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Evaluating Student Engagement towards Integrating Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC) Topics in Undergraduate Level Computer Science Curriculum

Published: 22 February 2019 Publication History

Abstract

This research is a cross university study of evaluating whether there are differences between demographic factors (gender, age, class standing) and student engagement via unplugged activities introducing parallel and distributed computing (PDC) topics in CS1, CS2, and CS3 level courses in an undergraduate computer science (CS) curriculum. The collaboration stemmed from attending a NSF Center for Parallel and Distributed Computing Curriculum Development and Educational Resources (CDER) PDC Curriculum Early Adopter Grant and Summer Training Program. Initiatives by the National Science Foundation in conjunction with the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers' Technical Committee of Parallel Processing (NSF/IEEE-TCPP) encourage and promote the introduction of PDC concepts in the early CS undergraduate courses. The researchers used the [Wiggins, 2017: Assessing Student Perspective of Engagement in Class (ASPECT)] survey to collect data from ~105 undergraduate CS students after each unplugged activity. Demographic data (gender, age, class standing) was added to the survey to determine if there are differences in these and student engagement. For the study, the researchers designed two unplugged activities to demonstrate the fundamental concepts of PDC. The first activity help students learn the key benefits of parallel computing, and the limitations imposed by Amdahl's and Gustafson's law. The second activity exhibits the concepts of scheduling and load balancing. Our findings indicate there are no significant differences between gender, age, class standing and student engagement. The researchers plan to continue their research on unplugged activities and student engagement. Additional activities will be developed to introduce other PDC topics.

References

[1]
Ledbetter, M. L. S. (2012). Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action Presentation to Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, American Association for the Advancement of Science, July 2011. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, 11(1), A22--A26.
[2]
Freeman S, Eddy SL, McDonough M, Smith MK, Okoroafor N, Jordt H, Wenderoth MP (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 2014, 111 (23) 8410--8415.
[3]
President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2012). Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Office of Science and Technology, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/fact_sheet_final.pdf
[4]
Benjamin L. Wiggins, Sarah L. Eddy, Leah Wener-Fligner, Karen Freisem, Daniel Z. Grunspan, Elli J. Theobald, Jerry Timbrook, Alison J. Crowe, and Jennifer Momsen (2017). ASPECT: A Survey to Assess Student Perspective of Engagement in an Active-Learning Classroom. CBE Life Sciences Education, 16(2), ar32.

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  • (2020)PDCunplugged: A Free Repository of Unplugged Parallel Distributed Computing Activities2020 IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops (IPDPSW)10.1109/IPDPSW50202.2020.00060(284-291)Online publication date: May-2020

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  1. Evaluating Student Engagement towards Integrating Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC) Topics in Undergraduate Level Computer Science Curriculum

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    SIGCSE '19: Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
    February 2019
    1364 pages
    ISBN:9781450358903
    DOI:10.1145/3287324
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 22 February 2019

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    Author Tags

    1. active learning
    2. parallel and distributed computing education
    3. student engagement
    4. unplugged activity

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    • NSF Center for Parallel and Distributed Computing Curriculum Development and Educational Resources (CDER)

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    SIGCSE '19 Paper Acceptance Rate 169 of 526 submissions, 32%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 1,595 of 4,542 submissions, 35%

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    • (2020)PDCunplugged: A Free Repository of Unplugged Parallel Distributed Computing Activities2020 IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium Workshops (IPDPSW)10.1109/IPDPSW50202.2020.00060(284-291)Online publication date: May-2020

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