CSE Exit Survey Response Summary (2010-'11)

Freeform Questions

Freeform answers to: 'What single aspect of the CSE program did you find most helpful? Explain briefly.'

1. The capstone design class. It was the only class that truely simulated a real-world scenario that one might find as a Software Engineering Professional. Taught customer and team relations, project management, and overall software lifecycle among other things.
2. I found the 758 class to be very helpful since it provides real world experience.
3. I find that teaching and then using labs as examples to support the theoretical jargon used during the classroom has taught me the most about programming effectively.
4. Project courses. 560, 660, 757, 758.
5. Problem solving. The ability to solve problems is the most important thing and the curriculum teaches this very well.
6. The ability to take graduate level classes easily.
7. I think although at times the reoccurring topics in classes got somewhat redundant I think those are the topics I will remember the most because of the need to recall those topics or relearn them.
8. I think classes like 560 and the capstone are very critical and very helpful. Having access to courses that model real-world software development is really our only way to guess at what its going to be like other than an internship/co-op.
9. That I have the freedom to take any courses, in almost any order, without strict regulation or control. If I lost the freedom to chose my own college route, and the short, well-defined quarters; Id probably look in to a different schools CS program. Keep the freedom from restrictions.
10. Peg did an awesome job advising me throughout my career.
11. The ability to recognize important algorithms and be able to program them. The algorithms are used in the real world and have large implications when using them. The ability to program them gives a better understanding of how they function and complete their purposes.
12. I found that the non-linear course structure helped me take classes in a way that fit my schedule. The flexibility allowed me to explore my interests and the different parts of Computer Science.
13. The single aspect I found most helpful was to identify the efficiency of algorithms automatically, especially in business applications.
14. Probably the most helpful aspect of the CSE program is the use of labs to reinforce the theories that are taught in class.
15. I found the advising office to be invaluable in planning out my curriculum over the past 4 years. Without their help I would not have been able to balance my schedule as well as I did.
16. Whether working alone or on a team, I found the design and development of software, especially the initial stages where youre deciding classes and structures, etc. to be extremely valuable. Getting that practice really sharpens your thinking.
17. I found it all to be very helpful. Even classes that on the surface may have seemed dated in content, where still very applicable in concept. If I had to name one thing it would be the strong core math courses required prior to the program, and the wide range of courses for the CSE core (sorry, I know this wasnt one thing).
18. Upper level courses outside of general programming. I walked in with a very strong background in general design and didnt get particularly much out of most of the early courses. 421 at least taught me JUnit and test-driven development.
19. Capstone project-provided real life example of a project and deadlines
20. Helps students acquire analysis, problem solving skills
21. The group projects/capstone. For those without real work experience in the field projects like 560 and the capstone courses actually prepare a student more for a real work environment than other classes and look rather nice on a resume.
22. The computer labs helped me a lot because they allowed me to freely experiment with solutions on my own time. Also, the building is conducive to a learning environment
23. Training and coursework in a broad range of scientific and mathematical topics was beneficial to get a good overview of many of the career issues and choices we will have to deal with.
24. For job searching I found data structures and algorithm analysis to be most helpful. I have been asked numerous questions regarding these topics during my career search.
25. CSE Survey course at the beginning of the year. I utilized the schedule projection sheet a lot the whole time I was here. Although, I thought it was pointless to have an in class final since all of my other engineering friends had theirs on Carmen.
26. In terms of courses, I found the final three quarters by far the most dramatically helpful. In all reality, I could nearly have skipped half of the previous courses and instead have gone straight into advanced courses above the final years choices. The theory of computing and courses falling under that umbrella are so much more applicable once you understand what you can do with them and what real-life technology translates into.
27. The best aspect of the CSE program is the variety of specializations within the department. I thought I wanted to be a developer for my career but as I was exposed to different classes as well as my internship I found that I actually wanted to be a system analyst and was able to find a specialization that allowed that to happen. I also like the how all the core classes are offered every quarter, including summer, because I had to take a quarter off to have ankle surgery and I didnt miss a beat. When I came back the next quarter I was able to jump right back into the coursework where I left off.
28. I did enjoyed the tech talks. I wish I would have wen to more of them.
29. Courses that focused on implementation of exercises that required using a programming language. Writing and executing code for various problems significantly helped me better understand concepts than simply talking about the theory of the problem.
