2024_acm_hpcsig_edu.md

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Collaboratively training the next generation of Research Software Engineers

Samantha Wittke, CSC - IT Center for Science, Finland

Radovan Bast, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway

ACM SIG HPC Education webinar, April 2024

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Team and project: coderefinery.org

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What we are

• A hub for FAIR research software practices
• Since 2016, now phase 3 until 2025
• Currently funded by NeIC
• Training network
• Community

What we do

• We teach and co-organize
• Share lessons, video recordings, manuals
• All open source ]

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.cite[Heidi Seibold, CC-BY 4.0, https://twitter.com/HeidiBaya/status/1579385587865649153]

Similar projects: UNIVERSE-HPC, DIGITAL RESEARCH ACADEMY, INTERSECT, and probably many more ...

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Available lesson material

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• Introduction to version control: Git and GitHub for own projects
• Collaborative version control: Branching, pull/merge requests, forks, and collaboration.
• Reproducible research: Reproducible dependencies, environments, and computational steps.
• Social coding and open software: Software and data licensing and software citation.
• How to document your research software
• Reusable and reproducible Jupyter notebooks ]

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• Automated testing: Motivation, test design, and tools.
• Modular code development: Organizing projects as they grow from one screen-full to larger.

Tested in 9 online and 28 in-person workshops

• We reach over 500 persons/year
• Over 30 instructors/speakers
• Over 100 helpers/ exercise leaders ]

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Relation to research software engineering

• We teach topics which are .emph[helpful for researchers] and .emph[essential for RSEs].

• Nordic RSE colleagues hang out and discuss on the CodeRefinery community chat

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Lessons

We use Sphinx/sphinx-lesson to build our lessons from Markdown.

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Another example: Git lesson

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You can try our lesson template

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How to participate as a learner

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Results from post-workshop survey 2024

• Sent out to workshop participants from 2022 and 2023
• 129 answers

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Collaboration across funding borders

0.9 FTE (2 persons) + 10 persons in-kind + volunteers

Co-advertize and co-organize with us

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Connection to high-performance computing

• Many partners with HPC involvement

• Aalto University very active in inviting others to join HPC kickstart

• Tuesday Tools & Techniques for High Performance Computing

• ENCCS instructor training -> Materials based on CR train-the-trainer

• NRIS (Norway) and LUMI (EuroHPC-JU) have adopted our training approach and material as template

• We started sharing tools across borders at https://github.com/nordichpc

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What we have learned

About motivating/teaching

• Teaching isn't a lecture anymore. It's more .emph[like a live TV production], which can be as interactive as people in a room.

• .emph[Co-teaching] is a great way to onboard, get better quality, and reduce stress

• .emph[Good enough practices] better than perfect practices not applied

• Instead of "good for others": ".emph[good for your future you] and as side effect good for others"

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What we have learned

About scaling

• .emph["bring your own classroom"] seems to be a way to scale

• .emph[Installation instructions and on-boarding] become more important

• We don't "see" classrooms -> .emph[feedback mechanism] in Q&A doc

• Make exercises longer to .emph[give classrooms the chance to interact]

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Collaborative document: Markdown

• Interactive, anonymous, parallel, async
• New question every 1-2 minutes!
• ASCII-graph feedback

We publish Q&A for each workshop: Example

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Future: Community project

• .emph[Communicate value] for volunteers and organizations

• Research groups send their students to us instead of creating isolated material

• .emph[More collaboration] with similar projects ("helper exchange program")

• Governance is .emph[community-driven] ]

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Teaching format

• Continue .emph[large-scale workshops]

• Support .emph[local events]

• More asynchronous content coupled with online events (".emph[flipped classroom] approach") ]

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How you or your organization can participate

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• Join our next workshop autumn 2024; follow our newsletter to get involved
• Tell your students and researchers about it
• Send one or more exercise teams or join as observer
• Use our material and give feedback

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What is in it for you?

• .emph[Joining is easier than organizing]: It is easier to bring 10% to an event than to organize the 100% yourself

• .emph[Material exchange]: let's not reinvent the wheel

• .emph[Train-the-trainer]: we can help you to get started

• .emph[Community as test-bed]: let's try out new ideas together

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We try to make it easier to join

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• Chat with us: https://coderefinery.zulipchat.com (ask questions about coding or learn about new tools)

• Onboarding manual

• Blog

• Newsletter and chat digest

• X/Twitter

• Mastodon

• Support e-mail ]

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Nordic RSE Conference

May 30 - 31, at Aalto University campus in Otaniemi, Espoo, Finland

https://nordic-rse.org/events/2024-in-person-conference/

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These slides: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11065411

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Credits and license

Text

• All text: CodeRefinery project, CC-BY 4.0

Images

• Slide 3: H. Seibold, "6 helpful steps for reproducible research", CC-BY 4.0
• Slides 5, 8, 18: S. Wittke
• Slide 12: ATC tower, P. R. Miller, CC-BY 2.0
• Slide 12: Monitor setup, R. Darst
• Slide 12: Logos, (c) respective organizations
• All other images: CodeRefinery project, CC-BY 4.0