03-19, 10:00–10:25 (US/Eastern), Belfer Case Study Room (CGIS S020)
The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) saw increased use of its OSC OnDemand web interface for classroom applications during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for R and Python. To address challenges in creating shareable and reproducible environments, OSC customized RStudio and Jupyter Notebooks for a dedicated classroom OOD instance. This setup allows instructors to manage and configure software environments for students, ensuring consistency and reducing setup time. Instructors can also access student workspaces to review and manage homework.
The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) provides advanced computing solutions to researchers through a web-based interface called OSC OnDemand. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we observed a significant increase in the use of OnDemand for classroom applications, particularly for tools like R and Python. However, this surge highlighted challenges in creating environments that are easily shareable and reproducible to meet classroom needs.
To address these challenges, we customized RStudio and Jupyter Notebook and deployed them on a dedicated classroom server. This setup enables the delivery of tailored, isolated software environments for each classroom, ensuring a seamless and efficient learning experience for students and instructors. Each classroom environment is managed by the instructor, who can install, and update packages as needed. When students log into a course hosted on the classroom server, they are provided with the custom R or Python environment configured by the instructor. This eliminates the need for students to install packages themselves, ensuring consistency and reducing setup time. Additionally, these environments are isolated from other Python or R workflows the user may already have in their accounts, preventing conflicts and maintaining a clean, course-specific workspace.
Instructors can also easily share data and other files for students to use for assignments. They have access to a student's workspace with limited permissions, allowing them to review and manage homework submissions directly within the custom environment. This ensures that assignments are completed and assessed within the same controlled setup, streamlining the process for both students and instructors.
Classroom projects remain an area of growth at OSC. In 2023 we hosted over 200 courses for 30 colleges and universities around the state, provided computing and software resources to a total of 6750 enrollees. In our presentation, we will discuss the capabilities, tools and processes used at OSC so that others in the OOD community can leverage our efforts to support their educational workloads.
Karen Tomko, Ph.D., serves as Director of Research Software Applications and Manager of the Scientific Applications group at the Ohio Supercomputer Center. Tomko also serves on the steering committee for the Midwest Research Computing and Data Consortium and is a member of the leadership team for the ICICLE AI institute. Her research interests include communication runtimes, application parallelization and tuning, and cyberinfrastructure for AI.