Web Science: expanding the notion of Computer Science

Academic disciplines which practice in the context of rapid external change face particular problems when seeking to maintain timely, current and relevant teaching programs. In different institutions faculty will tune and update individual component courses while more radical revisions are typically departmental-wide strategic responses to perceived needs. Internationally, the ACM has sought to define curriculum recommendations since the 1960s and recognizes the diversity of the computing disciplines with its 2005 overview volume. The consequent rolling program of revisions is demanding in terms of time and effort, but an inevitable response to the change inherent is our family of specialisms. Preparation for the Computer Curricula 2013 is underway, so it seems appropriate to ask what place Web Science will have in the curriculum landscape. Web Science has been variously described; the most concise definition being the ‘science of decentralized information systems’. Web science is fundamentally interdisciplinary encompassing the study of the technologies and engineering which constitute the Web, alongside emerging associated human, social and organizational practices. Furthermore, to date little teaching of Web Science is at undergraduate level. Some questions emerge - is Web Science a transient artifact? Can Web Science claim a place in the ACM family, Is Web Science an exotic relative with a home elsewhere? This paper discusses the role and place of Web Science in the context of the computing disciplines. It provides an account of work which has been established towards defining an initial curriculum for Web Science with plans for future developments utilizing novel methods to support and elaborate curriculum definition and review. The findings of a desk survey of existing related curriculum recommendations are presented. The paper concludes with recommendations for future activities which may help us determine whether we should expand the notion of computer science

ACM Curriculum Reports: A Pedagogic Perspective

In this paper, we illuminate themes that emerged in interviews with participants in the major curriculum recommendation efforts: we characterize the way the computing community interacts with and influences these reports and introduce the term “pedagogic projection” to describe implicit assumptions of how these reports will be used in practice. We then illuminate how this perceived use has changed over time and may affect future reports

Innovative methods of teaching and harmonization of educational standards in the sphere of computing

Competence-based approach to education (unlike traditional qualification) reflects requirements not only to the content of education, but also to a behavioral component. Recommendations about drawing up curricula for training of specialists in the computing sphere are considered. New pedagogical methods, proposing creative combination of the theory and practice which is reached in the course of direct professional activity are analyzed. The analysis of the problems arising at creation of educational standards is also given. It has shown that professional standards are primary link in high-quality training of various areas of economy specialists (including for computing area), and also ensuring their competitiveness have to be a basis for their development. Thus, problems when developing professional standards complicate prospect of harmonization of professional and educational standards which demands necessary methodological, methodical and expert completion at the first design stage

Missing Elements of Computer Science Curricula 2013

Rapidly expanding computing domain has forced educational institutions to up-grade existing curricula of computing degree programs. Recently, a joint task force of Association for Computing Machinery and IEEE-Computer Society has published the Strawman Draft of Computer Science Curricula 2013. The Draft has introduced some new ideas to keep computing curricula modern and relevant. The recommended curricula have designed in the light of 6% response rate of the conducted survey. This paper has pointed out some important aspects which need attention to meet the challenges of the 21st century. These aspects include an Ad-hoc approach towards the core body of knowledge, incomplete curriculum guidelines, over-ambitious contents and learning outcomes. Some other missing aspects include computing dispositions, global education, 21st century skills, guideline for inclusion and the hidden curriculum. It is believed the recommendations of this paper may generate some thought provoking ideas to make the computing curricula more robust and effective

Building capacity and developing human capital: an exploration of curriculum development in ICT programmes at South African universities

There is a growing consensus on the potential for information and communications technologies (ICTs) to support socio-economic development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Universities as providers of higher education are critical to developing SSA countries by, amongst others, empowering the region to develop appropriate ICT solutions for local challenges. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss how contextual realities influence the development of ICT programme curricula at public universities in South Africa, a developing country in SSA, in order to meet the demand for ICT skills. After a brief discussion of the factors that influence the content and delivery in education systems an overview of the South African public higher education context is provided. Against this background the content and delivery of ICT programme offerings and the rationale behind the programmes at four South African public universities are presented in case study format and concludes with a discussion of the case studies. The paper may be of value to academic departments as examples of how other departments are responding and adjusting their offerings, to government departments and policy makers by engendering a better understanding of the impact of policy on programme development and to industry by illustrating the diverse stakeholders in higher education and academia’s responsiveness to these diverse requirements

A Generic Curriculum Model for Computing Degree Programs

The current literature shows the existing curriculum models are unable to meet the needs of the today2019;s dynami

Teaching Concurrency and Parallelism Concepts with CMRE

Possible methodologies for teaching the concepts of processor heterogeneity and its impact on speedup and efficiency in a parallel system are discussed, as well as energy efficiency of parallel algorithms based on processor power. CMRE (Concurrent Multi Robot Environment) is expanded to be able to consider different virtual clocks in each robot (processor), as well as the cost – both in relation to time and energy consumption – of the operations carried out by the robots (Move, Put Down / Pick Up / Message / Inform). In this paper, we analyze some examples to show how concepts are introduced to students.Facultad de Informátic

Teaching Concurrency and Parallelism Concepts with CMRE

Possible methodologies for teaching the concepts of processor heterogeneity and its impact on speedup and efficiency in a parallel system are discussed, as well as energy efficiency of parallel algorithms based on processor power. CMRE (Concurrent Multi Robot Environment) is expanded to be able to consider different virtual clocks in each robot (processor), as well as the cost – both in relation to time and energy consumption – of the operations carried out by the robots (Move, Put Down / Pick Up / Message / Inform). In this paper, we analyze some examples to show how concepts are introduced to students.Facultad de Informátic