Computer Science Curriculum Guidelines

2022

A Joint Task Force of the ACM, IEEE-Computer Society, and AAAI commenced work in 2021 to revise the Computer Science curricular guidelines that were last updated in 2013. Planned for publication in 2023, the revised guidelines (CS2023) cover curricular content and curricular practices. Curricular content includes updates to the CS2013 knowledge areas, a new sunflower model of what constitutes core computer science topics, a proposal for packaging knowledge areas into courses, and a competency model of the curriculum. Curricular practices cover computer science program design and delivery issues, including social aspects, professional practices, and programmatic considerations. In the special session, the latest CS2023 draft will be presented and feedback solicited. The session is targeted toward educators, administrators, and professionals interested in computer science curricular issues. CCS CONCEPTS • Social and professional topics → Computer science education; Model curricula.

AI Matters, 2015

Cover art by Robert Vizzini 4. CS2013 must provide realistic, adoptable recommendations that provide guidance and flexibility, allowing curricular designs that are innovative and track recent developments in the field. The guidelines are intended to provide clear, implementable goals, while also providing the flexibility that programs need in order to respond to a rapidly changing field. CS2013 is intended as guidance, not as a minimal standard against which to evaluate a program. 5. The CS2013 guidelines must be relevant to a variety of institutions. Given the wide range of institutions and programs (including 2-year, 3-year, and 4-year programs; liberal arts, technological, and research institutions; and institutions of every size), it is neither possible nor desirable for these guidelines to dictate curricula for computing. Individual programs will need to evaluate their constraints and environments to construct curricula. 6. The size of the essential knowledge must be managed. While the range of relevant topics has expanded, the size of undergraduate education has not. Thus, CS2013 must carefully choose among topics and recommend the essential elements. 7. Computer science curricula should be designed to prepare graduates to succeed in a rapidly changing field. Computer Science is rapidly changing and will continue to change for the foreseeable future. Curricula must prepare students for lifelong learning and must include professional practice (e.g., communication skills, teamwork, ethics) as components of the undergraduate experience. Computer science students must learn to integrate theory and practice, to recognize the importance of abstraction, and to appreciate the value of good engineering design. 8. CS2013 should identify the fundamental skills and knowledge that all computer science graduates should possess while providing the greatest flexibility in selecting topics. To this end, we have introduced three levels of knowledge description: Tier-1 Core, Tier-2 Core, and Elective. For a full discussion of Tier-1 Core, Tier-2 Core, and Elective, see Chapter 4: Introduction to the Body of Knowledge. 9. CS2013 should provide the greatest flexibility in organizing topics into courses and curricula. Knowledge areas are not intended to describe specific courses. There are many-22-novel, interesting, and effective ways to combine topics from the Body of Knowledge into courses. 10. The development and review of CS2013 must be broadly based. The CS2013 effort must include participation from many different constituencies including industry, government, and the full range of higher education institutions involved in computer science education. It must take into account relevant feedback from these constituencies. Chapter 3: Characteristics of Graduates Graduates of computer science programs should have fundamental competency in the areas described by the Body of Knowledge (see Chapter 4), particularly the core topics contained there. However, there are also competences that graduates of CS programs should have that are not explicitly listed in the Body of Knowledge. Professionals in the field typically embody a characteristic style of thinking and problem solving, a style that emerges from the experiences obtained through study of the field and professional practice. Below, we describe the characteristics that we believe should be attained at least at an elementary level by graduates of computer science programs. These characteristics will enable their success in the field and further professional development. Some of these characteristics and skills also apply to other fields. They are included here because the development of these skills and characteristics should be explicitly addressed and encouraged by computer science programs. This list is based on a similar list in CC2001 and CS2008. The substantive changes that led to this new version were influenced by responses to a survey conducted by the CS2013 Steering Committee. At a broad level, the expected characteristics of computer science graduates include the following: Technical understanding of computer science Graduates should have a mastery of computer science as described by the core of the Body of Knowledge. Familiarity with common themes and principles Graduates need understanding of a number of recurring themes, such as abstraction, complexity, and evolutionary change, and a set of general principles, such as sharing a common resource, security, and concurrency. Graduates should recognize that these themes and principles have broad application to the field of computer science and should not consider them as relevant only to the domains in which they were introduced.