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6 Institutional Strategies
Pages 123-146

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From page 123...
... Furthermore, the relatively small number of CS Ph.D.s pursuing an academic career, coupled with the broad opportunities for CS faculty in the private sector, has made faculty hiring especially difficult, which limits what institutions can do and further exacerbates the challenge. The key resources in support of a department's teaching mission are faculty, teaching staff, teaching assistants (TAs)
From page 124...
... Teaching faculty with an academic rank may have m their own research program, often in the area of CS education. All teaching staff typically take on a variety of additional roles, including managing other teaching staff or TAs, or advising, tutoring, or mentoring students.
From page 125...
... Teams of early-stage UTAs require careful management and oversight by the instructor, as well as institutional support and training, and may not be appropriate at all institutions. Support Staff Support staff play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy and well-managed learning and work environment, and can play a role in easing the pressure of growth in student demand.
From page 126...
... Even dividing such very large courses into multiple sections can challenge the capacity of larger lecture halls -- and such large class sizes can have a negative impact on the students' experience -- or challenge the availability of a larger number of smaller rooms. These pressures are not necessarily limited to introductory courses or non-major offerings; major enrollment is up and non-majors are progressing more deeply into computer science programs at many institutions.
From page 127...
... Given this institutional diversity, it is likely that one institution's response to the growth in CS will be inappropriate -- if it is even feasible -- for another. A reliance on doctoral student TAs is obviously infeasible at a liberal arts college or master's institution, for example.
From page 128...
... INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES TO INCREASING COMPUTER SCIENCE ENROLLMENTS While the challenges of increasing enrollments in undergraduate computing courses are very real and some institutions are in dire need of relief, it must be noted that resources at academic institutions may be limited. In particular, investments in one area typically mean that cuts must be made to another.
From page 129...
... A rankingbased approach for determining eligibility would promote head-to-head competition based on the chosen requirements, which could cause students to focus on these requirements rather than other educational objectives. This strategy could also affect the climate for faculty, instructors, TAs, and support staff, by requiring them to respond to enhanced student stress, angst, or competitive attitudes, which risks diminishing the talent within the university.
From page 130...
... Advantages: This approach will remove the pressure on departmental resources associated with growth in student course enrollments, and would enable more individual attention to be paid to students than would be possible in larger classes or cohorts. Risks: Again, this approach risks barring students who may have a sincere passion for the field, or who may need the course or associated skills for their major area or intended career path.
From page 131...
... Larger classes will be less agile in meeting individual student needs. They could also affect the student experience further by limiting individualized interactions with faculty and teaching staff, creating the sense of being lost in the crowd, and heightening competitive pressures, which could also have a negative impact on student diversity.
From page 132...
... Increase the Number of Sections or Courses Departments may offer additional lecture sections for a given course, or offer similar courses that address the same student needs, rather than simply increasing the class size of one offering. Advantages: This approach meets student demand without the downsides associated with increased class sizes.
From page 133...
... Risks: Other than the issues associated with adding faculty in any field -- such as institutional budget constraints and the costs associated with a faculty search -- computer science faces an acute shortage of Ph.D.s pursuing an academic career, as already discussed in previous sections. In addition, the number of qualified individuals interested in a teaching faculty or other instruction position may be similarly low.
From page 134...
... Finally, it may be more difficult to automate elements of advanced courses, which are also seeing high demand, in particular due to the need for deep mentoring and supervised research. Leverage Undergraduates as Nontraditional Teachers and Mentors In addition to the traditional departmental teaching resources, undergraduates may provide valuable support in formal and informal capacities, as teaching a ­ ssistants, discussion leaders, peer graders, project collaborators, and online forum discussants (though this approach is more commonly recognized as a strategy for MOOCs)
From page 135...
... Such individuals could provide especially valuable experience and insights in the context of a relevant X+CS program. Teaching computing outside of CS would also seem to offer institutions more flexibility if there are significant fluctuations in student demand in the future.
From page 136...
... models (Carlson, 2015) , enhanced use of more flexible resource pools, or institution of differential fees that scale with program or course enrollment, can encourage and enable programs to accommodate increasing enrollments.
