D4.1: Training and Education Survey
Creators: name: Wong, Simon
name: Stojiljkoviv, Danica
name: Erotokritou, Stelios
name: Tsouloupas, George
name: Manninen, Pekka
name: Horak, David
name: Prangov, Georgi
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Deliverable
HPC
Research infrastructure
HPC Training
User Training
Survey

description: This document describes the work carried out to capture the training requirements of existing and candidate PRACE users. Its primary objective is to assist the planning of the PRACE training programme for the intended target audience, by complementing local training activities as well as taking into account HPC trainer input and availability. The views and training requirements of the trainers themselves have also been captured for a “train the trainers” programme to be implemented by PRACE. In essence, this report describes the implementation and analysis of the results from three surveys.<br> There were 416 (330 fully completed) responses to the User Training Survey from users distributed all around Europe. The results gave valuable insight into the HPC subjects that are being employed by users and those where training is in demand. For many of these subjects, PRACE is ideally placed to complement local training activities to address user needs. The results have also enabled the examination of training requirements among different user segments and provided an insight into the evolving PRACE user training landscape since 2008. User preferences on training organisation and delivery have also been collected to guide future PRACE training events.<br> The HPC Trainer Survey collected 205 (166 fully completed) responses from trainers distributed all around Europe, with a few worldwide. The results provided an overview of the HPC training expertise that are currently available and professional opinions on areas where training may be needed. While the range and scope of trainers’ expertise appear to meet user demand in some cases, there are gaps where HPC trainers will benefit from a “train the trainers” programme that includes pedagogical training. Significantly, this work has gathered valuable information on the expertise of a large subset of HPC trainers who may be leveraged in future, through the PRACE CRM system, to source the best equipped trainers for PRACE training events.<br> Information on local training activities was collected through an initial web-based research study using partner websites followed by complementary information provided by respective partners. In all, the training activities in 2011 and 2012 were collected from 14 partners which gave an indication as to where PRACE is best placed to complement training for subjects that are in demand among the target audience.<br> Taken together, analysis of the demand and supply of HPC training have enabled the identification of several groups of HPC subjects to be addressed by PRACE at varying levels of priority. The subjects of top, immediate priority include performance analysis and optimisation, debugging tools and techniques, and advanced MPI; subjects with a significant high priority include GPU computing, hybrid OpenMP-MPI, parallel program design, architecture and compiler specific optimisation, software engineering, scientific visualisation, OpenMP and Python. Subjects for which introductory courses should be provided to increase uptake include parallel I/O, high-level numerical libraries, PGAS and next-generation languages.<br> There is evidence that PRACE should disseminate future training events through its own mailing list. While online documentation on the PRACE website and the PRACE Training Portal continues to be a rich source of information and distance learning for users, face-to-face training remains to be the most effective. With the establishment of the PRACE Advanced Training Centres, PRACE is in ideal position to provide highly targeted training for users at convenient locations.