30. I found the capstone (CSE 762, iPhone development) and CSE 616 (creating a system requirements document) the most helpful. I have been interning for over a year now, and I could directly tie skills that I gained from that class to tasks that I was completing at work. The capstone class also gave me an opportunity to delve deeper into a specific area of technology that Im interested in.
31. I think group projects are the most helpful. These force you to work with others to design and create software to meet a large and often difficult goal. It also forces you to write good code so the others in your group can include your code in the larger project without problems. These are important skills.
32. The ease of talking to the teachers and staff. They were friendly and always open to helping me with any problem even outside of cse.
33. The varying electives that allowed us to apply things we learned in previous classes.
34. The ability to solve real-world problems with real-world clients using latest real-world tools and theories.
35. I thought that the intro. sequence was fantastic. I hope that the transition to the java intro. sequence wont compromise too much.
36. access to graduate level classes
37. I found the interaction with my professors to be the most helpful. Most of the professors in the CSE program were truly interested in aiding students in both learning and aiding in further thoughts.
38. A lot of courses does not very mandatory prerequisite which means a lot of possibility courses to choose from in a quarter.
39. I found that the classes in security and databasing were the most helpful even if it wasnt directly used after graduation.
40. The program focused on teaching good programming practices right at the beginning, in the 221 sequence, rather than get you able to program and then try to add on good practices.
41. I found the class 560 to be very helpful. Although I hated the class at the time, it really helped me to learn to program better, work with a group, and meet deadlines. I feel that there should be more big programming assignment like this one.
42. The capstone classes were a good way to test a students abilities in regards to real world applications.
43. CSE 560 was the best course due really forcing team work and this was the most helpful part of the CSE program for future work.
44. encouraging the use of google as a form of quick reference for programing i believe my biggest help was working in dreese 172 lab. The advice/knowledge and conversation there help me very much. Weather it was a tough lab or a question about an interview people there were a great help.
45. I found the amount of group projects and the ability to work with different people was the most helpful and applicable in the outside world
46. The introductory sequence was the most helpful because it really drew me into computer science and showed me the principles necessary to be successful in the major (NOTE: I count 421 as an introductory course so the courses I refer to are 221, 222, 321, and 421)
47. My capstone 786. Also, why is the capstone the first occurrence of things like subversion or agile programming? Of course I had heard of these things before I got this far, but are we not to be prepared for the professional world.. would it not be a good idea to teach us the standards of that world?
48. I was learned difference software engineering discline and how to apply them when working to on projects.
49. I found that the expanded scope of the CSE degree allowed me to develop a greater understanding of all the factors that go into computing. If we had focused on just application I would have missed out on this aspect, and would have felt less prepared to move on to grad school and eventually a job.
50. I found the number and diversity in classes available to take to be very helpful, since it gave me the opportunity to take classes that were of interest to me.
51. I feel that the CSE 221/222/321 series was taught well but was taught slightly too early. I noticed that the fundamentals were lost over time for me and my peers.
52. I liked the team experience in the higher classes because I feel it is good practice.
53. The vast majority of the professors in the CSE department were incredible. For every 1 professor I had that was sub-par, there were 10 more who were great.
54. Some of the last classes I took were the most useful. I wish there was more of these classes towards the middle when I was wondering about these things but finding the classes undirected in that area.
55. I thought the 421 course was the most helpful course I took. I would like to see other 459s offered with similar depth and coverage as 421.
56. I liked the lab-based courses the most as they let me put into practice what I had learned.
57. Learning software design paradigms and different programming languages. I also thought it was helpful gaining the experience of working on teams.
58. I found that all the CSE professors were very willing to help with any questions I had about the course outside of regular class lectures.
59. CSE (Computer Science and Engineering) is a good major.
60. CSE 360 (instructor:Bettina Bair) was the single most helpful part of the curriculum. It covered a wide range of topics in great enough detail to give a firm understanding for later classes, such as CSE 675, CSE 560, and CSE 660.
61. Any class that allowed for an unguided solution to a problem I found very helpful. The ability to decide which tools were best suited for an implementation allowed me to explore software and techniques that I wasnt familiar with. These classes included 581, 560, 655, and 762.
