Designing a small-footprint curriculum in computer science

Downey, Allen B.; Stein, Lynn Andrea

doi:10.1109/fie.2006.322660

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Downey and Stein [2] illustrate through their development of an Engineering with Computing curriculum how programs can maximize the capabilities of a small number of CS faculty while still providing breadth in relevant CS topics at an acceptable level of depth. This strategy is key for understanding how to make the best use of faculty and resources at hand to teach what we consider to be the most critical and relevant portions of CS given a limited course offering.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 98%

Winds of change

Nordstrom

Randrianasolo

Borera

et al. 2013

Proceedings of the 14th Annual ACM SIGITE Conference on Information Technology Education

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Computer science programs at small, liberal arts universities often have difficulty with effectively managing change, and attracting and retaining top students and faculty. They also sometimes struggle to provide a relevant and appealing curriculum while maintaining an appropriate level of academic rigor. This paper presents a restructuring of our department and computer science degree program, identifies several key areas of our curriculum which needed attention, outlines our improvement areas, and proposes a self-assessment strategy for gauging the effectiveness of the program changes over time.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 98%

Winds of change

Nordstrom

Randrianasolo

Borera

et al. 2013

Proceedings of the 14th Annual ACM SIGITE Conference on Information Technology Education

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Section: Acquisition and Use Of Disciplinary Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The computing curriculum at Olin is deliberately small [7]. This is in part due to pressures that are similar to those at liberal arts institutions -a small number of computing faculty and a larger number of general requirements than at technical institutes [7]. A concentration in computing at Olin requires students to take Software Design (an introductory programming course using Python), Discrete Math, Foundations of Computer Science (a higher-level course that combines aspects from traditional algorithms, programming languages, and compilers courses), and Software Systems (which draws on materials on operating systems and networks, among other topics).…”

Section: Acquisition and Use Of Disciplinary Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

"I told you this last time, right?"

Dziallas

Fincher

2018

Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research

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The stories we tell ourselves and others -both as individuals and as a community -reflect how we make sense of our lives. Our work using narrative methods has explored how university graduates make sense of their learning experiences and how these fit within their wider learning trajectories. In this paper, we discuss work we conducted with a group of a dozen students who, when first interviewed, were in the second half of their undergraduate education at Olin College of Engineering. All twelve participants were re-interviewed four years later, after they had graduated, using the same narrative protocol that asked them to describe their learning 'life' as if it was a book, and to identify and describe individual chapters of their experience.The pairs of interviews were analysed with respect to their form and their content. In regard to form, a classification of these repeated stories is derived. Thematic analysis of the content examines a) how students come to study and practice computing and b) the continuing, and changing influence of a university education over time, as students construct an individual sense of coherence.

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“…By relieving the obligation of coverage, it facilitates other kinds of innovation." [5] It may be a way to address both ends of the ladder of abstraction -by providing an abstract description of the essential core of the discipline, as well as an exploration of authentic practice through, for instance, course exemplars.…”

Section: Implications For Future Reportsmentioning

confidence: 99%

ACM Curriculum Reports

Dziallas

Fincher

2015

Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual International Conference on International Computing Education Research

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In this paper, we illuminate themes that emerged in interviews with participants in the major curriculum recommendation efforts: we characterize the way the computing community interacts with and influences these reports and introduce the term "pedagogic projection" to describe implicit assumptions of how these reports will be used in practice. We then illuminate how this perceived use has changed over time and may affect future reports.

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Designing a small-footprint curriculum in computer science

Cited by 13 publications

References 6 publications

Winds of change

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"I told you this last time, right?"

ACM Curriculum Reports

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