A SURVEY OF HANDS-ON ASSIGNMENTS AND PROJECTS IN UNDERGRADUATE COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE COURSES

Computer Architecture and Organization is an important area of the computer science body of knowledge. How to teach and learn the subjects in this area effectively has been an active research topic. This paper presents results and analyses from a survey of hands-on assignments and projects from 35 undergraduate computer architecture and organization courses which are either required or elective for the BS degree in CS. These surveyed courses are selected from universities listed among the 50 top Engineering Ph.D. granting schools by the US News & World Report 2008 rankings, and their teaching materials are publicly accessible via their course websites.