Early Adopters of Curriculum Initiative in Parallel and Distributed Computing at EduPar-12

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The penetration of parallel and distributed computing (PDC) technology into the daily lives of users has made it imperative that computer scientists and engineers provide rapidly changing, but yet effective, efficient and reliable technology to consumers. This points to the urgent need for imparting a broad-based skill set in PDC technology at various levels in the educational fabric. However, the rapid change in computing technology and research advances challenge educators in knowing what to teach in any given semester. Employers face similar challenges regarding what constitutes basic expertise. In this context, a working group has taken up the challenge of developing PDC curricular guidelines for Computer Science and Computer Engineering undergraduates, with particular emphasis on identifying a core curriculum that represents what every graduate should know about PDC. Throughout 2010, the working group has deliberated upon various topics and subtopics, specifying both the expected minimum level of coverage and the desired learning outcomes; it employed Bloom's classification as the medium for expressing the desired level of expertise on a topic. A preliminary version of the core curriculum was released in Dec, 2010 (http://www.cs.gsu.edu/~tcpp/curriculum/index.php). A major mechanism for evaluating a snapshot of our guidelines is the Early Adopter competition, with grants from NSF and Intel. About four dozen early-adopter institutions are trying out this curriculum. We organized a workshop in Anchorage, May 2011, to bring together the early adopters and others interested in PDC education, primarily to receive the feedback from the Adopters, but also to stimulate discussion of curricular and other educational issues. This inaugural EduPar workshop - the first of its kind at IPDPS, being focused on educational matters - was a great success. This has led to a follow up EduPar-12 workshop that is being organized at IPDPS-12 in Shanghai with the support of this grant. The proposed curriculum is being revised currently for a formal released.