COLLABORATIVE: A Gaming Environment to Teach Students About Complex Distributed Systems

复杂的分布式系统在现代计算经验中至关重要，但许多本科计算课程很少让学生接触到这些系统的全部复杂性。 研究人员开发了一个名为DWOLD的原型游戏环境，为学生提供更真实的分布式系统体验。 当前项目扩展了该环境的功能。 学生通过解决虚拟化分布式系统中的各种问题来竞争，以保持系统健康和正常运行。 游戏场景旨在提高学生的技能和关键概念的知识，如可扩展性，鲁棒性，容错性和构建分布式系统的能力。 预期的成果包括一个软件包，可以很容易地采用其他教师和一个集合的实验模块和作业。该游戏正在纽约和纽约市立大学布鲁克林学院的本科课程中进行试点。 研讨会用于培训教师如何以及为什么在他们的课程中使用游戏环境。 作为更广泛背景的一部分，该项目评估了游戏作为STEM教育重要工具的潜力。

Computing Science (31)Complex distributed systems are critical in the modern computing experience, yet many undergraduate computing curricula give students little exposure to the full complexity of these systems. Investigators have developed a prototype gaming environment, called DWORLD, to provide students more realistic experiences with distributed systems. The current project extends the capabilities of this environment. Students compete by addressing a variety of issues in a virtualized distributed system in order to keep the system healthy and operating normally. Game scenarios are designed to enhance student skills and knowledge of key concepts such as scalability, robustness, fault-tolerance and the ability to build a distributed system. Expected outcomes include a software package that can be easily adopted by other faculty and a collection of lab modules and assignments.The game is being piloted in undergraduate courses at Polytechnic University of New York and CUNY Brooklyn College. Workshops are used to train faculty how and why to use the gaming environment in their courses. As part of a broader context, the project assesses the potential for games as an important tool in STEM education.