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Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC) has become pervasive and is now exercised on a variety of platforms. Therefore, understanding how parallelism and distributed computing affect problem solving is important for every computing and engineering professional. However, most students in computer science (CS) and computer engineering (CE) programs are still introduced to computational problem solving using an old model, in which all processing is serial and synchronous, with input and output via text using a terminal interface or a local file system. Teaching a range of PDC knowledge and skills at multiple levels in Computer Science (CS) and related Computing and Engineering curricula is essential. The challenges are significant and numerous. Although some progress has been made in terms of curriculum recommendations and educational resources in computer science, trained faculty, motivation, and inertia are still some of the major impediments to introducing PDC early in computing curricula. The authors of this paper conducted a series of week-long faculty training workshops on the integration of PDC topics in CS1 and CS2 classes, and this paper provides an experience report on the impact and effectiveness of these workshops. Our survey results indicate such faculty development workshops can be effective in gradual inclusion of PDC in early computing curricula. 

This paper proposes a classification scheme for categorization of PDC educational resources. We have also proposed an evaluation framework for assessing the PDC resources. Under the proposed framework, each resource type has a set of criteria and an associated score. A PDC resource will obtain a score if evaluated under our proposed framework that is the sum of the scores of the criteria that the resource satisfies. The evaluation of whether a resource met a criterion is subjective. We have also presented our evaluation of PDC educational resources appropriate for CS1, CS2 (Computer Science 1 and 2), and DS/A (Data Structures and Algorithms) available on the web using our proposed framework. 

Abstract We use administrative data from the Internal Revenue Service to examine long-term impacts of childhood Medicaid eligibility expansions on outcomes in adulthood at each age from 19 to 28. Greater Medicaid eligibility increases college enrolment and decreases fertility, especially through age 21. Starting at age 23, females have higher contemporaneous wage income, although male increases are imprecise. Together, both genders have lower mortality. These adults collect less from the earned income tax credit and pay more in taxes. Cumulatively from ages 19 to 28, at a 3% discount rate, the federal government recoups 58 cents of each dollar of its “investment” in childhood Medicaid. 

Learning programming in early introductory classes is challenging for first year university students, and introducing parallel programming (PDC) in early classes along with traditional sequential programming is even more challenging. Unplugged activities may help alleviate some of the difficulties for students. Unplugged activities have been shown to increase student interest, and to enhance student understanding of CS programming concepts. We have used unplugged activities to teach PDC concepts before introducing parallel programming. Our experiences show that using unplugged activities to introduce the PDC concepts reduce the barrier to learn parallel programming.