Program Overview

Basics of the R language (OPEN YO)

2 credits, Academic year , AY00AV46

Come learn the basics of R software in this free self-paced online course. After completing the course, you will have e.g. in statistics courses, the basic skills needed for reviewing and editing data.

Registration period

19.11.2025 - 24.06.2026

Method of organization

Online studies Independent study

Implementation time

13.01.2026 - 31.07.2026

Price

Free of charge

Education details

R is an important open source free software widely used in statistics, data science and machine learning. In the R language basics course, you learn the basics of using R, data management, graphics and programming. The skills acquired in the course for reviewing and editing the material provide a good starting point to continue towards making statistical analyzes with the help of R. The course is suitable for anyone who is interested in software used in statistics. The course does not include learning statistical methods and does not require prior knowledge of statistics or previous programming experience.

Form of education

Continuous learning Open university teaching

Academic year

Academic year

Education sector

Natural sciences

Subject

Statistics

Language of instruction

Finland

Teaching organizer

University of Oulu

Location

online

Competence goals

After completing the course, the student

• knows how to use R software via the user interface RStudio,
• knows how to handle R's most common data types and data structures,
• is familiar with R's tidyverse package (especially parts of tibble, readr, readxl, dplyr, ggplot2) and knows how to use other R packages as well,
• can visualize material with the help of graphic representations both with the basic functions of R and with the help of the package ggplot2,
• can write your own R functions and know the most common control structures in R (conditional statement, repetition structures),
• knows the basics of the R Markdown language and can create a simple R Markdown report,
• has acquired the necessary basic skills for reviewing and editing data in statistics courses.

Implementation methods

The course is implemented as self-study in Moodle. The course includes 54 hours of independent study.

More information

Instructions for degree students at the University of Oulu: Completion of the Basics of R language course is part of the courses A Statistical software and NM00AJ54 R programming. If the intention is to complete either of the above-mentioned courses at the time of the implementation of the courses, it is recommended to register directly for the courses in question, which also have guidance sessions. The Basics of R language course is a completely self-study course. If you complete the basics of the R language through an open university, you must apply for a credit for the course for the above-mentioned courses.

To whom

The course is suitable for anyone who is interested in software used in statistics. The course does not include learning statistical methods and does not require prior knowledge of statistics or previous programming experience.

Evaluation

The course completion mainly consists of self-checked Moodle assignments (four units). The fourth entity also includes a task to be returned, which the teacher either accepts or asks to complete until the return is worthy of acceptance (if the completion is not done by the requested deadline, the return is rejected). Completing the course requires passing all four components.

Teacher

Liisa Ilvonen

Rating scale

GOOD/HYL