How to EOSC: 5 tips for designing EOSC training programmes

February 1, 2022

Thank you to everyone who participated in our brainstorming workshop on 26 January, entitled ‘Designing EOSC training programmes for institutions’. We had a rich exchange of ideas on the development of EOSC training resources to engage researchers at various academic and research institutions.

More information is still to follow. In the meantime, we want to leave you with a few tips so you can get going for your next training!

5 best practices for giving a training session on EOSC

#1 – Answer concrete questions: When preparing or pitching introductory material, think about the type of questions researchers want to ask. For instance: How can I connect to the EOSC portal? Who else is contributing to EOSC? How do I get access to computational resources? Are there any GDPR or legal issues to consider when using EOSC?

#2 – Share success: Concrete examples (use cases, demos, success stories) help to demonstrate the added value of EOSC for research. You can frame these cases around specific topics such as: metadata/data quality, collaborative environments, data storage and analysis.

#3 – No EOSC jargon: It’s important to use clear language that is understandable to researchers. For instance, depending on the audience, present what type of data is available in a specific field (e.g. bioinformatics, oceanography, etc.).

#4 – Make it visual: Videos or brief guides/tutorials provide a more dynamic medium for introducing EOSC and associated concepts. When preparing videos, make sure to keep them short (under 3 minutes!), use large fonts and check that the format works on mobile phones.

#5 – Start small: Where possible, organise smaller group meetings, where participants can ask their specific questions.

5 things EOSC future can provide

videos and tutorials to spark interest
case studies, examples and success stories on using EOSC services (tailored to different domains)
deep-dive workshops with exercises and hands-on training
self-paced courses on specific EOSC topics with learning paths and reusable elements (i.e. basic materials that can be adapted and tailored to different local contexts)
a peer support network.

Next steps

Do you have more questions about organising a training session for researchers at your institution or want to get involved in EOSC training?

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