How we did Summer Kickstart 2021

In Summer 2021, Aalto Scientific Computing ran an online "HPC/Computing Kickstart" course as we usually do in the summers. This was the third time we did it online, and our best effort yet. We managed to teach about 200 people in an interactive and entertaining fashion. This talk explains how we did it.

The main concepts:
- Separate instructors from the student and adopt a "TV studio" type production strategy, with instructors broadcasting via livestream and separate rooms for exercises with helpers. OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is used for this production.
- The above allowed us to make the course public and allow anyone to attend, and also very quickly produce videos that are useful for follow-up work.
- HackMD for communication via written questions/comments, both answered by helpers and discussed live. These are saved and posted later.
- Always do team teaching. No one should lecture alone, instead every lesson is run as a discussion among at two people. This adds in interaction that might be missing with a quiet audience.
- Always a portrait screenshare so that learners can have half the screen for their own work.
- Realizing that different types of people attend: some watch passively, some do exercises, some are advanced. Try to be somewhat suitable for all and realize most people have to follow-up later, rather than learn immediately on the spot.
- Of course all the typical tech teaching strategies apply as well, such as learner-centric design, interactive examples, and so on. These don't need to be re-stated here.

This talk and recording is self-demonstrating of the teaching style.