ECMWF’s experiences in virtual training and events

The ECMWF training offering covers a wide range of topics in support of operational numerical weather prediction, forecasting, the Copernicus Climate Change Services (C3S) and Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS). ECMWF is committed to providing education and training to its Member and Co-operating States as well as the wider meteorological community. During the global COVID pandemic it was essential that the continuity of service was maintained and training courses and events were delivered. As such we had to rapidly adjust the way our courses and events took place while ensuing a high quality learning experience for participants.

Delivering training courses and events online posed challenges for participants, trainers and presenters. Everyone had to adapt to utilising new technology alongside reduced trainer-participant interactions and networking while making sure learning and event objectives were still met and attendees were engaged. To do this ECMWF investigated a number of tools and methods to enhance participant interaction and engagement. These included: gather.town an online environment where participants created avatars and walked around the virtual ECMWF building interacting with each other, this environment was also used for classroom teaching and training activities; Padlet for collaboration and sharing of documents and presentations; so called ‘Social Breaks’ where participants were randomly assigned into rooms for an informal chat akin to in-person coffee breaks; and Q&A and polling features in tools like Zoom, Slido and Vevox to enhance engagement.

In this presentation we will detail and explore the different ways ECMWF have delivered virtual training courses and events, the new tools we have used, the challenges that we have faced and the lessons we have learned for delivering future courses and events.