Educational resources for teaching Open Research to novices

Welcome!

On this page you will find ready-to-use materials for teaching Open Research practices to novices or students on topics including methodological foundations of Open Science, computational reproducibility, tools for collaborative working, data management and data sharing in a synchronous class-room setting (in-person, virtual or hybrid). The materials consist of slide decks corresponding to a particular topic, presenter notes as well as supplementary materials such as home work assignments, extra exercises or cheatsheets. Each slide deck is designed for a 90-minute session, but can be flexibly adapted.

Who are these materials for?

Educators in higher education (e.g., universities, colleges) aiming to convey foundational Open Research knowledge and skills to their learners. By learners we mean students or people who are new to Open Research and are trying to build foundational knowledge and skills. The materials were made for:

  • educators who are aiming to teach a full, chronological course on Open Research conforming to 90-minute sessions, or

  • educators who would like to pick-and-choose specific 90-minute sessions on different topics related to Open Research to incorporate into existing courses.

How can I use these materials?

The materials are completely free to use, given that you provide an appropriate citation. Here is how you can use the materials:

  1. Use the navigation bar on the left to navigate through the different topics. The topics are divided into broader modules, which are arranged in a chronological order, meaning that they logically build up on one another. If you opt for the pick-and-choose-your-topic-style, make sure to thoroughly read the prerequisites for each topic.

  2. When selecting a topic, you are directed to the webpage for the topic. The webpage contains a general introduction of the materials, the intended target audience as well as prerequisites and learning objectives. It also specifies the contributors and the licence details.

  3. Next, you will find the slides corresponding to the topic embedded in the website. The slides can be directly presented in the browser in full screen or by using the speaker view (recommended, see here for more information).

  4. In the speaker view, you will see detailed presenter notes, instructor notes and accessibility tips where relevant providing information about the content of the materials and valuable pedagogical tips how to convey the materials to your learners.

  5. Once you are finished with a topic, you can use the arrow on the bottom of the website to navigate to the next topic.

Getting started!

When you click the following button, it takes you to the first developed module as we are still working on the introductory modules. Enjoy!

Get started!

How can I adapt the materials?

Of course, the context in which you are teaching may vary greatly and you may need to adapt the materials in terms of content, level of difficulty, duration and practical exercises. If you want to adapt the materials to fit your audience, you can export the slides as PowerPoint (.pptx format) corresponding to the materials and adapt the materials to your learners. Make sure to give appropriate credit to the original authors. You also have the option to export the slides in pdf format.

In addition, you can also obtain the materials from our LMU OSC GitHub repository. You can clone and fork the repository to adapt the materials to your needs, or create a new branch to work on the materials in parallel. Within this repository, you have direct access to the Quarto .qmd files that support all of our materials.

How can I give feedback on the materials?

Have you spotted a way to improve our materials, or would like to add or contribute to the materials? We would love to hear your feedback! There are different ways to give feedback:

  • The quick and easy way: Contact the program coordinator Sarah von Grebmer.

  • The pro way (involves GitHub): Navigate to the GitHub repository and open an issue, see here for instructions on how to do this. Provide a descriptive title for your feedback, and describe your feedback in greater detail in the text box. Include which materials you want to provide feedback on, what the issue is and if it is low, medium or high priority. Tag Sarah von Grebmer (using her GitHub username SvonGrebmer).

Frequently asked questions

  1. What previous knowledge do I need about Open Research to teach with those slideS?
  • No prior Open Research knowledge is required! You can acquire the Open Research skills yourself by going through the slides and practical activities, or you can also complete the self-paced tutorials on these topics in the self learning catalogue. In addition, you can acquire and develop your teaching skills here.
  1. Who can I teach with these materials?
  • The materials can be flexibly adapted to bachelor students, master students and early career researchers (PhD, PostDocs) who are new to Open Research or have not had prior training on these topics.
  1. I am not a member of the LMU Open Science Center, can I still teach with these slides?
  • Yes! Just make sure to give the appropriate credit and honor the licence conditions while teaching (this also applies to LMU-based educators!). If you are based at LMU, consider joining the LMU Open Science Center to support the goal of open, responsible, and reproducible research within your disciplines or at LMU Munich more broadly.
NoteCannot find the answer you are looking for?

Please get in touch with the program coordinator Sarah von Grebmer.

Licence and citation statement

NoteHow to cite these materials while they are work in progress

Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, S., Middleton S., Ihle, M., & Schönbrodt, F. (2026). Educational resources for teaching Open Research to novices. LMU Open Science Center. Retrieved February 18, 2026, from https://lmu-osc.github.io/train-the-trainer-student-track-OS/

Unless otherwise specified, the text, images and supplementary materials on these pages is licenced under a CC-BY-SA-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International SA License. It permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

Note that code embedded in these materials is licenced under a CC0 Creative Commons 0 Public Domain License. This licence enables the creators of these materials to waive their copyright and related rights worldwide, placing a work as close as legally possible into the public domain so that others may freely build upon, enhance and reuse the works for any purposes without restriction under copyright or database law.

List of current contributors

Funding and partners

This project is funded by the VolksWagen Foundation and is developed in collaboration with FORRT.