Additional Material

Purpose

Use this page for optional additions when you have extra time, a more advanced cohort, or a strong local example to work with. The best extensions in this course are still practical and discussion-led. They should deepen judgement rather than simply add more slides.

Optional Extensions by Theme

Digital tools and systems

  • Live walkthrough of how a project might use OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint, RIS, and ORCID together.
  • Research identity audit using a fictional or volunteer profile.
  • Short exercise comparing poor and strong folder structures for collaborative work.

Delivery and coordination

  • Ask groups to redesign a stalled project into a two-week sprint with review points.
  • Compare a status update that reports activity with one that reports progress and blockers.
  • Use a RACI-style sketch to clarify overlapping responsibilities in a research team.

Governance and compliance

  • Data flow mapping for a project involving collaborators, cloud services, and participant data.
  • “Escalate or decide locally?” sorting activity for ethics, DPIA, storage, and sharing questions.
  • A mini case in which lawful basis, ethics review, and classification all need to be distinguished.

Research data management

  • Before-and-after critique of a weak DMP paragraph.
  • Folder and file naming redesign for a realistic shared project.
  • Metadata minimum exercise: ask groups what another team would need in order to reuse a dataset.
  • FAIR maturity self-assessment using a live or fictional dataset.

Data interpretation and impact

  • Chart critique gallery: display 3 to 5 weak charts and ask groups to identify what each one hides.
  • Ask learners to rewrite a descriptive finding as an actionable recommendation for a named audience.
  • Use a short scenario where the same chart is interpreted differently when context changes.

AI in research

  • Prompt comparison exercise: weak prompt, stronger prompt, and source-bounded prompt.
  • Verification drill using an AI-generated summary and a source document.
  • Workflow design activity: where should AI help, where should it stop, and where should documentation happen?

Optional Demonstrations

These work best when they are short and tightly tied to the lesson objective.

  • Demonstrate version history and permissions in a shared Microsoft 365 document.
  • Show how a DMP becomes more useful when it names real storage locations and responsibilities.
  • Walk through a simple data lifecycle from collection to preservation.
  • Show how small wording changes in a prompt change usefulness more than style does.

Useful Artefacts to Prepare

If you want richer discussion, bring one or more of the following:

  • a weak and strong DMP example
  • a simple folder tree with obvious problems
  • a chart with misleading design choices
  • a short policy or guidance excerpt for critique
  • an AI output that includes uncertainty, drift, or unsupported claims

Extension Design Principle

If time is limited, prefer one extra case study with a strong debrief over several disconnected mini-tasks. In this course, depth usually teaches more than breadth.