Learning Grid technologies in a project-based computer architecture course

This paper describes the integration of the Grid topic within a computer architecture engineering course. Students are engaged in a project of design and evaluation of computing systems for a specific customer/market sector. The contents of the course and the case studies have been adapted in order to motivate the study of the Grid. In particular two case studies have been analyzed: one concerns an Internet-based music distribution enterprise, while the other is related to the assembly of genome sequences. A preliminary analysis of this experience shows that most of the students chose to evaluate the suitability of the Grid for their case study, and were able to argue on the benefits and drawbacks of this and other alternatives. In the future, we plan to set up a Grid-based learning environment so the Grid is not only the object of study, but also a tool for learning.