Teaching Reform and Practice of the Computer Systems Course Based on a RISC-V Pipelined Processor Design

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-601-7_7How to use a DOI?

Keywords

computer systems course; system capability cultivation; RISC-V instruction set; pipelined processor; teaching reform

Abstract

The computer systems course is a cornerstone of computer science education, bridging software and hardware knowledge and cultivating system-level engineering competence. Traditional teaching models often fragment content and lack depth in practical training. Thus, students may understand individual components such as arithmetic units and memory subsystems, yet struggle to see how software executes on hardware as a unified system. Moreover, the long-standing focus on the MIPS instruction set has diverged from current industry trends, which increasingly favor open architectures like RISC-V. This misalignment makes it difficult for traditional teaching to address modern engineering and practical skill needs. In response, this paper presents a comprehensive reform for the computer systems course that prioritizes the cultivation of system capabilities. Capabilities are structured hierarchically, with course and practical activities adjusted accordingly. The course features a project-based approach centered on designing and implementing a five-stage pipelined processor using the RISC-V RV32I instruction set. Students progress through the full process, including understanding the instruction set, designing modules, integrating the system, and verifying results. Outcomes show significant gains, as excellent course projects rose from 25% to 60%, and system capability attainment increased from 40% to 88%. These results confirm the reform’s effectiveness in strengthening systematic thinking and practical skills, providing a valuable reference for similar course reforms.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Junxiang Gao
AU  - Lihua Bie
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/06
TI  - Teaching Reform and Practice of the Computer Systems Course Based on a RISC-V Pipelined Processor Design
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 2nd International Conference on Education Reform, Ideology and Politics (ERIP 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 45
EP  - 52
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-601-7_7
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-601-7_7
ID  - Gao2026
ER  -