Teaching and learning HPC through serious games

• Published in: Journal of parallel and distributed computing Vol. 158; pp. 115 - 125
• Main Authors: Mullen, Julia, Milechin, Lauren, Milechin, Dennis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.12.2021
• Subjects: HPC education; HPC training; Serious games; HPC education; Serious games; HPC training
• ISSN: 0743-7315; 1096-0848
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpdc.2021.07.014

•Serious games in HPC Education.•Higher engagement attained through the use of serious games.•Student intuition and understanding increased through the incorporation of serious games in HPC workshop.•Serious game use led to increased social learning and discussion. Serious games provide pathways for learners to develop intuition about concepts that are new to them. Such games are especially valuable in an educational context because they engage students in active learning and provide a means for students to develop mental models from their experiences. Furthermore, for short term learning experiences, such as informal, ungraded workshops, they act as ice-breaker activities that help build a sense of community among disparate learners. Collaborative games also spawn peer-to-peer discussion. These student experiences generally lead to deeper questions and discussions that allow instructors to uncover more concepts and clarify misunderstandings, all of which reinforce learning. The authors have created and incorporated role playing games within informal High Performance Computing (HPC) courses to provide students with tangible hands-on experiences with HPC concepts. All of the games are designed so that learners work collaboratively and take on a role associated with an HPC system. Engaging in the role playing highlights the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of HPC. In this article we describe the games, how they were integrated into HPC courses, both in-person and virtual, and the lessons learned by both students and instructors. Though played with professional and university learners, the games are easily generalized to other cohorts.