Using computer history as innovation for computer organization subjects

Abstract

One of the main difficulties when teaching basic subjects related with computer fundamentals and organization to computer engineering undergraduate students is to provide an applied vision close to the current real word in order to motivate and encourage them to study this subject. Learning about the basic principles about how computers work interaction between main hardware components and fundamental assembly language programming has currently become of minor interest for our students because of the use of many simplifications and abstractions that are far from the technological reality of today. In this paper, we show how a group of teachers of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) have included computer history as an additional activity of the Computer Organization subject. Our main objective has been to increase the student motivation and also to spread the history of computers among young people. To this end an active visit to the Museum of Informatics of the UPV is organized as a part of the contents of the subject. This activity is designed to establish and emphasize relationships between the museum collection and the topics used as representative examples for teaching. The main concern in the organization of this activity is the large number of students involved (more than 400). This paper describes how the experience has been carried out in the present and the previous academic year; the way we have made an evaluation to improve it according the students opinion and the results achieved; lessons learned and new challenges for the future.