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Applying the NSF/TCPP Curriculum Recommendations to a Liberal ArtsCurriculum

Akshaye Dhawan,Ursinus College

Focused on a breadth of educational experiences

Three core divisions: The Humanities The Sciences The Social Sciences

The liberal arts model

Rooted in the sciences Mostly grew out of Mathematics

Departments Similar place within a liberal arts

institution as that of Mathematics – seen as a key to our understanding of the world in an interdisciplinary and broad sense.

Example: CS 170 In Silico Computing at Ursinus

Where does CS fit in all this?

Emphasis on broad concepts 3 big goals that line up nicely with those

of the liberal model of education: Ability to organize and synthesize ideas Ability to reason Ability to communicate complex ideas

We do this all the time in CS!

CS in the liberal arts

Ursinus – total student body ~1600 students

All undergraduate CS program – 40-50 students Class sizes for lower level courses: 20-25 Class sizes for upper level courses: 15-20 One upper level elective course on High

Performance Computing CS 478 MPI, OpenMP CUDA being introduced in next iteration

CS at Ursinus

Focus on two core courses Data Structures Design and Analysis of Algorithms

Fall 2011 Early Adopters

Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium - LACS

Puts out curriculum recommendations – Last major one in 2007.

Emphasis on broad concepts not tied to specific architectures, languages and operating systems

A liberal arts approach to CS must include multiple problem-solving paradigms.

Need a liberal arts tailored set of recommendations – Organize and work on this with a larger group

Future Directions