Developing an undergraduate software engineering degree

As those who have done it can attest, developing an undergraduate degree in software engineering is a daunting and challenging task, and there have been instances where a department has tried, but failed to get its program approved. A strong desire to develop a program in software engineering together with interested faculty may not be enough to build a credible degree, let alone a curriculum that will be approved by all the administrative and State organizations who may have a say in it .This panel brings together a group whose experience in developing software engineering degrees at their respective institutions may be helpful to those thinking about doing so. Each member of the group will describe his/her experiences in developing an undergraduate program in software engineering and address key issues and problems that should be considered in any such effort. There will also be ample opportunity for interaction among the participants

Open Source Micro Diplomas: New Credentials for New Learning

The standard model for college in America—a four-year bachelor’s degree that teaches critical thinking, analytic reasoning, and written communication skills—is unaffordable and unattainable for most Americans. Only about a third of citizens aged 25 and over have achieved a baccalaureate degree or better. Two-thirds are left behind in precarious jobs that pay substantially less and that are losing ground. Everyone from politicians to parents repeats the mantra of “college for all”, but the reality is more like “college for the socio-economically gifted.” At the same time, the modern world of work is evolving into a more complex, technical, and computerized environment that requires specific practical skills more than it needs the traditional white collar college virtues. Society and the market have responded by creating a parallel education system of competency-based skills certifications in almost every industry area. Some 1,800 private, public and government institutions have create more than 3,900 industry certifications that are focused on career paths and technology skills that the economy needs. Over 46 million people have achieved these “Open Source Micro Diplomas” instead of, in addition to, or in spite of a conventional higher ed degree. This paper examines our education outcomes, the evolving future of work, and exemplary industry certification programs to analyze today’s career-oriented education for all segments of society

If You’re Not Modeling, You’re Just Programming: Modeling Throughout an Undergraduate Software Engineering Program

Modeling is a hallmark of the practice of engineering. Through centuries, engineers have used models ranging from informal “back of the envelope” scribbles to formal, verifiable mathematical models. Whether circuit models in electrical engineering, heat-transfer models in mechanical engineering, or queuing theory models in industrial engineering, modeling makes it possible to perform rigorous analysis that is the cornerstone of modern engineering. By considering software development as fundamentally an engineering endeavor, RIT’s software engineering program strives to instill a culture of engineering practice by exposing our students to both formal and informal modeling of software systems throughout the entire curriculum. This paper describes how we have placed modeling in most aspects of our curriculum. The paper also details the specific pedagogy that we use in several courses to teach our students how to create, analyze and implement models of software systems

Adult Students\u27 Perceptions of Transfer Services at an Historically Black University

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics have indicated a steady growth of students attending 3 or more institutions while pursuing a baccalaureate degree. When students transfer institutions, they may have specific needs for their new institution. Informed by the transfer receptive culture framework, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of students who had attended 3 or more postsecondary institutions on the services they received, before and after their transfer. Purposeful sampling yielded 9 adult students with multiple-institution attendance histories. Data were collected through semistructured instant messaging interviews. A series of messages included multiple questions and opportunities for detailed participant responses. The interview data were open coded and thematically analyzed using constant comparative methods. The results indicated that the students expected a streamlined transition process, yet most perceived the institution to have limited technical and human resources dedicated to transfer services. The resource shortage contributed to institutional barriers requiring students to expend their cultural, social, and transfer capital to complete the transfer. Recommendations for the local institution include electronic transcript delivery, automated transcript processing, transference of student data maintenance, and early degree-specific credit evaluations. The study contributes to positive social change by providing research findings to the local site on possible ways to improve services for transfer students

Who Participates in the Skilled Technical Workforce After College and What Are Their Educational Pathways?

