A Curriculum Initiative on Parallel and Distributed Computing - Toward Core Topics for Undergraduates

并行和分布式计算课程计划 - 面向本科生核心主题

• 批准号: 1048711
• 负责人: Sushil Prasad
• 金额: $ 6万
• 依托单位: Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1048711&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Curriculum; Initiative; Parallel; Distributed; Computing

Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC) now permeates most computing activities. The penetration of this technology in the daily lives has resulted in common users relying on its effectiveness and reliability. The mass marketing of multicores and general-purpose graphics processing units in home and office PCs and laptops has a potential for empowering even common users to become technology contributors. Certainly, it is no longer sufficient for even basic programmers to acquire only the conventional programming skills. All these phenomena point to the need for imparting a broad-based skill set in parallel and distributed computing at various levels, impacting Computer Science (CS) and Computer Engineering (CE) programs and related computational disciplines. However, the rapid change in computing hardware platforms and devices, languages, and supporting programming environments, and the research advances, more than ever challenges the educators in deciding what to teach in any given semester. Students and their future employers face similar challenges on what constitutes basic expertise.Our vision is bringing all stakeholder experts working together and periodically providing guidance on restructuring standard curriculum across various courses and modules related to parallel and distributed computing. Immediate benefit would be providing CS/CE students and their instructors with periodic guidelines on which aspects to cover in which courses. New programs at colleges (nationally and internationally) will receive guidance in setting up courses and/or integrating parallelism in the Computer Science or Engineering or Computational Science curriculum. Employers would have well defined expectations from students on PDC skills. This will similarly help in retraining and certifications of existing professionals. As background preparation, a planning workshop was held in Feb 2010 to explore the state of curriculum in parallel and distributed education, assess the needs, provide action plans and recommend mechanisms for how best to address the curricular needs in both the short and long terms. The planning workshop and its related set of activities have drawn experts from various stakeholders.The primary task is to propose a set of core topics in parallel and distributed computing for undergraduate curriculum for CS/CE students. For various topics in the three sub-areas of Programming, Algorithms, and Architecture, the expected deliverables are (i) learning outcomes, (ii) level of coverage (Bloom's classification), and (iii) examples of how to teach each topic. In summer 2010, we aim to carry out a public release of preliminary curriculum, collect feedback from various stakeholders, and identify and recruit colleagues who will try out aspects the proposed curriculum during fall 2010 and spring 2011. Following these, during these two semesters, the activities will include monitoring and supporting the courses and feedback collection from instructors and students.Our larger goal is to enable students to be fully prepared for their future careers in light of the technological shifts and mass marketing of multicores and GPUs and to make real impact on all the stakeholders including employers, authors, and educators. This curricular guidance and its trajectory, along with periodic feedback and other evaluation data on adoption and use, will also help steer companies hiring students and interns, hardware and software vendors, and, of course, the authors and researchers.

现在，平行和分布式计算（PDC）渗透到大多数计算活动中。 这项技术在日常生活中的渗透导致普通用户依靠其有效性和可靠性。 家庭和办公室PC和笔记本电脑中多学院和通用图形处理单元的大规模营销有可能使即使是普通用户成为技术贡献者的能力。 当然，即使基本程序员也只能获得传统的编程技能也不再足够。 所有这些现象都表明，需要在各个层面上平行和分布式计算，影响计算机科学（CS）和计算机工程（CE）程序以及相关计算学科。 但是，计算硬件平台和设备，语言以及支持编程环境以及研究进展的迅速变化，比以往任何时候都更加挑战教育工作者在任何给定学期中的教学内容。学生及其未来的雇主在构成基本专业知识方面面临类似的挑战。我们的愿景是使所有利益相关者专家共同努力，并定期提供有关与平行和分布式计算相关的各种课程和模块进行重组标准课程的指导。 即时的收益将为CS/CE学生及其讲师提供定期指南，以涵盖哪些方面的课程。大学（在国内和国际上）的新课程将获得指导，以在计算机科学或工程学或计算科学课程中设置和/或整合并行性。雇主对学生对PDC技能的期望有明确的定义。同样，这将有助于验证现有专业人员的认证和认证。 作为背景准备，2010年2月举行了一项计划研讨会，旨在在并行和分布式教育中探索课程状况，评估需求，提供行动计划并推荐如何在短期和长期以最佳方式满足课程需求的机制。计划研讨会及其相关活动已从各种利益相关者那里吸引了专家。主要任务是在平行和分布式计算中为CS/CE学生提供一组核心主题。 对于编程，算法和体系结构的三个子方面的各种主题，预期的可交付成果是（i）学习成果，（ii）覆盖层（Bloom的分类）以及（iii）如何教授每个主题的示例。 在2010年夏季，我们旨在公开发布初步课程，从各种利益相关者那里收集反馈，并识别和招募同事，他们将在2010年秋季和2011年春季期间尝试各个方面。在这些学期之后，在这两个学期之后，这些活动将包括在这两个学期期间，包括对教师和反馈的启动的启动，以供他们提供较大的进球。多头和GPU的转变和大规模营销，并对包括雇主，作者和教育者在内的所有利益相关者产生真正的影响。该课程指导及其轨迹，以及有关采用和使用的定期反馈和其他评估数据，还将帮助引导公司雇用学生和实习生，硬件和软件供应商，当然还有作者和研究人员。