Networking Education: How to Educate the Educators?; Karlsruhe, Germany

Ohio University, Athens OH

Investigators

Abstract

The ACM Special Interest Group in Data Communications (SIGCOMM) will sponsor a one-day workshop on "Networking Education: How to Educate the Educators?" on August 25, 2003, preceding the annual ACM SIGCOMM conference in Karlsruhe, Germany. The goal of the workshop is to bring together faculty from a broad spectrum of academic institutions, industry engineers and scientists, and others with an interest in education to discuss curriculum design and teaching practices in the field of computer networks. This workshop is the successor of the very successful workshop "Workshop on Computer Networking: Curriculum Designs and Educational Challenges" held in conjunction with SIGCOMM 2002. This workshop will focus on (i) tips and advice for new computer networking instructors, (ii) the refinement of the model curricula for a first (undergraduate) course in networking, (iii) the continuing evolution of graduate-level curricula in the area, and (iv) variations in the way that computer networking is taught around the world. The workshop will provide an opportunity to discuss these and other related issues; to share viewpoints, experiences, and materials; and to learn what others are doing, and considering doing in the area. The workshop will produce a report detailing the attendees' discussions and will serve as a springboard for future activity in the area. The intellectual merit of this request is clear. The goal is to improve the way that Computer Networking is taught to the next generation of Information Technology experts. The students that we are teaching now will support the infrastructure that drives our economy and allows rapid advances in all of the other areas of science, engineering, and technology. One of the direst results from the incredible expansion of the IT industry in the 1990s was that many students who would otherwise have gone on to earn a PhD in Computer Networking-related fields went to industry instead. This left the Computer Networking field with a large 5 to 10 year void in the production of new professors for academia in the IT area. We see this workshop as an opportunity to regroup and make up for lost opportunities in assisting the newest group of networking educators in training the next generation of IT professionals. This proposal requests funding to assist up to 16 United States-based faculty members to attend and participate in this workshop. The awards will be primarily targeted at faculty from 4-year colleges and universities who would not otherwise have the funds to attend the workshop or ACM SIGCOMM 2003. Given that the workshop is targeted broadly at all faculty in the computer networking area (not just those with the research funds to attend SIGCOMM), the grant will help broaden the base of participants, and serve to make the workshop a truly community-wide event.