The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) provides advanced computing solutions to researchers and educators throughout Ohio. We strive to make access to the resources as easy as we can and see significant use of our OnDemand apps for classroom use cases, in particular notebooks such as Jupyter and RStudio. We are grateful for the opportunity to support learning in Ohio, but support for many courses with challenges in creating environments that are easily shareable and reproducible to meet the needs.
To address these challenges, we have focused on developing a self-service model where possible. We customized the RStudio and Jupyter Notebook apps and deployed them on a dedicated classroom server backed by Kubernetes. This setup enables the delivery of tailored, isolated software environments for each classroom, ensuring a seamless and efficient learning experience for students and instructors. Each classroom environment is managed by the instructor, who can install, and update packages as needed. When students log into a course hosted on the classroom server, they are provided with the custom R or Python environment configured by the instructor. This eliminates the need for students to install packages themselves, ensuring consistency and reducing setup time. Additionally, these environments are isolated from other Python or R workflows the user may already have in their accounts, preventing conflicts and maintaining a clean, course-specific workspace.
Instructors can also easily share data and other files for students to use for assignments. They have access to a student's workspace with limited permissions, allowing them to review and manage homework submissions directly within the custom environment. This ensures that assignments are completed and assessed within the same controlled setup, streamlining the process for both students and instructors.
Classroom projects remain an area of growth at OSC. In 2025 we hosted 300 courses for 28 colleges and universities around the state, providing computing and software resources to a total of 7,252 enrollees.