TOPS aims to meet everyone where they are at on their open science journey. While some members of our growing community may have practiced open science for many years, others may be trying to transition to a new way of conducting research or are students who are looking to begin their scientific careers. As such, TOPS' first priority is to develop the infrastructure to train 20,000 scientists and researchers as part of our five-year program. This open science curriculum will introduce those beginning their open science journey to important definitions, tools, and resources; and provide participants at all levels recommendations on best practices from subject matter experts.
For the 2023 Year of Open Science, TOPS is developing strategic partnerships with large scientific associations to teach open science during large annual meetings, special science team summer schools, and other events. The vision for the TOPS OpenCore and other learning resources is for a CC-BY licensed, online and open course, hosted on the OpenEDx platform, that can be used to train scientists and award NASA open science badges.
The TOPS curriculum will also be used to support researchers looking to engage with NASA as NASA moves to adopt more open science requirements (e.g., Scientific Information Policy and ROSES opportunities). Scientists will need to acquire the new skills highlighted in the curriculum to participate in open science effectively and to demonstrate those skills when applying for NASA funding opportunities.
TOPS will initially focus on developing the OpenCore, designed as five modules that mimic a scientific workflow. The OpenCore aims to introduce learners to a nuanced understanding of open science, enabling participants to better understand an open science workflow from end to end. The focus of the curriculum will be on providing learners with a basic understanding of open science, its ethos and benefits, and how to actively participate in open science communities.
Q&A about the OpenCore can be found in our TOPS FAQ document.
Once scientists have been introduced to core open science skills, they may be interested in exploring domain specific curriculum such as data science, using computing resources, or how to conduct open science in a particular field. This information will be built into the ScienceCore. For some learners, it is these domain specific modules that may attract them to learning more about open science.