Envisioning Workshops for Computing in Undergraduate Education

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

Northwestern University, partnering with Purdue University and the University of Colorado, proposes a series of three Envisioning Workshops for Computing in Undergraduate Education with the goal of sparking a national dialog about the role of computing in undergraduate education. The recent surge in non-major enrollments in Computer Science (CS) courses -- even relatively advanced courses -- has been challenging for many departments that offer curricula designed for traditional CS majors, and that may have limited experience working with faculty in other disciplines on curricula and courses. These workshops will open a large-scale discussion on the role of computing and CS in non-computing disciplines, and on how CS departments can develop new interdisciplinary pathways and curricula to better meet the educational needs of the growing and increasingly diverse student body open to learn more about computing and CS. Such a national dialog has the potential to: -- Show departments a way forward and models for engagement; what is already being done, and what is working? -- Spark research that can help address the challenge. -- Create recommendations, and even templates, that will help guide departments and institutions. -- Provide credibility to the effort and the resulting outcomes. Specifically, the workshops will be aimed at beginning the process of understanding, in more specific and more actionable ways, the general challenge of incorporating computing into degree pathways across universities and colleges. Attendees will be drawn from a wide range of institutions serving diverse student populations, and include both CS and other faculty. The workshops are expected to produce a greater alignment within the CS research and educational community, and stakeholder communities based in other disciplines, leading to a better understanding of the challenges, and how they might be addressed more comprehensively and more effectively. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.