Cedarville CS/CY VM Project
Type of Submission
Poster
Keywords
Virtual Machine, VM, Cloud-Hosting, Google, Academic
Proposal
It is common for students studying computer science to use their own computers for completing assignments. However, using individual student computers, with each having a unique configuration, can lead to difficulties. For example, the classroom curricula may require certain software tools which are not available across all of the operating systems that student machines use. Also, a student may encounter issues installing the required software for a particular course, causing either the student or instructor, or both, to spend time in environment setup rather than on the assignment itself. Finally, the capabilities of students’ computers may vary widely in storage capacity and processor speed and lead to differing degrees of student productivity.
One possible solution to these problems is to create groups of pre-configured, cloud-hosted, Virtual Machine (VM) environments that students can remotely access from any computer with an internet connection. Investigating current cloud-based options and implementing and testing VMs using one of these options are the goals of our project. Other specific goals are to ensure existing cloud-hosting technologies provide mechanisms for configuring, provisioning and managing multiple groups of VMs so that professors create and administer machine groups easily. Additional considerations include: minimizing the cost of VM operating expenses, providing an ability to push out mass-updates to batches of VMs, and permitting instructor access to student work for review, grading, and assistance. Some benefits of the VM approach include: the ability for instructors to connect to student VMs to help debug code and for students to have 24/7 access to a preconfigured lab-like environment while still using their own computers.
At present, we are able to automate mass-generation of VMs from a pre-configured machine image, automatically create student user accounts on those machines, and distribute student VM credentials via automated emails. Also as part of our project we are currently conducting an operational test with one of Cedarville’s C++ programming classes. The goals of this test are to gain insight on student acceptance of the technology and their perceptions regarding its practicality, ease-of-use, and appeal in comparison to their own equipment and/or physical lab computers.
Cedarville CS/CY VM Project
It is common for students studying computer science to use their own computers for completing assignments. However, using individual student computers, with each having a unique configuration, can lead to difficulties. For example, the classroom curricula may require certain software tools which are not available across all of the operating systems that student machines use. Also, a student may encounter issues installing the required software for a particular course, causing either the student or instructor, or both, to spend time in environment setup rather than on the assignment itself. Finally, the capabilities of students’ computers may vary widely in storage capacity and processor speed and lead to differing degrees of student productivity.
One possible solution to these problems is to create groups of pre-configured, cloud-hosted, Virtual Machine (VM) environments that students can remotely access from any computer with an internet connection. Investigating current cloud-based options and implementing and testing VMs using one of these options are the goals of our project. Other specific goals are to ensure existing cloud-hosting technologies provide mechanisms for configuring, provisioning and managing multiple groups of VMs so that professors create and administer machine groups easily. Additional considerations include: minimizing the cost of VM operating expenses, providing an ability to push out mass-updates to batches of VMs, and permitting instructor access to student work for review, grading, and assistance. Some benefits of the VM approach include: the ability for instructors to connect to student VMs to help debug code and for students to have 24/7 access to a preconfigured lab-like environment while still using their own computers.
At present, we are able to automate mass-generation of VMs from a pre-configured machine image, automatically create student user accounts on those machines, and distribute student VM credentials via automated emails. Also as part of our project we are currently conducting an operational test with one of Cedarville’s C++ programming classes. The goals of this test are to gain insight on student acceptance of the technology and their perceptions regarding its practicality, ease-of-use, and appeal in comparison to their own equipment and/or physical lab computers.
