WECA R & Quarto Training

A 5-session training course helping WECA analysts transition from Excel/PowerPoint workflows to reproducible, code-first analysis using R, Quarto, and Git.

Course Overview

Duration: 5 sessions × 4 hours (20 hours total) Format: In-person, consecutive weeks Audience: Analysts building indicator chapters for the regional priorities report

Sessions

1. The Whole Game - Experience the complete workflow
2. R Fundamentals - Master data transformation and visualisation
3. Data Wrangling - Clean and prepare real-world data
4. Quarto Mastery - Author professional reproducible reports
5. Git Collaboration - Version control and code review

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Before Session 1, ensure you have:

• Software installed (R, RStudio, Quarto, Git)
• Indicators project cloned
• R packages installed (renv::restore())
• Python environment set up (uv sync)
• Pre-commit hooks installed

See Setup Guide for detailed instructions.

Quick Start

# Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/your-org/r-quarto-learning.git
cd r-quarto-learning

# Render the training book (HTML)
quarto render

# Or preview with live reload
quarto preview

# Render a WECA-branded PDF (typst)
uv run scripts/build_typst_report.py

The PDF script assembles all chapters into a single training-report.pdf in the project root. It strips YAML front matter from each chapter, injects chapter titles as headings, and renders using the weca-report typst extension. The generated training-report.qmd and training-report.pdf are excluded from git.

Structure

r-quarto-learning/
├── index.qmd              # Landing page
├── _quarto.yml            # Book configuration
├── overview/              # Course design and pedagogy
│   ├── course-plan.qmd
│   └── pedagogy.qmd
├── sessions/              # Session-by-session materials
│   ├── session-01.qmd     # The Whole Game
│   ├── session-02.qmd     # R Fundamentals
│   ├── session-03.qmd     # Data Wrangling
│   ├── session-04.qmd     # Quarto Mastery
│   └── session-05.qmd     # Git Collaboration
├── playgrounds/           # Interactive learning simulators
│   ├── bash-learning-playground.html  # Terminal command playground
│   └── git-learning-playground.html   # Git & GitHub playground
├── resources/             # Reference materials
│   ├── datasets.qmd       # Practice dataset documentation
│   ├── setup-guide.qmd    # Installation and setup
│   └── troubleshooting.qmd # Common issues and solutions
├── data/                  # Example datasets
│   └── examples/          # Practice data for exercises
├── _extensions/           # Quarto extensions
│   └── weca-report/       # WECA-branded typst template
├── scripts/               # Build scripts
│   └── build_typst_report.py  # Assembles chapters into typst PDF
└── _output/               # Rendered HTML (committed for Vercel deploy)

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Navigate the command line (Git Bash) for basic file operations
• Use RStudio IDE to write and execute R code
• Load, transform, and analyse data using tidyverse packages
• Create publication-quality visualisations with ggplot2
• Author reproducible reports combining code, narrative, and outputs using Quarto
• Use Git for version control and GitHub for collaboration
• Follow the WECA indicators project workflow independently

Course Philosophy

This course follows evidence-based pedagogical principles:

1. "Whole Game First" - Experience the complete workflow before diving into details
2. Tidyverse-First - Human-centred R syntax from the start
3. Visual Feedback Early - Create charts in Session 1 for immediate gratification
4. Real-World Application - Build actual WECA indicators, not toy examples
5. Literate Programming - Code + narrative from day one via Quarto
6. Active Learning - Live coding, immediate practice, pair programming
7. Low Friction - Pre-installed software, standardised helper functions

Interactive Playgrounds

Self-contained browser-based simulators for practising commands in a safe sandbox — no installation required.

• Bash Learning Playground — 6 guided lessons covering navigation, file management, reading files, finding things, pipes & redirection. Uses a simulated WECA project filesystem.
• Git Learning Playground — Interactive Git and GitHub simulator covering commits, branches, merging, and pull requests.

Both include Learn mode (step-by-step lessons) and Sandbox mode (free exploration).

Resources

• Course materials (rendered)
• Indicators project repository
• R for Data Science
• Quarto documentation
• Git documentation
• Steve's Getting Started Bookmarks

Contributing

Suggestions for improving the training materials are welcome! Please:

1. Open an issue describing the improvement
2. Or submit a pull request with changes
3. Or discuss in the Analysts team chat Teams channel

Licence

This training material is developed for internal WECA use. For questions about reuse or adaptation, raise an issue in this repo.

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