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.
CCS CONCEPTS• Social and professional topics → Computing education.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities world-wide to adjust to an online delivery model resulting in many unforeseen challenges for module delivery and student engagement. The Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) Cloud Platform Development (CPD) final year undergraduate module requires hands-on lab work and coursework, and thus call for more deliberation and interventions to maintain student engagement. The module teaching material created at GCU is also taught at the African Leadership College (ALC), Mauritius using a flipped classroom model. However, for the current academic year, the ALC campus was closed, with the enrolled students spread over many countries and time zones in Africa, resulting in a compounding of the challenges for maintaining student engagement.In this study we describe the approaches and techniques employed at increasing the students' engagement for the CPD coursework.
CCS CONCEPTS• Social and professional topics → Computing education.
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