The Mastery Rubric for Statistics and Data Science: promoting coherence and consistency in data science education and training

Consensus based publications of both competencies and undergraduate curriculum guidance documents targeting data science instruction for higher education have recently been published. Recommendations for curriculum features from diverse sources may not result in consistent training across programs. A Mastery Rubric was developed that prioritizes the promotion and documentation of formal growth as well as the development of independence needed for the 13 requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities for professional practice in statistics and data science, SDS. The Mastery Rubric, MR, driven curriculum can emphasize computation, statistics, or a third discipline in which the other would be deployed or, all three can be featured. The MR SDS supports each of these program structures while promoting consistency with international, consensus based, curricular recommendations for statistics and data science, and allows 'statistics', 'data science', and 'statistics and data science' curricula to consistently educate students with a focus on increasing learners independence. The Mastery Rubric construct integrates findings from the learning sciences, cognitive and educational psychology, to support teachers and students through the learning enterprise. The MR SDS will support higher education as well as the interests of business, government, and academic work force development, bringing a consistent framework to address challenges that exist for a domain that is claimed to be both an independent discipline and part of other disciplines, including computer science, engineering, and statistics. The MR-SDS can be used for development or revision of an evaluable curriculum that will reliably support the preparation of early e.g., undergraduate degree programs, middle e.g., upskilling and training programs, and late e.g., doctoral level training practitioners.Comment: 40 pages; 2 Tables; 4 Figures. Presented at the Symposium on Data Science & Statistics (SDSS) 202

Communication and leadership skills in the Computer Science and Information Systems curricula: A case study comparison of US and Bulgarian programs

In this paper we present results from our curriculum research on the behavioral educational topics being in the computer science (CS) and information systems (IS) academic programs in two countries USA and Bulgaria. Specifically, we address learning outcomes as they pertain to IT Project Management. Our research reveals that the two countries approach undergraduate education from different vantage points. The US universities provide a flexible general education curriculum in many academic areas and students have the opportunity to strengthen their soft skills before they enter the workforce. Bulgarian universities provide specialized education in main CS subject areas and the students are technically strong upon graduation. Is there a way to balance out this divergent educational experience so that students get the best of both worlds? Our paper explores this aspect and provides possible solutions

Using Personas to Guide Education Needs Analysis and Program Design

The undergraduate programs within electrical engineering, computer science and engineering and software engineering at Chalmers are currently under revision. Some notable problems for these programs are the long-term trends of diminishing number of applications and a low share of female students. This paper first describes the stakeholder’s needs analysis phases of the project, where current occupational roles for these types of engineers were mapped out in order to find out what knowledge skills and attributes that are necessary to work as an engineer in this field. These occupational roles were then used to guide the program concept design phase of the project. As the number of occupational roles is large, a persona methodology was used to gather all the necessary information into a graspable format. Personas have for a long time been used in e.g. software development for describing users/customers. We adapted this methodology to describe the future professional roles of engineering graduates. The personas were based on information gathered through workshops with Chalmers staff and representatives from the local business sector, alumni surveys and observational journals from working engineers as well as documentation from different organizations on the future demands on engineers. The paper then describes the program concept design phase of the project, where the personas were used as reminders for the design team that the roles for engineers at work are broad and contain many tasks and aspects that are traditionally not covered in engineering education. These many tasks need to be considered in the curriculum. In particular, the personas were helpful in the work of designing new and more diverse profiles at the bachelor level. In addition, the personas work, which was performed rather broadly across the departments involved in these five programs, has served as a basis for making the premises for the succeeding revision well known across the organization

Teaching and learning in information retrieval

A literature review of pedagogical methods for teaching and learning information retrieval is presented. From the analysis of the literature a taxonomy was built and it is used to structure the paper. Information Retrieval (IR) is presented from different points of view: technical levels, educational goals, teaching and learning methods, assessment and curricula. The review is organized around two levels of abstraction which form a taxonomy that deals with the different aspects of pedagogy as applied to information retrieval. The first level looks at the technical level of delivering information retrieval concepts, and at the educational goals as articulated by the two main subject domains where IR is delivered: computer science (CS) and library and information science (LIS). The second level focuses on pedagogical issues, such as teaching and learning methods, delivery modes (classroom, online or e-learning), use of IR systems for teaching, assessment and feedback, and curricula design. The survey, and its bibliography, provides an overview of the pedagogical research carried out in the field of IR. It also provides a guide for educators on approaches that can be applied to improving the student learning experiences

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

Business Process Management Education in Academia: Status, challenges, and Recommendations

In response to the growing proliferation of Business Process Management (BPM) in industry and the demand this creates for BPM expertise, universities across the globe are at various stages of incorporating knowledge and skills in their teaching offerings. However, there are still only a handful of institutions that offer specialized education in BPM in a systematic and in-depth manner. This article is based on a global educators’ panel discussion held at the 2009 European Conference on Information Systems in Verona, Italy. The article presents the BPM programs of five universities from Australia, Europe, Africa, and North America, describing the BPM content covered, program and course structures, and challenges and lessons learned. The article also provides a comparative content analysis of BPM education programs illustrating a heterogeneous view of BPM. The examples presented demonstrate how different courses and programs can be developed to meet the educational goals of a university department, program, or school. This article contributes insights on how best to continuously sustain and reshape BPM education to ensure it remains dynamic, responsive, and sustainable in light of the evolving and ever-changing marketplace demands for BPM expertise

ACM/IEEE-CS information technology curriculum 2017: A status update

The IT2008 Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Technology has been showing its age, and in 2014, the ACM Education Board agreed to oversee the creation of a revision, now being referred to as IT2017. Much progress has been made, and a version 0.6 will be ready by Oct 2016. All proposed panel members are members of the IT2017 Task Group

Skills and Knowledge for Data-Intensive Environmental Research.

The scale and magnitude of complex and pressing environmental issues lend urgency to the need for integrative and reproducible analysis and synthesis, facilitated by data-intensive research approaches. However, the recent pace of technological change has been such that appropriate skills to accomplish data-intensive research are lacking among environmental scientists, who more than ever need greater access to training and mentorship in computational skills. Here, we provide a roadmap for raising data competencies of current and next-generation environmental researchers by describing the concepts and skills needed for effectively engaging with the heterogeneous, distributed, and rapidly growing volumes of available data. We articulate five key skills: (1) data management and processing, (2) analysis, (3) software skills for science, (4) visualization, and (5) communication methods for collaboration and dissemination. We provide an overview of the current suite of training initiatives available to environmental scientists and models for closing the skill-transfer gap

Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Programs in Data Science

The Park City Math Institute (PCMI) 2016 Summer Undergraduate Faculty Program met for the purpose of composing guidelines for undergraduate programs in Data Science. The group consisted of 25 undergraduate faculty from a variety of institutions in the U.S., primarily from the disciplines of mathematics, statistics and computer science. These guidelines are meant to provide some structure for institutions planning for or revising a major in Data Science