Design and delivery of cloud computing syllabus for computing undergraduates

Abstract

Cloud computing is a highly disruptive paradigm transforming the way we interact with technologies. Cloud platforms and services have become the predominant choice for any real-world storage and computation intensive applications such as Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), making it a must-have skill for undergraduates across many disciplines. Cloud technology, services and applications are evolving rapidly and it is challenging to design an academic syllabus that encompasses a comprehensive and up-to-date body of knowledge in an engaging way. This paper describes our approach to designing a new module to provide a broad overview of Cloud Computing and practical skills in developing solutions using services offered by a cloud platform, in this case Amazon Web Services (AWS) for Computing undergraduate students at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), UK. We describe the rationale for the syllabus design and outline the lectures, practical activities and assessments that were developed. The practicals were designed to be executed on the AWS platform as bite-sized tasks providing hands-on learning to reinforce prior lecture content. The first syllabus delivery at GCU shows that the students performed well, found the content engaging and easy to assimilate, and had a fulfilling learning experience. The issues involved in using `live' cloud platforms for teaching are also evaluated.