Computing as the 4th “R”: a general education approach to computing education

Computing and computation are increasingly pervading our lives, careers, and societies - a change driving interest in computing education at the secondary level. But what should define a "general education" computing course at this level? That is, what would you want every person to know, assuming they never take another computing course? We identify possible outcomes for such a course through the experience of designing and implementing a general education university course utilizing best-practice pedagogies. Though we nominally taught programming, the design of the course led students to report gaining core, transferable skills and the confidence to employ them in their future. We discuss how various aspects of the course likely contributed to these gains. Finally, we encourage the community to embrace the challenge of teaching general education computing in contrast to and in conjunction with existing curricula designed primarily to interest students in the field

A comprehensive placement test tool for language centres

©[2011] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston[EN] One of the main problems relating to language courses offered at language centres is measuring the students' entry-level skills in a fast, efficient and reliable way. This problem is particularly acute in language centres with large numbers of students, especially at the beginning of the academic year, as a mechanism has to be implemented which serves to determine the language skills of students prior to the registration period. For this purpose we have developed a software tool that allows us to determine a student's level quickly and effectively, while managing volumes of approximately 600 students in each of the two academic periods in which the courses are offered. The tool presented has been tested and validated over four years of use, giving results that demonstrate a high degree of reliability. Also, given the program's flexibility, it can be adapted to other specific needs, and can also be used to assess proficiency in terms of the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.Jaime Pastor, MA.; Pérez Guillot, MC.; Candel Mora, MÁ. (2012). A comprehensive placement test tool for language centres. Language Learning in Higher Education. 1(2):325-331. doi:10.1515/cercles-2011-0020S3253311

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

Western Oregon University 2016-2017 Course Catalog

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Western Oregon University 2014-2015 Course Catalog

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Western Oregon University 2015-2016 Course Catalog

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Western Oregon University 2018-2019 Course Catalog

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Western Oregon University 2019-2020 Course Catalog

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