-24-Appreciation of the interplay between theory and practice A fundamental aspect of computer science is understanding the interplay between theory and practice and the essential links between them. Graduates of a computer science program need to understand how theory and practice influence each other. System-level perspective Graduates of a computer science program need to think at multiple levels of detail and abstraction. This understanding should transcend the implementation details of the various components to encompass an appreciation for the structure of computer systems and the processes involved in their construction and analysis. They need to recognize the context in which a computer system may function, including its interactions with people and the physical world. Problem solving skills Graduates need to understand how to apply the knowledge they have gained to solve real problems, not just write code and move bits. They should to be able to design and improve a system based on a quantitative and qualitative assessment of its functionality, usability and performance. They should realize that there are multiple solutions to a given problem and that selecting among them is not a purely technical activity, as these solutions will have a real impact on people's lives. Graduates also should be able to communicate their solution to others, including why and how a solution solves the problem and what assumptions were made. Project experience To ensure that graduates can successfully apply the knowledge they have gained, all graduates of computer science programs should have been involved in at least one substantial project. In most cases, this experience will be a software development project, but other experiences are also appropriate in particular circumstances. Such projects should challenge students by being integrative, requiring evaluation of potential solutions, and requiring work on a larger scale than typical course projects. Students should have opportunities to develop their interpersonal communication skills as part of their project experience. Commitment to lifelong learning Graduates should realize that the computing field advances at a rapid pace, and graduates must possess a solid foundation that allows and encourages them to maintain relevant skills as the-25-field evolves. Specific languages and technology platforms change over time. Therefore, graduates need to realize that they must continue to learn and adapt their skills throughout their careers. To develop this ability, students should be exposed to multiple programming languages, tools, paradigms, and technologies as well as the fundamental underlying principles throughout their education. In addition, graduates are now expected to manage their own career development and advancement. Graduates seeking career advancement often engage in professional development activities, such as certifications, management training, or obtaining domain-specific knowledge. Commitment to professional responsibility Graduates should recognize the social, legal, ethical, and cultural issues inherent in the discipline of computing. They must further recognize that social, legal, and ethical standards vary internationally. They should be knowledgeable about the interplay of ethical issues, technical problems, and aesthetic values that play an important part in the development of computing systems. Practitioners must understand their individual and collective responsibility and the possible consequences of failure. They must understand their own limitations as well as the limitations of their tools. Communication and organizational skills Graduates should have the ability to make effective presentations to a range of audiences about technical problems and their solutions. This may involve face-to-face, written, or electronic communication. They should be prepared to work effectively as members of teams. Graduates should be able to manage their own learning and development, including managing time, priorities, and progress. Awareness of the broad applicability of computing Platforms range from embedded micro-sensors to high-performance clusters and distributed clouds. Computer applications impact nearly every aspect of modern life. Graduates should understand the full range of opportunities available in computing. Appreciation of domain-specific knowledge Graduates should understand that computing interacts with many different domains. Solutions to many problems require both computing skills and domain knowledge. Therefore, graduates need synchronization, performance measurement, or computer security, in addition to topics more specifically related to operating systems. Consequently, such courses will likely draw on material in several Knowledge Areas. Certain fundamental systems topics like latency or parallelism will likely arise in many places in a curriculum. While it is important that such topics do arise, preferably in multiple settings, the Body of Knowledge does not specify the particular settings in which to teach such topics. The course exemplars in Appendix C show multiple ways that such material may be organized into courses. • Parallel computing: Among the changes to the Body of Knowledge from previous reports is a...

ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 2010

ACM Computing Surveys, 1996

Communications of The ACM, 1996

"Computer Science Education should not drive a wedge between the social and the technical, but rather link both through the formal and informal curriculum" [5]. "Societal and technical aspects of computing are interdependent. Technical issues are best understood (and most effectively taught) in their social context, and the societal aspects of computing are best understood in the context of the underlying technical detail. Far from detracting from the students' learning of technical information, including societal aspects in the computer science curriculum can enhance students' learning, increase their motivation, and deepen their understanding" [10]. T HERE IS A GROWING AWARENESS THAT ETHICAL PRACTICE AND social responsibility are becoming increasingly important aspects of the computing profession. This is demonstrated by the publication of a number of recent articles in Communications related to these topics [2, 4, 5, 8, 13-15]. It is also demonstrated in the most recent revision to the computer science curriculum, Computing Curricula 1991 [1], which stated, "Undergraduate programs should provide an environment in which students are exposed to the ethical and societal issues associated with the computing field. This includes maintaining currency with recent technological and theoretical developments, upholding general professional standards, and

30th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference. Building on A Century of Progress in Engineering Education. Conference Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.00CH37135), 2000

This paper is the next installment on an ongoing project to provide an easily accessible information resource for departments offering undergraduate computer science (CS) degree programs. This resource is designed to provide structured, up-to-date information in terms of demographics and statistics related to curricula, faculty, and students in such departments.

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings

The invention and creation of the digital computer in the mid-20th century gave rise to a host of new industries and dramatic changes in some of the programs offered at 4-year academic institutions. The first of these was the discipline of computer science, followed by the disciplines of information systems, computer-based library science, computer engineering, software engineering, and information technology. Additionally, there are newly-emerging programs in disciplines that are heavily computer-dependent, such as animation, industrial design, bioinformatics, and others. The purpose of this paper is to present the history and current status of the five core computing academic disciplines as described in the Computing Curriculum document: computer science, information systems, computer engineering, software engineering, and information technology. The information summarized includes the number of programs in existence, the development of a standardized curriculum for each, and the development and implementation of accreditation standards for each.

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 1979

Student-written programs accepted by computer science instructors are usually inferior to programs which exemplify currently-accepted “good” professional practice. Although enforcing more rigorous standards for programs places an additional burden on students and faculty alike, substantial benefits may be gained thereby. The natureand implementation of such standards are discussed.

2014

Every 10-12 years, the professional computing societies, ACM and IEEE-CS, publish new curricular recommendations for undergraduate programs. On December 20, 2013, an ACM/IEEE-CS Task Force published its new recommendation. Each published recommendation challenges schools to respond. Three core questions involve, "To what extent do these recommendations fit with the mission and goals of a local institution?", "How can a school organize the extensive content into courses?", and "Is it feasible for a school to offer a major that meets all of the recommendations?" This paper describes how the Grinnell College Computer Science faculty utilized the CS 2013 recommendations, as they emerged, to review and update its program. Both the process and the resulting curriculum directly address the three core questions and may provide insights for faculty at other schools as they review their own programs. Computing Science Curricula 2001 in December 2001 [5] with a modest update [1] in December 2008. Specification of content was extensive: [5] spanned 240 pages, identified 14 high-level "Knowledge Areas", and specified 132 detailed "Knowledge Units" covering 280 hours of class time. [5] also outlined a few hypothetical courses to suggest ways to organize topics, but the courses had not been offered at actual schools. The ACM/IEEE-CS recommendations [1, 5] primarily addressed content (Core Question 1), but not Core Questions 2 and 3. Also, questions sometimes arose in relating ACM/IEEE-CS recommendations to a school's mission. For liberal arts colleges, the Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium (LACS) published separate guidelines [6] in 2007 that addressed all three Core Questions. Although recommendations from ACM/ IEEE-CS and LACS share similarities, differences arise in focus and content. LACS guidelines also grouped content into possible courses and outlined a viable major.

… data processing, February 2 and 3 …, 1977