Collaborative Research:CyberTraining:Implementation:Medium: Modern Course Exemplars infused with Parallel and Distributed Computing for the Introductory Computing Course Sequence

协作研究：网络培训：实施：中：为入门计算课程序列注入并行和分布式计算的现代课程范例

• 批准号: 2321018
• 负责人: Ramachandran Vaidyanathan
• 金额: $ 6.36万
• 依托单位: Louisiana State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-15 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321018&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; CyberTraining; Implementation; Medium

Introductory computing courses in the U.S. are based on a conceptual model of computation predating the distribution of computing across the Internet and widespread use of parallel processing. Employer stakeholders reported that new graduates are ill-prepared for working with modern systems so that it can take up to two years of additional training before they become productive employees. A key impediment to modernization that academic stakeholders identified was the lack of example introductory course sequences to adopt. This project will begin to remedy that situation by pioneering a new set of introductory computing courses, built around a modern conceptual model of computation that includes parallel and distributed processing, with rigorous evaluation of their effectiveness and their adoptability across a diverse group of colleges and universities. In addition, the project will better prepare and motivate the future research workforce to leverage advanced cyberinfrastructure by strengthening their foundational understanding of modern computing systems and computational problem solving methods. Modern systems that are geared toward supporting big data, artificial intelligence, large scale simulations, cloud computing, etc., are the foundation of current research paradigms. The project serves the national interest by training a well-prepared and diverse workforce that is better able to compete globally, exploit, and meet the challenges presented by all of these aspects of the pervasive, modern, cyber-technology environment. The immediate goal of this project is to overcome a key impediment that has prevented educators from updating introductory computer science curricula to address current systems: a lack of examples of modernized courses. Since parallel and distributed computing is a core component of modern computing infrastructure, the project will result in an overall modernization of the future research workforce, and enable more effective use of advanced cyberinfrastructure resources by a larger set of researchers than is now possible. The project will design a modern first year introductory computer science course sequence, based on a conceptual model that includes the fundamental elements of parallel and distributed computation as found in current systems. The sequence will be implemented at two colleges, using two different programming languages, to demonstrate the generality of the model. The project will develop a set of pre-treatment and post-treatment instruments, based on education science, to evaluate the effectiveness of the approach. Evaluation will first be done for unmodified courses, as an experimental control group. Then the modified courses will be evaluated to gather data documenting the outcome of the intervention. Six additional institutions, selected for diversity (size, schedule, student population, connections to other institutions such as community colleges, etc.), will be recruited to subsequently adopt and evaluate the new course sequence, and thus discover enhancements that expand its potential for widespread use, as well as providing evidence of effectiveness. Instructors at the additional institutions will go through intensive summer training workshops to learn how to use the evaluation instruments and how to adopt the new course designs. In addition to public dissemination of the new course sequences with their supporting materials through an active outreach effort, including the NSF-sponsored ACCESS program, the project will result in book chapters and publications describing the courses and the evaluation results.This award by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure is jointly supported by the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations within the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

美国的入门计算课程基于一个概念模型，该概念模型早于跨互联网的计算分布和并行处理的广泛使用。雇主利益相关者报告说，新的毕业生与现代系统合作不足，因此在成为生产雇员之前，最多可以需要两年的额外培训。学术利益相关者确定的现代化的关键障碍是缺乏采用介绍性课程序列。该项目将开始通过开创新的入门计算课程来纠正这种情况，该课程围绕现代的计算概念模型建立，其中包括平行和分布式处理，对它们的有效性以及对各种各样的大学和大学的有效性进行了严格的评估。此外，该项目将通过增强对现代计算系统和计算问题解决方法的基本理解来更好地准备和激励未来的研究劳动力，以利用先进的网络基础设施。旨在支持大数据，人工智能，大规模模拟，云计算等的现代系统是当前研究范式的基础。该项目通过培训一支精心准备和多样化的劳动力来为国家利益提供服务，该劳动力能够更好地在全球范围内竞争，利用并应对普遍，现代，网络技术环境的所有这些方面所面临的挑战。该项目的直接目标是克服一个关键障碍，该障碍阻止教育者更新入门计算机科学课程以解决当前系统：缺乏现代化课程的例子。由于平行和分布式计算是现代计算基础架构的核心组成部分，因此该项目将导致对未来研究人员的整体现代化，并通过一组比现在更多的研究人员更有效地利用先进的网络基础设施资源。该项目将基于一个概念模型设计现代的第一年介绍性计算机科学课程序列，该概念模型包括当前系统中发现的并行和分布式计算的基本元素。该序列将使用两种不同的编程语言在两所大学实施，以演示模型的通用性。该项目将基于教育科学开发一套预处理和后处理工具，以评估该方法的有效性。作为实验对照组，将首先针对未修改的课程进行评估。然后，将评估修改后的课程，以收集记录干预结果的数据。将招募六个用于多样性的机构（规模，时间表，学生人数，与社区大学等机构等机构的联系），以随后采用和评估新课程的顺序，从而发现了扩大其广泛使用潜力的增强功能，并提供了有效性的证据。其他机构的讲师将参加密集的夏季培训研讨会，以学习如何使用评估工具以及如何采用新课程设计。除了通过积极的外展工作（包括NSF赞助的访问计划）公开传播新课程序列以及其支持材料，该项目还将导致书籍章节和出版物描述课程和评估结果。这是由高级Cyber​​infrasture办公室授予计算机和信息的统计范围内的高级Cyber​​infrasture办公室，该奖项是由计算机和信息的统计范围内的。认为值得通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛影响的评论标准来评估值得支持。