Overview: Computing Across Curricula (CAC)
Funded by the NSF Computing Pathways (CPATH) Program
Vision
Two decades ago to say that an engineering graduate was highly competent in computing meant that he or she had mastered the FORTRAN programming language. A decade later it meant, in addition, mastering basic skills in a few key discipline-specific software tools, and a degree of proficiency in ubiquitous productivity applications such as spreadsheets and word processors. An engineering graduate who could do these things was said to be "computer literate." Today, however, this somewhat disjointed approach to discipline-specific computing and generic computer literacy does not accurately mirror the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by the engineer in the workplace. Computing in the workplace, and of particular interest in our case the engineering workplace, is pervasive and involves many complex tools, many approaches to problem solving, strategic decision making, and synthesis. Can I decompose this problem and understand which components might require me to write a program and which can be handled by a spreadsheet? How do I move information between the two? How will the results be used? Can my dataset be handled with flat files, or does it scale such that I need a relational database? Should I build, buy, or use an open source solution? These are some of the critical questions facing today's engineering graduate in the workplace. To put it in the context of Bloom's taxonomy, knowledge, comprehension and application are no longer enough for one to be labeled highly competent in computing. The successful engineer of the 21st century will need a mastery of computing applicable to the higher level cognitive skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation, as well. To prepare students for pervasive, advanced computing in the workplace, we must begin to think in terms of pervasive, advanced computing in their education.
Also, see the CPath vision from the National Science Foundation website: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=500025&org=CNS&from=home
Goals
The overarching goals of this project are to:
1. Create a computational thinking thread in the engineering curriculum that spans from the freshman to senior years and bridges the divide between freshman year computing and computing in upper-level classes,
2. Enable students to take computing competency to the next level, where they are able to perform high-level computing tasks within the context of a discipline.
To this end, we will establish an academe-industry community in which stakeholders from a broad range of disciplines will convene to discuss the challenges and opportunities inherent in transforming the undergraduate computing education, and to identify and implement creative strategies to do so. Our"Computing Across Curricula" (CAC) community will be modeled in structure after the nationally renowned NC State Campus Writing and Speaking Program (CWSP), and will leverage our experience with the NSF-funded SUCCEED coalition, driven by and headquartered at NC State, as well as NC State's Student-Owned Computing (SOC) initiative.
Intellectual Merit
The project brings together a highly qualified group of faculty and staff with a broad range of experiences in academic computing, instruction and research. This team will partner with local industry leaders and together will provide an insightful vision into the future of computing fluency in the engineering workplace and how it should be nurtured on the university campus. Effective strategies will be developed both based on local needs and the existing literature on academic computing. The work will also be informed by the latest findings in the learning sciences as promoted by NSF and other national leaders in STEM education.
Broader Impact
The results of this project will provide a vehicle for systemic institutional change in academic computing in engineering. Since project leadership includes key members of existing academic computing units on campus, the project is set to implement these reforms from inside of existing institutional structures. In addition, a primary thrust of this project is to establish a standing group on campus where faculty and industry leaders can come together and continue to effect change in academic computing after initial project funding has concluded. Results of the project will be communicated both locally on campus through the above-mentioned vehicles, but also nationally through regional and national meeting and journals. Project leaders are active members in national STEM education organizations such as ACM-SIGCSE and ASEE.