Model for teaching distributed computing in a distance-based educational environment

Abstract

Due to the prolific growth in connectivity, the development and implementation of distributed systems receives a lot of attention. Several technologies and languages exist for the development and implementation of such distributed systems; however, teaching students in these new technologies remains a challenge. Even though several models for teaching computer programming and teaching programming in a distance-based educational environment (DEE) exist, limited literature is available on models for teaching distributed computing in a DEE. This research examines how distributed computing should be taught in a DEE in order to ensure effective and quality learning for students, specifically by investigating both the specific characteristics of distributed systems technologies and the models used for teaching programming in DEE. The required effectiveness and quality should be comparable to those for students exposed to laboratories, as commonly found in residential universities. This led to the identification of the factors that contribute to the success of teaching distributed computing and determine how these factors can be integrated into a proposed distributed systems distance-based teaching model that is called the Independent Distributed Learning Model (IDLM)