Posit Cloud
The backup route, if the tools will not install on your machine
You probably do not need this page
The course is built around R and RStudio installed on your own laptop, and M02 walks you through that setup. Install locally if you can — it is faster, it has no usage limits, and it is the setup you will keep after this course ends.
This page is the fallback for when that genuinely is not possible: a work-managed laptop that will not allow installs, a Chromebook, or a machine that fights you for an afternoon. If that is you, you are not behind — take this route and get on with the statistics.
What Posit Cloud is
Posit Cloud is a remote server that runs R and RStudio in your web browser. Nothing installs on your computer, and you can be writing code within a few minutes of signing up.
The experience is nearly identical to using RStudio locally. The one real difference is how files are managed: on Posit Cloud you upload files into folders inside your project workspace, where on your own machine you would use Finder (Mac) or File Explorer (Windows). Everything the labs ask you to do works the same way in both.
Setting it up · once, in this order
1 · Create a free account
Go to posit.cloud and sign up. The free plan is enough for this course — it includes a monthly allowance of compute hours that covers ordinary lab work.
2 · Copy the PSY652_project project into your account
Open the PSY 652 cloud project.
Clicking that link launches Posit Cloud and opens a project called PSY652_project in your account — the same project you would otherwise download as a zip. It opens as a temporary copy, and you will see a red warning bar across the top of the window saying so.
3 · Save your own permanent copy
Click “Save a Permanent Copy” at the top of the window. This is the step people skip, and skipping it means losing your work.
4 · Confirm it worked
Click Your Workspace in the top-left. PSY652_project should now appear under Your Projects, owned by you. Your name appears in the top-right corner whenever you are signed in.
Do steps 2–3 exactly once
Open the project link once, save your permanent copy, and never use that link again. From then on, always work in your copy, reached through Your Workspace.
If you click the original link a second time you get a fresh temporary copy with none of your work in it — and it is easy not to notice, because it looks identical. The red temporary copy bar is the tell: if you see it after the first day, you are in the wrong place. Close it and go to Your Workspace instead.
What you get, and what still applies
The cloud project comes pre-loaded with the same course datasets and lab templates as the downloadable project, so every lab walkthrough works identically — the file paths in the labs are the same.
Two things are worth knowing:
- The free tier has a monthly compute-hour allowance. It is adequate for most students. If you run short, Posit sells additional hours cheaply — check their current plans before upgrading, and tell us if cost is a barrier.
- Git and GitHub still apply. The group projects are graded from a GitHub repository either way. Posit Cloud can work with Git, but it is more fiddly than GitHub Desktop on a laptop — so if you are on the cloud route, come talk to us before the group projects start and we will sort out a workflow that fits.
If anything here does not go as described, ask early. Setup problems are the least interesting way to lose a week, and they are usually a five-minute fix with someone looking at the screen with you.