Learning R in Welsh

I’m teaching in Welsh now. And I had suggested I add to the teaching in statistics, as that is a universally useful skill. And you never learn something like when you teach it, so I would benefit from that myself!

It is a bit hard work going through the materials in Welsh; so much new vocabulary. And the material is not complicated; it is only first semester of the first year, after all. But it’s heavy on the memory! 

After a few sessions in Excel, the exercises are done in the statistical program RStudio. And that is again quite a bit of work! This is the first time I actually need to know the vocabulary associated with programming. But it is well worth it. I have used R before; that is basically the original program, which is command based. RStudio, the newer addition, actually has a user interface. It is indeed a lot more user friendly!

When the session with R came up, I first wrestled through the course material in Welsh. And then I had to actually install the software! But when I had done that, and I had already closely read the instructions, I could do the exercise in minutes. This RStudio thing is quite marvellous! I think I might use this more often. 

I think I am getting what I need out of all of this; I am practising my teaching in Welsh, I am extending my vocabulary, then I am learning very useful new skills! I think I made the right call.

RStudio in action