Cluster Computing in the Classroom & Need comments ?

[Rajkumar Buyya]

Dear All,

I thought you might be interested in the following article:
 Cluster Computing in the Classroom: Topics, Guidelines, and Experiences
It presents our experience in teaching cluster computing in four
universities: Arkansas, Monash, Southern California (USC), and
L&C Colleague (Portland). 

The article is also accessible from:
  CC Info Centre @ http://www.buyya.com/cluster
A direct pointer to the article:
     http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~rajkumar/papers/CC-Edu.pdf

We invite your comments on the article as this is still under development.

Best Regards
Raj
---------- Abstract Reads as follows:---------------------------------
With the progress of research on cluster computing, more and more universities have begun to offer
various courses covering cluster computing. A wide variety of content can be taught in these
courses. Because of this, a difficulty that arises is the selection of appropriate course material. 
The selection is complicated by the fact that some content in cluster computing is also covered by
other courses such as operating systems, networking, or computer architecture. In addition, the
background of students enrolled in cluster computing courses varies. These aspects of cluster
computing make the development of good course material difficult. Combining our experiences in
teaching cluster computing in several universities in the USA and Australia and conducting tutorials
at many international conferences all over the world, we present prospective topics in cluster
computing along with a wide variety of information sources (books, software, and materials on the
web) from which instructors can choose. The course material described includes system architecture,
parallel programming, algorithms, and applications. Instructors are advised to choose selected units
in each of the topical areas and develop their own syllabus to meet course objectives. For example,
a full course can be taught on system architecture for core computer science students. Or, a course
on parallel programming could contain a brief coverage of system architecture and then devote the
majority of time to programming methods. Other combinations are also possible.  We share our
experiences in teaching cluster computing and the topics we have chosen depending on course
objectives. 
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