
As of June 2019 the system is still in alpha release, so pricing is not yet available. RStudio.Cloud: RStudio created RStudio Cloud to provide cloud computing to those unable to or uninterested in setting up their own server.

At Amherst College, our server has 32GB of memory and 8 cores and routinely supports 30-40 simultaneous users. The RStudio servers run under Linux, the typical environment that academic institutions use to support their back-office operations such as their course management system. This is what a number of institutions (examples include Duke University, Amherst College, Calvin College, Macalester College) have done. RStudio Server Pro: academics using R for teaching purposes can get a free license for RStudio Server Pro, Shiny Server Pro, and RS Connect Pro by providing a copy of their syllabus that specifies that RStudio will be used in the course (see RStudio Academic Pricing Policy. Being able to jump into R from day one with an ability to do interesting things makes a huge difference in motivating students. The results are transformative, particularly for the fraction of students who are easily intimidated by computing and/or who have obsolete equipment, outdated operating systems, or minimal free space. For students with concerns about technology or prior challenges with computing, getting up and running quickly is especially important.

They can then start to work in R within minutes.

Instead of installing R, RStudio, and packages, all that students need to do to get started on the first day is to connect to the server and log in. While this setup requires some up-front efforts by instructors and departments it pays off handsomely.

Today’s blog entry talks about the third point: how the use of cloud based versions of RStudio facilitates startup for students and instructors. We’ll talk more about the innovative Data 8 project later this summer, but for now we note that they have used these same strategies (see ).
