Collaborative Research: CSinParallel: Experiential Learning of Parallel and Distributed Computing Through Sight, Sound, and Touch

今天的台式机、笔记本电脑、平板电脑和智能手机都包含多个核心处理单元。如今，许多人还使用云计算服务进行网上购物、分享照片和其他便利。多核计算机和云计算服务都是并行和分布式计算的例子。当前的计算机科学（CS）课程建议要求每个CS本科学生学习并行和分布式计算（PDC）。为了帮助学生掌握PDC的复杂性，该项目将开发软件和课程材料，结合两种策略，使PDC主题有形易懂：廉价的单板计算机和使用视觉、声音和触觉的教学材料。通过使用这些教材来探索PDC主题，CS学生将能够看到和听到并行和分布式计算，并触摸执行这些计算的硬件。项目团队还将开发免费的互动式PDC在线教科书和“不插电”练习集，以便在没有计算机的情况下学习PDC概念。该项目将开发：1)使用研究者的线程安全图形库的可视化软件和教材，以便学生可以实时看到并行计算；2)新的线程安全音频库的音频软件和教材，使学生能够听到抽象的PDC概念和计算；3)采用廉价的多核单板计算机构建的可操作学习系统，使PDC系统具有具象性和可触摸性；4)“不插电”活动，使PDC算法能够被广泛的受众使用；5)免费的交互式PDC教科书，将通过客户端和基于云的系统组合部署。这些材料可以通过CSinParallel.org网站获得，该网站是美国国家科学基金会以前资助的一个项目（奖项1226172;1225739;1225796）。更广泛的影响将包括加强和多样化美国网络劳动力，提高包括少数民族服务机构在内的全国CS教师和学生的PDC技能，通过教师发展研讨会和csinparallel.org上新的社交网络功能，使PDC教育工作者社区多样化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Today's desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones all contain multiple core processing units. Many people today also use cloud computing services for online shopping, sharing photos, and other conveniences. Multicore computers and cloud computing services are both examples of parallel and distributed computing. Current computer science (CS) curriculum recommendations require every undergraduate CS student to learn about parallel and distributed computing (PDC). To help students master the complexities of PDC, this project will develop software and curricular materials that combine two strategies for making PDC topics tangible and accessible: inexpensive single-board computers and teaching materials that use sight, sound, and touch. By using these teaching materials to explore PDC topics, CS students will be able to see and hear parallel and distributed computations and touch the hardware performing those computations. The project team will also develop a free, interactive, online PDC textbook and a collection of "unplugged" exercises for learning PDC concepts without a computer.The project will develop: 1) visual software and teaching materials that use the investigators' Thread-Safe Graphics Library so students can see parallel computations in real-time; 2) audial software and teaching materials for a new Thread-Safe Audial Library so students can hear abstract PDC concepts and computations; 3) manipulative learning systems constructed with inexpensive multi-core single-board computers so PDC systems are concrete and touchable; 4) "unplugged" activities that make PDC algorithms accessible to broad audiences; and 5) a free, interactive PDC textbook that will be deployed through a combination of client-side and cloud-based systems. These materials will be accessible through the CSinParallel.org website, a previously-funded NSF project (Awards 1226172; 1225739; 1225796). Broader impacts will include strengthening and diversifying the U.S. cyber-workforce, improving the PDC skills of CS instructors and students nationwide including those at minority-serving institutions, and diversifying the community of PDC educators through faculty-development workshops and new social-networking features on CSinParallel.org.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.