Learning through creating learning objects Experiences with a class project in a distributed systems course

Abstract

An alternative to a final programming project in a Distributed Systems course is presented. The alternative project, which can easily be adapted to several Computer Science courses, consists in assigning different course topics to pairs of students, for them to develop an interactive learning object to help their classmates and future students of the class understand the subject. The project was well received by the students of the class, and their comments and survey results suggest that their knowledge on the subject improved both by using the learning objects of their peers and by working in developing their own. Copyright 2008 ACM.