SIGCSE 2020 Pre-Symposium Event by the SIGCSE Committee on Computing Education in Liberal Arts Colleges
Contributed by Andrea Tartaro, andrea.tartaro@furman.edu; Chris Healy, chris.healy@furman.edu; and Chris Alvin chris.alvin@furman.edu
Furman University’s mission “as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive undergraduate education encompassing humanities, fine arts, social sciences, mathematics and the natural sciences, and selected professional disciplines.” Furman’s signature program, The Furman Advantage (TFA), “guarantees every student an unparalleled education that combines classroom learning with real-world experiences and self-discovery. This integrated four-year pathway, guided by a diverse community of mentors, prepares students for lives of purpose and accelerated career and community impact—demonstrating in concrete terms the value of a Furman education.” TFA aims to provide each student with high-impact, engaged learning experiences through mentored research, internships, and study away.
Furman’s curriculum includes 15 general education requirements that can be completed by courses across the university; in other words, for the most part, no one department monopolizes any particular requirement. These include: 2 writing courses (1 Freshman seminar and 1 disciplinary writing course); 11 core requirements including natural science, human behavior, historical analysis, textual analysis, visual and performing arts, mathematical and formal reasoning, foreign language, ultimate (i.e., metaphysical, ethical, religious) questions, and mind and body; and 2 global awareness courses. Furman students also complete one (or more) major(s). The University does not have traditional minors, but offers interdisciplinary minors that integrate 3 or more disciplines.
Computer Science at Furman was founded in 1967. Our enrollments tend to track national enrollment trends. As a department, we embrace a liberal arts education with interdisciplinary endeavors. We seek to develop courses and programs of value to both students majoring in computer science as well as those in other majors.
We offer a BS in Computer Science, which follows a traditional curriculum, and an interdisciplinary BA and BS in Information Technology (see [1] for motivation and discussion). The BA and BS differ with respect to the Math and Science requirements, as prescribed by Furman general education requirements for a BS.
Computer Science does not currently participate in any of Furman’s interdisciplinary minor programs, though we are brainstorming and developing several ideas, such as Computational Science, Data Science, and Human-Centered Design.
The cognate discipline may include any courses leading to an award of a major in another field of study. Students work with faculty to select courses comprising a consistent theme. The capstone (CSC-475 or CSC-502) integrates the interdisciplinary theme.
In addition to the requirements for a BA in Information Technology, students must complete:
OR
Freshman Seminars: Computer Science faculty enthusiastically participate in Furman’s Freshman Seminar Program with courses such as “Design Thinking and Writing,” “The Cult of Apple,” “Our Technological Heritage,” and “Turing: Thinking Machines, Codes, and Other Enigmas” [2, 3].
General Education Requirements: Our CSC-105, Introduction to Computer Science, a thematic, breadth-based course designed as a gateway to the major as well as for non-majors [5, 6], and CSC-121, Introduction to Computer Programming, grant “Mathematics and Formal Reasoning” credit under Furman’s general education requirements. In addition, we are developing a series of 200-level courses that fulfill general education requirements other than Mathematics and Formal Reasoning and require at most CSC-105 as a prerequisite [7]. Existing courses include: “Introduction to Data Mining” for “Human Behavior” credit and “History of Technology and Discovery” for “Historical Analysis” credit.
Research Experiences: In line with TFA initiatives to provide Furman students with high-impact educational experiences, Furman Computer Science has a thriving undergraduate research program, with students working with faculty on original research. Many of our research projects are interdisciplinary, and involve faculty and students across campus. Much of this research takes place as part of Furman’s summer research program, though research is ongoing throughout the year. Student-faculty research is presented at regional and international conferences, and published in undergraduate and professional venues. Several students have won undergraduate research competitions.
Computing in Community: Furman Computer Science promotes computer science as a community-engaged liberal arts discipline through our Computing in Community Program. This program funds internships, interdisciplinary student-faculty research collaborations, and a senior award. Our future plans include building a community of faculty across disciplines using computing in their research and teaching, and supporting these faculty in developing course modules, co-taught classes, and research projects through funding and workshops.
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC): In recent years, we have sent any student who applied to GHC. However, current registration limitations at the conference have prevented this.
ACM Student Group: Our ACM student group hosts activities for student-faculty informal interactions throughout the term (on average every 2-3 weeks). We believe these activities contribute to the diversity and belonging we are observing in our students.
Programming Competitions and Hack-a-thons: We send students to programming competitions and hack-a-thons.
Our unique contributions include our Information Technology major as well as the non-major and co-curricular programs described above. See our references for articles that support adoption/adaption by others.
Though current enrollments are strong, for many Furman students, computer science is still not “on their radar.” We are continually looking for innovative ways to reach a broader student audience and foster the interdisciplinary nature of computer science. In doing so, we must consider that between Furman’s general education requirements, and the desire of many students for “credentials” in the form of multiple majors and minors, that a lot students are taking few, if any, true electives, i.e., course that do not “count” for something.
[1] Abernethy, K. and Treu, K. 2015. Evolving the Information Technology Major by Embracing Interdisciplinary. J. Comput. Sci. Coll. 31, 2 (Dec. 2015), 208–216. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/2831432.2831467
[2] Barr, V., Catron, B., Healy, C., Lockwood, K., Shende, A.M., Tartaro, A. and Treu, K. 2017. Computer science topics in first and second year seminar courses. Proceedings of the Conference on Integrating Technology into Computer Science Education, ITiCSE (2017). https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3017680.3017688
[3] Catron, B., Healy, C., Tartaro, A. and Treu, K. 2016. Computer Science Topics in First Year Writing Seminars: Panel Discussion. J. Comput. Sci. Coll. 32, 2 (Dec. 2016), 111–112. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/3015063.3015080
[4] The Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and IEEE Computer Society. 2013. Computer Science Curricula 2013. Retrieved June 4, 2018 from https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/education/cs2013_web_final.pdf
[5] Tartaro, A. and Chosed, R.J. 2015. Computer scientists at the biology lab bench. SIGCSE 2015 - Proceedings of the 46th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (2015). https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2676723.2677246
[6] Tartaro, A. and Cottingham, H. 2014. A Problem-based, Survey Introduction to Computer Science for Majors and Non-majors. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges. 30, 2 (Dec. 2014), 164–170. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/2667432.2667455
[7] Tartaro, A., Healy, C. and Treu, K. 2016. Computer Science in General Education: Beyond Quantitative Reasoning. J. Comput. Sci. Coll. 32, 2 (Dec. 2016), 177–184. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/3015063.3015091