Improvements on Teaching Methods and Contents for the "Computer Organization and Architecture" Curriculum

"Computer Organization and Architecture" is one of the most important fundamental courses for those majoring in computer science and engineering. The contents of the curriculum are crucial for entire computer discipline and computer systems. As a result, the curriculum plays an important role in training computer science students. This paper begins with the discussion on principles and goals of the curriculum. Then, it describes teaching philosophy and methods, improvements of contents, along with their effects, for lectures and experiments of the curriculum. Finally we review some experiences from the development and teaching of the curriculum. This paper intends to share experiences in teaching the curriculum with other institutes in China and provide them with a potentially useful instructional model.