62. Capstone classes.
63. The aspect of trying to mimic a real-life professional environment. To me, the program strives to prepare us for a career in the field along with teaching us the fundamentals of Computer Science. Also, the fact that there are a wide variety of classes offered in the subject so that were not learning one specific skill set or one discipline (I know the question says to list one aspect, but both of these were equally important/helpful in my mind).
64. Vast amount of classes you can take in CSE, which helps diversify the program
65. The resources are the best part. Not only do I get to access the computers, but I also get to access resources there that I cant work on from my home system.
66. I thought that it was really helpful to work with and be exposed to software that we will more than likely see throughout our careers.
67. getting hands-on, real-world experience - i.e. the capstone project and its prerequisite course; definitely was more helpful than labs or homework
68. I found the ability to manage your own course load to be very beneficial. Most courses were offered more than one quarter a year, giving us the ability to be flexible when creating our schedules. This made it easy to take the horror stories of certain classes and provide maximum free time for that specific quarter.
69. I thought the number of group projects and presentations was probably the most helpful since it provided us with team work experience, presentation experience, and situations similar to what we will face in the real world. Not always the most pleasent experience, but definitely the most helpful.
70. Multi-disciplinary approach with plenty of group projects to mimic real-world approaches.
71. The Capstone course CSE 758 was the class which I took which helped me the most in my learning of what the professional world would be like. Although other courses got me ready for it, there was no class like it exactly, and it was very helpful.
72. Tries to give a broad view of different professional routes students can take in a computing industry. A broad understanding of the field is attained.
73. cse 421 & al stutz
74. I found the immense amount of course variety that we had available to be extremely rewarding. It allowed for a lot of individual discovery, and also offered a wide range of knowledge, which could then be easily specialized in if a student found the content interesting.
75. I found CSE 421, which is not even part of the required curriculum to be the most helpful aspect of the CSE program. Of all the time Ive spent working, this is the one class that I would say actually taught me useful information for real-world application.
76. Classes dealing directly with modern software engineering practices, like 680, 634, 630 and 421. These classes provide experience and knowledge that can be directly applied later in the career.
77. The student lounge, I learned more from the other students in the lounge than I did from most of my professors. The lounge needs improvements BTW, it is always packed (can we get a microwave?). I probably didnt answer the question here, but after starting to work in the industry the curriculum was so archaic there were very few useful courses.
78. The CSE 758 Software Engineering capstone has been a fun and extremely helpful course when paired with CSE 616 and CSE 757.
79. Team oriented projects/classes like 560 and the capstones
80. cse616 and cse560 were the most helpful classes for me. The reason is that thoese classes were more practical activities than other knowledge classes.
81. Loved the faculty and staff...very helpful and accessible.
82. The capstone course was very similar to the team working in the real world.
83. Course were set up in series that allowed for the sequential development of skills at a manageable rate.
84. The flexibility to take courses without regard to prerequisites being enforced was very helpful. Giving students flexibility to pursue their interests is the best thing I feel one can do to improve the CSE program.
85. The Capstone class was most interesting, since there was an actual client that work was being done for.
86. I believe the cse 560 and cse 421 classes were most helpful in teaching me to program. The resolve sequence left me a bit lost. I had trouble understand the techniques taught then. However 560 and 421 helped me to program a lot and I feel now I a better software engineer.
87. The NEWPATH IT entrepreneurship program has been extraordinarily helpful in broadening my academic experience, and has positioned me well for pursuing opportunities after graduation.
88. CSE 560 and CSE 762(capstone) really gave a hands on implementation of computing issuses and how to solve.Easier for me to understand with hands on then seeing and hearing.
89. 560 (with Dr. Al Stutz at least) was so full of information that one never realized they didnt know. It has already helped me professionally, and with hobby projects. This is just the material. The group interaction is a bonus on top of this (and also priceless).
90. The wide variety of programs and interests that a student can learn. It allows individuals to pick and choose things that interest them and keeps them focused.
91. Group projects in a variety of classes
92. Working on teams to develop software products. Having to organize the team and bring the contributions of everyone on the team to generate the solution.
93. The wide range of computing topics provided a well rounded foundation to build on with additional years of education and career experience.
94. The variety of engineering courses gave me a background and understanding in order to be able to work on multi-disciplinary teams.
95. Capstone Courses were the best classes I took at CSE, creating and implementing a project was a great learning tool
96. the analitical part of the program. it help us understand and communicating with the needs of non-software engineers.

