The Impact of Teaching Operating Systems using Two Different Teaching Modalities

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary look at the performance of two cohorts enrolled in an Operating System course which was taught using two different teaching delivery methods. Operating systems is a technical, senior-level, undergraduate course that includes abstract concepts, mechanisms, and their implementations. This course exposes students to a UNIX-based operating system and includes concurrent programming (threads and synchronization), inter-process communication, CPU scheduling main memory, and virtual memory management. Technical courses present an additional dimension of difficulty when compared to non-technical courses which are more focused on soft skills because they require strong technical skills such as programming and problem-solving. This paper discusses other research studies and statistical data which underscore some of the challenges and differences encountered when teaching a traditional face-to-face versus an online course and the impact on student success. In this work, the 2019 cohort was taught operating systems in the traditional face-to-face modality, while the 2020 cohort was taught the course using the synchronous online modality. The synchronous online modality is very similar to the face-to-face traditional class, in that, lectures are delivered in real-time; this allows students to ask the instructor questions in real-time. Each cohort was tested on the same course objectives (topics) over one semester in 2019 and 2020. The instructor presents the students’ performance on three(3) course exams and discusses the differences and similarities in their overall performance between the two groups.