2026 Compute Ontario Summer School FAQ

Send us an email to support@tech.alliancecan.ca with the subject "Compute Ontario Summer School", We'll be happy to help. 

The following steps should resolve the issue (if not, send us an email to support@tech.alliancecan.ca):

1. Go to https://training.computeontario.ca/createcotacct.php
2. Type in your email and click submit.
3. Check your inbox for an email from the web site.
   • Only bother with the last email received.
4. Instead of clicking the link in that email, right-click your mouse on it and copy the link.
   • If your default browser is not the same browser as you used with step 2 then clicking will not work.
5. Paste the link in the web browser you used in step 2 within 10 minutes of doing step 2.
6. Now you can complete filling in the details for your account and finalize account creation.

While "WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!" is a serious warning by SSH, in some cases it is a non-issue and prevents access to the system one is trying to connect to.

One can suppress this warning message by adding to the SSH command line:

-q -o "StrictHostKeyChecking no"

e.g., if your ssh command line was:

ssh USERNAME@coss2026a.c3.ca

then use this command line instead:

ssh -q -o "StrictHostKeyChecking no" USERNAME@coss2026a.c3.ca

When does this message typically occur? If you had previously connected to that server with SSH, and after that the server changed its SSH keys/configuration, then when you try reconnecting to the server SSH will output, "WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!". (When SSH connects to a machine, it remembers things about that machine.)

A way to remove what SSH remembers about a machine's identification, one can use the ssh-keygen command on your computer, e.g.,

ssh-keygen -R coss2026a.c3.ca

Running such will delete the SSH server identification information for coss2025a.c3.ca on your computer. Connecting with:

ssh USERNAME@coss2026a.c3.ca

will no longer output that command (for this connection only) since SSH will re-download the server's identification (and there is now no previous server identification on your computer to check against since you just deleted it with ssh-keygen).

One common mistake is forgetting to prepend the username you provided when creating the Compute Ontario Training account with "cot-". For example, if you provided the username john.smith, use the following to login to the summer school site: cot-john.smith .

You don't need to do anything special - the system will record your attendance automatically.

To qualify for a course attendance certificate, you have to attend at least 2/3 of the course (if it contains a single session), or at least 2/3 of each session of the course (if it contains more than one session). For example, if the course consists of two 3-hours sessions, you have to attend at least 2 hours of the session 1, and at least 2 hours of the session 2. Please note that some courses may only issue Completion certificates (no Attendance certificates). If that is the case, this is noted in the course description.

You have to wait for at least a day to see your attendance properly reflected on the course page. If after one day you still have a problem with the attendance, please send us a ticket to support@tech.alliancecan.ca with the subject "Compute Ontario Summer School".

• First you go the top page for the summer school. For example for the 2026 summer school it is https://training.computeontario.ca/coss2026.php (just change the year number at the end for other years.)
• Next click "link to course" under the course you are trying to attend (this assumes you already registered for it.)
• On the next page, log in to the summer school site using your Compute Ontario Training account.
• Then you will find yourself on the course web page. The video links (separate for each session - morning and afternoon) will be located near the top of the page - the link Live Course Video Links.

To see a specific certificate:

• Go to the course the certificate(s) were issued in and you can download such from that course by clicking the appropriate link in that course.

To see all of your certificates:

• Once logged in, you can click your name/initials/picture at the top-right, choose Profile, and click on My Certificates. The page that comes up will show you all certificates that have been issued to you or that you have downloaded manually.

All issued certificates are PDF files. Sometimes a program will fail to render them properly --we recommend keeping your software programs up-to-date to avoid this issue. Also be aware that modern web browsers will render PDF files without using any third-party programs --so there is no need to install third-party programs to view/print PDF files.

Some users have had issues on Windows systems using Adobe Reader. These users have had success for these uses has been by doing the following:

• Uninstall the Adobe Reader program.
  • ASIDE: Adobe Reader typically sets web browsers to run Adobe Reader instead of showing the PDF file and it is Adobe Reader --not the web browser-- that gives an error with the file. It is possible to change this setting but it is typically a different set of instructions for each web browser so it is not worth going into such detail here. Instead uninstalling Adobe Reader is and consistent.
• Access/Download/Print the certificate (e.g., via the web site).
  • (Might as well do this when Adobe Reader is not installed.)
• And optionally re-download and install Adobe Reader, e.g., if you want it installed.
  • Re-downloading it is a good idea to get the newest release and bug fixes. Don't rely on a file you already have if it was already giving errors with our certificate PDF files.

