Group 1: The First Year |
Group Chartera. Identify the goals of the first year of study. b. Report on both the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional programming-first approach at reaching these goals. c. Provide a short list of alternative approaches which have some credibility with respect to reaching those goals. d. Present syllabi for a short list of options (max 3) re: the first two courses in computer science (CS 1 and CS 2) which meet the goals identified in point "a" and which can serve as models for colleges/universities and for publishers. e. Identify and evaluate introductory structures that: * Address the problem of dissimilar preparation of incoming students; * Provide freshman curricula that do not rely on terminal service courses to discriminate among the various needs and backgrounds of students who are just beginning their undergraduate careers; * Provide freshman courses which introduce Computing as a mainstream discipline, i.e., part of the academic core for a broad population of undergraduate students. |
Group 2: Supporting Courses |
Group Chartera. Specify goals of courses which support undergraduate CS curricula, e.g., mathematics, engineering, physics, technical writing, public speaking, et al. b. Identify a minimal list of supporting courses deemed essential to an undergraduate program, regardless of the nature of the institution, that should be included in any computing curriculum. c. Present suggestions for additional supporting courses, per the type of institution, its goals, and the number of courses which it is allowed to include in a program.(Note: This group's work is dependent on the output of the other Focus Groups and the various KU Groups.) |
Group 3: The Computing Core |
Group Chartera. Specify that material which is deemed essential to a foundation in Computer Science, given that CS has grown to the point where we can no longer require a course in everything. b. Develop the Core as a curricular alternative to the traditional approach of organizing programs around CS artifacts (e.g. courses in compilers, OS, DB, etc.). Core courses should address truly essential, fundamental concepts. c. Identify a short list of cross-cutting course models to address these needs, i.e., 4-5 fundamental courses to be required of every CS undergraduate and which would be manageable by virtually every type of undergraduate program. |
Group 4: Professional Practices |
Group Chartera. Report on those aspects of Professional Practices which we now assume our graduates have (or should have) assimilated as a result of current curricula. b. Report on what we do and don't know about how to best support effective education in those Professional Practices. c. Report on how these needs can be integrated into other courses in the curriculum. d. Report on industrial and internship work and its relationship to the development of Professional Practices. e. Report on other aspects of professionalism (including ethical, social, legal and moral issues) and their relationship to the CS curriculum. |
Group 5: Advanced Study: |
Group Chartera. Report on advanced coursework in computer science, i.e., computer science beyond the core. b. Include a specification of both traditional courses (OS, DB, Compilers, Networks, Numerical Analysis,etc.) and important new areas (e.g., Distributed Systems, Multimedia, Computational Science) that may be important for modern undergraduate curricula. c. Include a specification of how many courses (as a minimum) should be included to produce a reasonable undergraduate experience. d. Report on undergraduate research, including an evaluation of various existing models. |
Group 6: Compting Across Curriculua |
Group Chartera. Acknowledge that this is a crucial area but one for which we cannot unilaterally develop an adequate solution. b. Plan and develop a proper curriculum development effort which will: * rigorously address the challenge of computing curricula (extending beyond the freshman year) for non-CS majors; * include those from non-4-year institutions; * include those from other computing-related disciplines; * include those from various "customer" disciplines. c. This group's job is not to solve the problem. Instead, it will plan and develop an adequate effort to solve the problem. |