Undergraduate Committee Update

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Undergraduate Committee Update

• Dr. H. E. Dunsmore
• Chairman, Undergraduate Committee
• Department of Computer Science
• Purdue University
• April 16, 2002

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Undergraduate Committee Report

1. CS 182 Foundations of Computer Science
2. CS 240 C/C Programming Lab
3. Placement Exam
4. Revised Honors Program
5. Revised Freshman Resources Seminar

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CS 182 Foundations of Computer Science

• beta test Fall, 2001 started this Spring, 2002
• CS 182 teaches fundamental tools, ideas, and
  principles underlying Computer Science field
• Trains students to rigorously formulate and solve
  problems relevant to all Computer Science areas
• Challenges students to develop general reasoning
  ability

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• Course topics include
• Logic and proofs
• Sets, sequences, strings, relations, functions
• Number representations
• Discrete probability
• Mathematical proofs
• Algorithms
• Boolean algebra and combinatorial circuits
• Finite state machines and pushdown automata
• Complexity classes, computability, undecidability

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• CS 182 provides critical information to prepare
  students for courses that follow 250
  (architecture), 251 (data structures), 352
  (compilers), 381 (algorithms), 448 (database)
• In the long run, CS 182 will strengthen the
  entire curriculum

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CS 240 C/C Programming Lab Course

• CS 240 teaches low-level programming, design,
  implementation of relatively large programs.
• 3 credit, 1 lecture, 4-hour lab course
• Started -- Fall, 2001

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• Topics include
• C/C syntax, differences from Java
• Structures, pointers, dynamic memory allocation
• Streams
• String handling
• Header files
• Exception handling
• Process control, inter-process communication,
  threads

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• Results so far
• We are finding that students need more
  explanation than we had thought
• Some lab time being taken up with lecturing
• Have to find right balance

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Placement Exam

• CS 178 is course for new CS majors who are not
  ready for CS 180
• Should place incoming students in CS 178, 180, or
  beyond as accurately as possible to give maximum
  opportunity for success in program
• Placement determined by advisors. If advisors
  cannot determine which course would be most
  appropriate, placement exam administered.
  Placement exam began use in June, 2001.

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• Student who receives grade of 90 or above on
  placement exam eligible for skipping CS 180
• Student who scores 30 or below placed in CS 178
• Otherwise, student placed in CS 180

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• Results So far, so good
• Vast majority of students ended up (appropriately
  it seems) in CS 180
• Those who were placed in CS 178 were challenged
  by that course
• Those who were placed in CS 240 and/or CS182 seem
  to be succeeding
• In the future, plan to use Placement Exam for all
  students, if possible

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Revised Honors Program

• Revised started this Fall, 2001
• Honors Program
• Attracts outstanding undergraduate students
• Provides challenging experience for them
• Gives them additional knowledge that will make
  them more valuable in industry and more
  attractive to graduate schools

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• Honors Seminar CS 397 bi-weekly meeting of all
  sophomore, junior, and senior Honors students.
  Juniors and seniors will give short reports on
  their research work.
• Junior/Senior Research Project Each Honors
  student must, during Junior/Senior year, complete
  3-credit CS 497 group research project, directed
  by Computer Science faculty members.
• Results 39 students in CS 397 attracted back
  into Honors Program. Most will be doing team
  research project next fall.

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Revised Freshman Resources Seminar

• Revised CS 192 started this Fall
• Purpose is to introduce new students to Computer
  Science, Purdue University, and our department
• Goal is to increase retention of good students
• Modifications include addition of small (25
  students with an upper class mentor), weekly
  recitation sections that will enable group
  interaction, assignments, and discussions.
• 1 credit, Pass/No Pass

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• Topics include
• Ethics, social implications of computing
• Learning strategies
• Problem solving, analytical skills
• Time management
• Internships, co-ops, study abroad
• Role of teamwork in Computer Science

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• Results
• Mentor relationship went relatively well.
• Topics covered seemed relevant.
• Still need to find a solution to big lecture
  problem.