Normally you should complete such quizzes (and any other completion assignments) before the end of the summer school - unless instructed otherwise by the teacher.

Gathering all the data for certificates generation is fairly time-expensive, so expect some delays with getting your certificates. This could be late summer or early autumn. 

All our courses (with a few exceptions, noted in the course description) will generate Attendance certificates for people who attended at least 67% of live sessions. Some courses will also issue Completion certificates - based on quizzes and/or home assignments. 

All are courses are recorded. The recordings are posted on the course web page typically within a couple of days. To access the recordings, you need to be registered for the course. If the course you are interested in is full, you can contact us after the summer school (support@tech.alliancecan.ca) concerning access to the recordings and other course materials.

In BBB (BigBlueButton), to see live transcription, those speakers (instructors, helpers, etc.) must have such enabled otherwise such cannot be in BBB. Simply click on the CC icon on the left to view that text.

That said:

• If you are using the Chrome web browser, you can enable captions in the Chrome web browser on your computer/phone, see this link from Google. (This has been supported in Chrome since 2021 and can be handy to use when transcriptions are not otherwise available.)
• If Zoom and not BBB (BigBlueButton) is being used in the course, Zoom supports live transcription in its application (if you are using a new enough version). If you cannot see it in that Zoom session, then ask for it to be enabled in that Zoom session.

It typically takes a couple of days for the recordings to be posted. Once ready the recordings will be posted on the course webpage (section "Live Session Recordings" at the bottom of the page) and a message will be posted for all the participants. 

Yes, you can still access the course materials after the school is over. 

No. Any Canadian researcher can register for our summer school courses. This applies to Canadian grad students, some undergrads (involved in research), postdocs, staff researchers, faculty etc. You can be in a Canadian university, college, national lab etc. 

The vast majority of our courses do not have such a requirement. The courses which do require this list this as a formal course prerequisite. For the rest of the courses you can create a Compute Ontario Training account, then use it to register for the courses you want.

No. The school's material is designed for researchers, and will not be helpful for high schoolers. 

Our summer school courses do not have waitlists. Also, once the course is full, we cannot add people manually. What you can do is to wait till the summer school is over, then send us an email (support@tech.alliancecan.ca) asking for an access to the course contents including the recordings from the live sessions.

The summer school runs with parallel streams. It is possible that the courses you want to attend overlap in time.  If this is the case:

• If you are registered in both courses, you can only attend one. Please consider unenrolling from the one you won't be attending.
• If you are only registered in the course you will be attending, no problem.

After summer school has ended:

• If you are already registered in the courses you want access to then there is nothing to be done.
• If you unenrolled and/or don't have access to the desired courses after summer school has completely ended then:
  • Send an email to support@tech.alliancecan.ca with the subject COSS 2026 requesting access to those course(s). (Please give us the exact name(s) of those courses. Thank you.)

We do not currently impose such deadlines. You can register any time - before, during or after the summer school - as long as the course is not full. (We do impose registration caps with some of our courses.) Registering after the course is over can still be useful as it will allow you access the course materials including live session recordings. You will not be able to qualify for an Attendance certificate though. 

In BBB (BigBlueButton), to see live transcription, those speakers (instructors, helpers, etc.) must have such enabled otherwise such cannot be in BBB. Simply click on the CC icon on the left to view that text.

That said:

• If you are using the Chrome web browser, you can enable captions in the Chrome web browser on your computer/phone, see this link from Google. (This has been supported in Chrome since 2021 and can be handy to use when transcriptions are not otherwise available.)
• If Zoom and not BBB (BigBlueButton) is being used in the course, Zoom supports live transcription in its application (if you are using a new enough version). If you cannot see it in that Zoom session, then ask for it to be enabled in that Zoom session.

BigBlueButton's (BBB's) browser and software requirements are:

• https://support.bigbluebutton.org/hc/en-us/articles/1500005215921-What-are-the-minimum-requirements-for-BigBlueButton

NOTE: BBB is used exclusively through a web browser. If you're having an issue, ensure everything is up-to-date and perhaps switch to use a different web browser, e.g., Chrome or Firefox.

Zoom's browser and software requirements are here:

• https://support.zoom.com/hc/en/article?id=zm_kb&sysparm_article=KB0060748

NOTE: Zoom can be used through a web browser or via its application that can be downloaded and installed. If you are having issues, ensure everything is up-to-date. If using a web browser, consider using a different web browser, e.g., Chrome or Firefox.