A three pronged approach to teaching undergraduate operating systems

Abstract

This paper describes an approach to teaching an undergraduate operating systems course that relies on three aspects. First, a standard textbook is used for the basic theoretical material. Second, programming projects are used to reinforce some of the material covered from the textbook. Lastly, simulators are used to illustrate other material. A key to the approach is to use experimentation by the student to enhance understanding and prepare them for research. Although no formal evaluation has been done, students seem to enjoy using the simulators and student performance on exams has increased since the simulators were introduced.