CSCE 121 Culture Report 4
Computer Science: Curriculum to Curricula
As technology has evolved, the Computer Science degree plan has also grown to accommodate new fields. Dr. Richard J. LeBlanc, in his article in IEEE Computer, poses the question, "'Why don't computer science students have to take a course in _______ anymore?'" (82) [1], and then follows the history of the Computer Science program. This question is never explicitly answered, but the expansion of certain fields of computer science indicate a broader spectrum from which CS graduates can learn.
The major concern about the computer science degree plan is the selection of its core curriculum. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) put forth a recommendation in the 1980s titled Curriculum 78, which consists of eight courses:
- Computer Programming I
- Computer Programming II
- Intro. to Computer Systems
- Intro. to Computer Organization
- Intro. to File Processing
- Operating Systems and Computer Architecture I
- Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis
- Organization of Programming Languages
The remainder of the courses would be taken as electives (82) [1].
Many institutions still (loosely) follow this set of courses; it allows for flexibility and encourages students to focus on what specifically interests them. As a result, the knowledge base among computer science graduates is extremely diverse—each student knowing most about what interests them: hardware, networking, programming, compilers, security, etc.
Because of the diversity of computer science graduates (especially among institutions) and the continued evolution of technology, the ACM and IEEE computing society submitted another two core course recommendations. This time, they suggested that computer science and computer engineering be two separate degrees, each with its own tracks, and emphasized the importance of course availability. For example, one computer science degree plan has eight "threads" of courses: devices, information internetworking, intelligence, media, modeling and simulation, people, platforms, and theory. In order to graduate, a student must complete two threads, which results in 28 possible degree plans, each tailored to a graduate's specific interest (84) [1].
My answer to the question posed by Dr. LeBlanc would focus mainly on the diversity among computer science opportunities: the course in question is most likely available to the students, but may or may not relevant to certain degree tracks. Dr. LeBlanc points out that computer science students have more career options and a larger set of courses from which to choose (83) [1]. Students cannot learn everything about computer science in a four-year degree plan, so institutions let the students choose from certain areas to study. The flexibility of the computer science degree plan helps students to focus on what most intrigues them and find their niche in the computing world. I find it fascinating that computer science has grown so much in so little time. Perhaps one day Texas A&M will have a John C. Doe College of Computer Science and Technology.
Bibliography
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 LeBlanc, Richard J. "What Should All CS Graduates Know?" IEEE Computer. Vol. 23. Issue 10. 14 Oct. 2010. 8 Nov. 2010 <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=5604167&tag=1>