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@INPROCEEDINGS{Zjupa:1046985,
      author       = {Zjupa, Jolanta and Zhukov, Ilya},
      title        = {{O}rganising and conducting practical hands-on sessions in
                      large online training courses},
      reportid     = {FZJ-2025-04053},
      year         = {2025},
      abstract     = {For smooth onboarding of new users to their HPC systems,
                      the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) offers twice per
                      year an "Introduction to Supercomputing at JSC – Theory
                      $\&$ Practice" course. This course is the largest course in
                      the JSC training curriculum in terms of number of
                      participants with repeatedly over 100 registrations, and is
                      held online to ensure the widest reach. A key component of
                      the 3.5-day course is a series of interactive hands-on
                      sessions designed to actively engage participants through
                      practical exercises. The hands-on sessions take place over
                      three consecutive mornings, starting on day two, and
                      typically involve 30 to 60 participants per session. In this
                      talk we detail the organisational structure for a smooth
                      conduction of practical hands-on exercises in a large online
                      setting that can be adapted by other online courses with
                      practical components. Interaction with participants is
                      organised through a multi-platform setup, employing a chat
                      based communication system for structured real-time $Q\&A,$
                      and a video conferencing tool allowing for parallel-running
                      topic discussions with domain experts. Two organisers are in
                      charge of navigating the participants through the practical
                      sessions, matching help requests with HPC domain experts who
                      are present online to assist participants based-on-demand,
                      and foster an interactive environment for topic discussions.
                      In this talk we share best practices and guidelines for
                      structuring communication and manage information flows,
                      addressing the diverse needs of participants while keeping
                      overview of participants progress and potential struggles
                      that require assistance. We share various techniques we
                      implement to increase and uphold engagement, which is
                      correlated with an increased knowledge retention rate and
                      depth of understanding, in an online setting breaking the
                      screen-barrier.},
      month         = {Sep},
      date          = {2025-09-29},
      organization  = {Talking about Education Across
                       Communities at Helmholtz, Berlin
                       (Germany), 29 Sep 2025 - 1 Oct 2025},
      subtyp        = {After Call},
      cin          = {JSC},
      cid          = {I:(DE-Juel1)JSC-20090406},
      pnm          = {5112 - Cross-Domain Algorithms, Tools, Methods Labs (ATMLs)
                      and Research Groups (POF4-511) / BMBF 01 1H1 6013, NRW 325
                      – 8.03 – 133340 - SiVeGCS (DB001492) / ATMLAO - ATML
                      Application Optimization and User Service Tools (ATMLAO)},
      pid          = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-5112 / G:(DE-Juel-1)DB001492 /
                      G:(DE-Juel-1)ATMLAO},
      typ          = {PUB:(DE-HGF)6},
      url          = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1046985},
}