[communities] GGF Proposal Submission

[dfmac at nesc.ac.uk]

proposers_name: David Fergusson 
 
affiliation: NeSC, UK 

email: dfmac at nesc.ac.uk 

proposed_title: Grid Education and Training workshop 

session_type: Workshop 

proposed_duration: 3hrs: 90 minutes Education and 90 minutes Training 

target_audience: Educators, Managers, technical experts and users. Those interested in grid training and education 

num_attendees: 30 - 40 

abstract: In order to develop the culture and prepare graduates for productive engagement with e-Infrastructure an active grid education program is proposed. This will benefit from shared resources, international agreements and broad intellectual engagement. The workshop will stimulate these and plan their continuation.
To encourage new and continuing engagement among the many groups potentially able to exploit e-Infrastructure appropriate and timely training is required. None of the individual grid initiatives have sufficient resources to meet these requirements completely and the only possible approach is coordination and cooperation between the projects in this arena. The second part of the workshop will provide a forum for developing such coordination and cooperation within the grid community.
We expect to produce the first in a series of reports on these subject.
There are a pair of 90 minute sessions as there is interplay between education and training.
 

synopsis: The ERA and other governmental groupings are investing heavily to establish e-Infrastructure to stimulate our industries, improve the lives of citizens, accelerate research and gain international competitive advantage. Realising this expectation depends on the development of a richly diverse, well-informed, creative community who will adroitly exploit e-Infrastructure. Without the cultivation of improved skills and knowledge in the communities exploiting and providing e Infrastructure, the potential benefits and advantages of a European e-Infrastructure will not be fully realised.  This will require catalysing the creation of the necessary educational infrastructure. It will need the establishment of a world-wide exchange of ideas and educational material to radically accelerate innovative and effective Grid Education.  By grid education we mean not only education in the use of the Grid, but also the use of the Grid in education. We use the term “Grid” in a very br!
oad sense, to represent any distributed computing technology, working practices and policies that will enable the provision of e Infrastructure.
Good education in rapidly advancing scientific, medical, engineering and technical domains is particularly labour intensive.  It must draw on the skills and knowledge of the small community of pioneers already intensively engaged in advancing e-Infrastructure.  The only way in which this can be achieved is by stimulating the coordination and cooperation in training and education by these groups.

The ICEAGE project as a catalyst
The ICEAGE project will officially start on 1st March 2006. The leaders of this project will contribute to the workshop and bring in their network of collaborators to stimulate the workshop. We therefore present the current thinking in the ICEAGE project as a starting position for the workshop.
ICEAGE will form an international forum, The International Collaboration to Extend and Advance Grid Education forum.  This will bring together a world-wide consortium of experts to expand and advance grid education.
Building on experience in EGEE the project will establish public shared infrastructure to help students, self-paced learners and educators obtain and develop Advanced Grid Education.  We add the prefix advanced to indicate that we are focused on the technologies that are most likely to contribute to sustained, large-scale, multi-purpose e Infrastructures. ICEAGE will also develop understanding of the potential of grids in a wide range of application areas, alerting citizens to creative opportunities and business potential.  This will lead to the inclusion of social, ethical and economic issues. Education itself should be a domain for such creativity.  ICEAGE will, therefore, show how education can use e Infrastructure. 
ICEAGE will deliver an annual programme of education events, including International Summer Schools in Grid Computing.  The legacy of ICEAGE will be universities throughout Europe adapting their courses to develop technological expertise needed for e Infrastructures and stimulating their graduates to lead the exploitation of e Infrastructure in many disciplines. 
The first session will start with a presentation on what is needed to develop international collaboration in grid education based on ICEAGE. This will be followed  with a number of short talks about educational challenges and approaches, predominately from those already engaged in the field of grid education. This will be followed by an open discussion to identify priorities and to test whether there is a willingness to work on these in the context of GGF. If a consensus can be established we will seek commitment from volunteers to carry the work forward, with ICAGE support.
The second session will be immediately initiated by drawing on the experiences of EGEE training and other EU projects. We will draw in other contributions on grid training from North America, Australia, Asia & the rest of Europe. Again we will conclude with a prioritisation of issues and recruiting a contingent to address them in the GGF context.

Agenda:

1st Session
	Introduce ICEAGE (Malcolm Atkinson ) 		10 mins
	Education of Minorities (Geoffry Fox)		10 mins
	Early Experiences with eScience MSc ( )		10 mins
	Report on ISSGCs	(David Fergusson)		10 mins

	Discussion
a.	Do we want to work on developing common curricula?
b.	Do we want to share educational material?
a.	Lecture notes?
b.	Hands on excersises?
c.	Tutorials and assessments?
c.	Do we want to have a common student access policy?
d.	Do we want to share t-Infrastructure?


2nd Session

	Report on EU training coordination (Rosia Badia)
	EGEE training experiences (David Fergusson)
	Australian training experiences (JohnO’Callaghan)
	Globus training experiences (Lisa Childers)
	Condor training experiences (Alain Roy)
	OGSA-DAI training experiences (Neil Chue Hong)

	Discussion
		a. Shared materials
		b. Co-sheduling
		c. t-Infrastructure
		d. eLearning
		e. integration of trianing

 

tech_requirements: None 

prereq_participants: None 

advertise_suggestion: Advertising through email lists for projects with a significant training or education component.
Advertise on web sites of EGEE, ICEAGE and related projects.