in RStudio Cloud, discuss best practices, and provide an opportunity for the audience to experience the setup first hand. Additionally, we highlight a suite of ready to use resources for teaching an introduction to data science and statistical thinking course using R.
Slides can also be viewed at rstd.io/cloud-classroom.