Internet-oriented educational course “introduction to parallel computing”: A simple way to start

Abstract

Educational course “Introduction to Parallel Computing” is discussed. A modern method of presentation of the educational materials for simultaneous teaching a large number of attendees (Massive Open Online Course, MOOC) has been applied. The educational course is delivered in the simplest form with a wide use of the presentational materials. Lectures of the course are subdivided into relatively small topics, which do not require significant effort to learn. This provides a continuous success of learning and increases the motivation of the students. For evaluation of the progress in the understanding of the educational content being studied, the course contains the test questionnaires and the tasks for the development of the parallel programs by the students themselves. The automated validation and scalability program evaluation are provided. These features can attract a large number of attendees and pay the students’ attention to the professional activity in the field of supercomputer technologies.