Assessing the Impact of a CyberTraining Project: Expanding the Metrics

Volume 15, Issue 2 (November 2024), pp. 5–9

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@article{jocse-15-2-2,
  author={Sandra B. Nite and Joshua Winchell and Marinus ‘Maikel’  Pennings and Dhruva K. Chakravorty and Keith Jackson},
  title={Assessing the Impact of a CyberTraining Project: Expanding the Metrics},
  journal={The Journal of Computational Science Education},
  year=2024,
  month=nov,
  volume=15,
  issue=2,
  pages={5--9},
  doi={https://doi.org/10.22369/issn.2153-4136/15/2/2}
}

As training on cyberinfrastructure resources becomes more common, we show the progression of metrics used to measure the effectiveness and impact of informal computational training courses that are provided by the Texas A&M University High Performance Research Computing facility. These courses were built to support researchers from research groups that have a background in computing practices. As such, the courses were structured as information-sharing sessions with the primary method to measure course success being frequency of participation. While these metrics inform about the interest in these courses, they relied on researchers continuing the learning process in their laboratories. As computing becomes ubiquitous in research programs, researchers who have no peer-learning mechanisms participate in these courses. Researchers are now participating in a continuum of courses that cover introductory to advanced topics and rely on them to build proficiency in research computing technologies. We report on a pilot program that pivots along the way to support these researchers.