Introduction to collaborative coding with GitHub – Educational resources for teaching Open Research to novices

Introduction to collaborative coding with GitHub

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title: "Introduction to collaborative coding with GitHub"
---

> Building reproducible research projects.

[Click here to see the materials in full screen](github-slides.qmd)

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<iframe class="slide-deck" src="github-slides.html" height="420" width="747" style="border: 1px solid #2e3846;"></iframe>
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## About these materials

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## Citation statement
Please cite these materials as: Waterfield, E., Ihle, M., & Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn (2026). *Introduction to collaborative coding with GitHub* [Quarto slides]. [LMU Open Science Center](https://www.osc.lmu.de/). [https://lmu-osc.github.io/teaching-material-for-novices/open-research-principles/github](https://lmu-osc.github.io/teaching-material-for-novices/open-research-principles/github)
:::

**Welcome!** This workshop is intended to introduce learners to the **essential skills** for **collaborating on shared projects** using **GitHub and RStudio**. It will guide learners step‑by‑step through the core parts of a collaborative **GitHub workflow**, including how to navigate GitHub’s interface, fork and clone repositories to work locally, and use **Git commands to commit, push, and pull changes**. Simultaneously, this workshop prepares learners to actively use reproducible research practices and how to **design a simple collaborative workflow** that keeps everyone’s work synchronized and traceable.

### Who are these materials for?

- **Educators** in higher education with or without familiarity with open research planning to **teach open research** to **novices**
- **Self-learners** with no or limited familiarity with open research planning to **develop and build** up on their open research skills

### Prerequisites

<div style="font-size: 0.8em;">
| Prerequisite | Description | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| R and RStudio installed | Latest versions of both R and RStudio | [Download RStudio](https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/) |
| Basic R skills | Introduction to R - Part I | [Access here]() |
| Advanced R skills | Introduction to R - Part II | [Access here]() |
| Basic Git skills | Introduction to version control with Git in RStudio | [Access here]() |
| GitHub account | Your own GitHub account | [Join GitHub](https://github.com/join) |
| Practice GitHub repo | Fork the [LMU OSC Collaborative-RStudio-GitHub repository](https://github.com/lmu-osc/Collaborative-RStudio-GitHub/tree/main) to set up a practice repository for the exercises in this lesson | |
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### Learning objectives

At the end of this session, you or your learners will be able to ...

- **Navigate** GitHub to collaborate on shared projects.
- **Fork** and **clone** repositories to work locally without altering the main branch.
- **Commit**, **push**, and **pull** changes to keep your project tracked and synchronized.
- **Design** a collaborative workflow that enhances the openness and reproducibility of your own projects.

## Download materials

### Export slides

You can export these slides as MS PowerPoint (.pptx - *in progress*) or pdf by clicking below. Note that basic formatting will be applied to the PowerPoint file.

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### Activity sheet

Download the activity sheet for this topic here:

<a href="assets/github-activity-sheet.pdf"
   download="github-activity-sheet.pdf"
   class="btn btn-primary">
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## Contributors and licence details

**Creator**: Waterfield, Elizabeth (![](images/ORCID-iD_icon_16x16.png){fig-alt="orcid logo"}[0009-0006-3725-6730](https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3725-6730))

**Reviewer**: von Grebmer zu Wolfsthurn, Sarah (![](images/ORCID-iD_icon_16x16.png){fig-alt="orcid logo"}[0000-0002-6413-3895](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6413-3895))

**Consultant**: Ihle, Malika (![](images/ORCID-iD_icon_16x16.png){fig-alt="orcid logo"}[0000-0002-3242-5981](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3242-5981))

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<div style="background-color: #f0f0f0; padding: 0.05em; border-radius: 2px; font-size: 0.6em;">
This work was originally created by [Anna Krystalli](https://github.com/annakrystalli) from [RSE-Sheffield](https://github.com/RSE-Sheffield) under a [MIT licence (original repository)](https://github.com/RSE-Sheffield/collaborative_github_exercise). It was subsequently adapted by [Malika Ihle](https://ox.ukrn.org/people/#MalikaIhle) during her time at [Reproducible Research Oxford](https://ox.ukrn.org/), with the contributions of Adam Kenny. This work by Elizabeth Waterfield, Sarah von Grebmer zu Wolfsthurn, and Malika Ihle is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International SA License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en) (CC-BY-SA 4.0). Code snippets are dedicated to the public domain and licensed under a [Creative Commons Universal License](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) (CC0 1.0).
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