From page 137...
... Risks: RCM and other approaches to tying departmental resources directly to teaching activities create barriers to interdepartmental cooperation and collaboration. If a department receives funds for each student it teaches and must pay for each course that its majors take in other departments, it is inevitable that barriers to student enrollment will be erected.
From page 138...
... Tailor Introductory Computer Science Courses to the Needs of Non-Majors Incorporating more of what non-majors need into introductory or specialized CS courses could reduce the need to take additional upper-level courses. For example, after learning basic programming skills such as iteration, abstraction, flow of execution, data structures, and functions in an introductory course, non-majors can focus on additional concepts and projects related to applications in their major.
From page 139...
... Rigorous instruction in computing outside CS courses would also seem to address some of the underlying demand for computing skills throughout the workforce while offering institutions more flexibility in the event that there are significant fluctuations in student demand for CS programs at some point in the future. Risks: It is possible that these approaches merely shift the burden from one department to another, although that can be viewed as beneficial by the institution if it serves to distribute the burden more evenly.
From page 140...
... Computer science departments in a college of science find that their programs differ from many science programs in a number of significant ways: (1) A bachelor's degree in CS has a wide range of high-paying job opportunities immediately after graduation and students have well-paid internship opportunities.
From page 141...
... INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGIES 141 TABLE 6.1  Partial List of Schools and Colleges of Computing That Include a Computer Science Department Arizona State School of Computing, Informatics, and http://cidse.engineering.asu.edu University Decision Systems Engineering Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science https://www.cs.cmu.edu University Clemson University School of Computing http://www.clemson.edu/cecas Cornell University Computing and Information Science http://www.cis.cornell.edu/ DePaul University College of Computing and Digital https://www.cdm.depaul.edu Media Drexel University College of Computing and Informatics http://drexel.edu/cci Georgia Institute of College of Computing http://www.cc.gatech.edu/ Technology Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing http://www.soic.indiana.edu Long Island College of Information and Computer http://www2.liu.edu/CWIS/cwp/ University Science cics/cics2.html Montana State Gianforte School of Computing https://www.cs.montana.edu/ University New Jersey Institute College of Computing http://ccs.njit.edu of Technology Northeastern College of Computer and Information http://www.ccis.northeastern.edu University Sciences Pace University Seidenberg School of Computer http://www.pace.edu/seidenberg/ Science and Information Systems Rochester Institute College of Computing and Information https://www.rit.edu/gccis of Technology Sciences State University of College of Computing and Information http://www.albany.edu/ceas/ New York, Albany University of School of Information and Computer http://www.ics.uci.edu/ California, Irvine Sciences University of College of Information and Computer https://www.cics.umass.edu/ Massachusetts Sciences University of College of Information Science and http://www.unomaha.edu/ Nebraska, Omaha Technology college-of-information-science and-technology/ University of North College of Computing and Informatics http://cci.uncc.edu Carolina, Charlotte University of School of Computing and Information https://sci.pitt.edu/ Pittsburgh NOTE: A number of institutions have information schools that currently do not include the CS depart­ ment. These include the University of Washington; the University of Maryland; the University of California, Berkeley; Pennsylvania State University; the University of Michigan; the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Rutgers University; and the University of Texas, Austin.
From page 142...
... FINDING 8: Departments facing sharp increases in demand for computing courses have experienced significant strain on a wide range of resources. Failure to respond thoughtfully to the demand and the resource deficits will result in adverse conditions for students, faculty, the programs, and the 7  They may include statistics, information sciences, library sciences, computational biology, infor mation technology programs, management information systems, communication, policy, media, and computational social sciences.
From page 143...
... A TEMPLATE FOR ASSESSING THE CURRENT COMPUTER SCIENCE ENROLLMENT CHALLENGE There is no single approach -- a "silver bullet" -- for responding to enrollment growth that will be optimal at all institutions. Every tactic has benefits and costs.
From page 144...
... d.  re class sizes affecting student stress factors and climate?
From page 145...
... Is class size considered when determining departmental teaching loads?


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