The skilled technical workforce (STW) comprises workers in occupations that require significant science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) skills but not a bachelor’s degree for entry. The United States had over 17 million STW workers in 2017, and is expected to be short about 3.4 million workers who are qualified for the available STW positions by 2022. Despite the important contribution of the STW to the U.S. economy, the policy discourse on the STEM workforce has largely focused on workers with bachelor’s or graduate degrees, overlooking those without a 4-year degree. Consequently, knowledge about the STW is limited. This paper draws on a recently available national data source to provide a close look at STW workers through the lens of U.S. undergraduates who joined the STW after college. Multivariate results indicate that students who held STW jobs after college fared better than those who held nontechnical jobs on a range of employment outcomes, including salary, access to workforce benefits, alignment between college majors and intended careers, and job satisfaction. Multivariate analyses also confirmed that graduating from a less-than-4-year institution, earning a subbaccalaureate credential, and majoring in STEM, healthcare, and such technical fields as manufacturing, construction, repair, and transportation are common paths to STW careers. Despite the benefits of STW employment, however, relatively few students pursued STW jobs after college. Significantly fewer female than male students and fewer Black than White students pursued STW jobs, even after controlling for such factors as major field, type of last institution, STEM credits, and educational attainment. However, post-college STW participation did not differ between Hispanic and White students or vary by students’ family income or their parents’ education attainment

Proposal for a Joint Cybersecurity and Information Technology Management Program

Cybersecurity and Information Technology Management programs have many similarities and many similar knowledge, skills, and abilities are taught across both programs. The skill mappings for the NICE Framework and the knowledge units required to become a National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education contain many information technology management functions. This paper explores one university’s perception on how a joint Cybersecurity and Information Technology Management program could be developed to upskill students to be work force ready

High school mathematics teachers’ competence on the contents of a quantitative research paper

Competence in research is an attractive feature that should be established for all practitioners because specialists with training and expertise in research will recognize strategic thinking, interpretation, and synthesizing more easily. Hence, this study aimed to describe the knowledge competency among junior high school mathematics teachers on the research processes applied on the contents of the various sections of a quantitative research paper. The descriptive method of research has been used to characterize the knowledge competence of 108 junior high school teachers on the research processes. The study used the research skill test, which was a researcher-made instrument, consisting of 50 multiple choice items with four choices each. The instrument went through the process of validity and reliability analysis obtaining a good result of 0.81. This study revealed that they were “novice” or had achieved the learning level of competency on the research processes applied on the contents of the different parts of a quantitative research paper. More so, they identified that interpretation of statistical results was a challenging part of doing a research paper

Technical Career Institutes, Inc., (TCI College) Strategic Analysis

This paper provides a framework for the in-depth analysis of TCI College strategy and corporate management. The analysis will culminate with a recommendation to the CEO and the board of directors on how to improve strategy for TCI. The analysis will include mission, vision, values, strategic plans, five forces model, SWOT, competitive strategy, strengthening the competitive position, the global market, business diversification, ethics, social responsibility, building capabilities to executing strategy, managing internal operations, among others

A Study of Learning Effectiveness between Augmented and Traditional Methods in Crafting Origami

Traditionally, people learn to perform object assembly tasks by following the steps in a paper-based instruction manual. Using augmented reality (AR) technology, the instructions could instead be computer generated and appear directly within the user’s workspace as they perform the task. Literature suggests AR’s feasibility in improving performance and learning effectiveness. However, some motor-skill tasks suggest that too much guidance could potentially have adverse effects on learning over a period of time. We initially aimed to use AR spatial animations, but after numerous design iterations, decided to focus on using AR to make the instructions and task more spatially coincident. We conducted an assembly task (crafting origami) experiment to explore the effects of using AR to place instructions directly within in the user’s workspace, and investigated performance over time via three training sessions. We also examined its effects on short-term learning via a test session (administered after a 10 min delay without rehearsal). The augmented condition was compared with results from an unassisted control condition, using standard paper instructions. The experiment was a 4 (session) x 2 (augmented versus paper) repeated-measures design with the latter condition counter-balanced to reduce order and carryover effects. To administer our design, two different origami assembly tasks (boat and swan) of similar complexity were selected. We found in our results that improvements in both completion times and accuracy for both conditions were gained across sessions. While completion times and accuracy appeared slightly better in the spatially coincident condition, these differences were not statistically significant. We suspect that this may be due to the noise introduced from the differing difficulties of crafting the boat and swan origami, even though we attempted to match them. We recommend the use of other assembly tasks and types of augmentations in future studies. We also propose research on the long-term learning effects of AR as a tool for assembly tasks over the course of hours, days, and weeks

2020 May

Press releases for May of 2020