About JupyterHub.nrw

The JupyterHub.nrw project encompasses the development of a statewide Jupyter service for North Rhine-Westphalia universities, including LMS integration, training, material development, and assessment tools, to support teaching, learning, and examinations in a digital environment.

The goal of the project is to improve the quality of teaching and research by providing students, instructors, and researchers in NRW with easy access to a pre-configured virtual working environment via a central JupyterHub. This should also be usable by instructors to offer students exercises in the form of prepared notebooks and to evaluate submissions. Easy access to data analysis tools and scripting languages enables students to develop digital skills, both independently of time and location and regardless of their own hardware. The entire project is divided into four areas: JupyterHub, Infrastructure, LMS Integration, and Didactics. The sub-goals in the JupyterHub area are the creation and maintenance of container images as an execution environment with the software needed by users, as well as the necessary adjustments to the JupyterHub to ensure the service’s availability to all universities in NRW. In the Infrastructure area, the main goal is to ensure a stable and secure operation, including continuous updates and further development of the used cloud platform. In the LMS Integration area, a sub-goal is to integrate the JupyterHub.nrw service into university-specific LMS platforms via both Moodle and ILIAS. The sub-goals in the Didactics area lie in the further training of instructors to support the didactic integration of Jupyter Notebooks into teaching and in supporting students in using Jupyter Notebooks.

Participating Universities across NRW

  • University of Münster: As the consortium leader, responsible for the areas of JupyterHub and the underlying cloud infrastructure.
  • Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences: The university has been using Jupyter Notebooks in teaching and assessments since 2012 and develops, through the E2X project, software packages that streamline assignment creation, exercise management, and examinations. As part of JupyterHub.nrw, it manages the integration of these tools and conducts pilot exams.
  • Ruhr University Bochum: Ruhr University Bochum is responsible for the LMS integration in Moodle and ILIAS.
  • Dortmund University of Technology: This university is concerned with the didactic aspects of the project.

Why Choose JupyterHub.nrw?

  • Easy Access: JupyterHub.nrw offers pre-configured working environments via the browser, making it easier for students to get started using new digital tools.
  • Collaborative Learning: With the help of Jupyter Notebooks, analyses can be easily documented and shared with others, such as students or researchers.
  • Powerful Tools: The platform provides a powerful working environmenqt with various applications that are accessible regardless of the user’s device. Notebook images with a variety of tools like VSCode and RStudio are offered.

The project is in a pilot phase with selected universities. Starting at the end of 2025, the service will be available to all interested universities in NRW.