Freeform answers to: 'What single change in the CSE program would you most like to see? Explain briefly.'

97. Get rid of the RESOLVE Series. It provides zero real world value. You could teach the same concepts using Java. Then have a class like CSE 421 but have it teach C++ instead of Java. My lack of experience/knowled of C++ will be a huge detriment going into the workforce.
98. I think the RESOLVE language should be replaced with a more widespread programming language that could teach the same principles, such as Java or C++.
99. There are numerous classes that I have taken that are only textbook based and you only touch base on implementation by doing problems out of the book on paper. I feel that more realistic applicable labs should be used to fill in for some of the needless homework in which information leaves your brain as quickly as you learn it.
100. Its possible to get a degree without writing a line of GUI-related code. This seems rather backwards to me. (Also, can we get some decent instructors for 541 and 670 in the future? Seriously, 75% of them are terrible.)
101. The CSE curriculum fails to teach and incorporate modern tools into the curriculum. If a student doesnt go out on his own and learn about tools, libraries, frameworks, etc its likely hell graduate knowing only Resolve C++(yuck) and no useful frameworks. Being able to effectively use IDEs and frameworks is highly important. The department does not effectively teach these tool technologies.
102. More theory-based topics/classes and more rigor in presenting them.
103. I would do away with the C++ Resolve language in the initial courses. It does provide a way to learn the fundamentals and I do think even after having taken similar courses in high school with Java it helped me understand conceptually some of the content better. However it can still be done with widely used programming languages and I would have much rather learned a language such as C ...
104. The ECE requirements, especially for Software specialists, seem somewhat unnecessary. I dont expect Im ever going to perform circuit analysis for the rest of my life, and yet I had to take a whole series of courses on it. ...
105. More hands-on coding, or at least the availability as tech electives. Too many classes are pure theory and have little-to-no easily identified practical uses.
106. Use relvevant technologies. Teach fun stuff like python and ruby. Sure, C is important for foundational things, data structures, etc. Everyone should know that, but not by learning from RESOLVE. Teach C. Then get people interested in programming by teaching them a fun language. stdsun is running a 10 year old operating system, Solaris 8. The terminal on that system is awful to use. Use a new Linux distro like Red Hat so people get excited using linux and can use relevant techniologies. There are (as far as i know) no Linux computers for students to use -- only windows....
107. More courses working with outside clients on different projects.
108. A course that is about web design because I find that there are several businesses that hire people with knowledge of designing, building, and maintaining websites. Having knowledge and experience in these types of courses would be very useful to have instead of learning them quickly during a capstone type of course.
109. I would like to see RESOLVE go away. Teaching a language that is not used in the real world hurts students chances of landing an early internship. Companies are looking for candidates that are strong in a widely used language, not someone that they have to teach a language in a short amount of time.
110. More options for operating systems professors, as neither of the choices can teach anything superbly. More professors that have a passion to teach as well as research (think MIT). The problem has always been: many CSE professors care more about their research than their students. This needs to be fixed.
111. Probably the most important change is for more standardization of how professors teach the same course. Many time i felt that i missed out on a interesting class because the professor was not very good while friends taking the same class with a different professor were learning a lot
112. I would like to see more offerings of courses each quarter for the 600+ level courses. Primarily because its hard to schedule when a course is only offered once a day and is crucial to your degree.
113. More modern languages/environments. I hear many people going into interviews and being asked, What languages do you know? They respond, Java. It would be helpful to get people around more environments that are in demand. Maybe a course in web development. Get people around Ruby, ASP.NET, etc. I know the danger of focusing on these tools too much, as these things will change very soon and become irrelevant, but a little more wouldnt hurt.
114. Hard to say, but it did seem I put a tremendous amount of effort into some classes vs. others. I wasnt always prepared for quarters like that. More warning would be nice as an expected out of class time expectation would have been very valuable in course planning.
115. In the 221 series, you attempt to drive home the importance of readable, maintainable code by limiting the development environment so they cant make anything else, but never do anything large enough to make it really self-evident. I propose a 3-part project in that series, in small groups. First, each group codes a component (and is given a chance to ensure it works properly). Then, groups swap codebases and have to extend another groups code without rewriting huge swaths of it (and of course, a week after turn-in to fix it). The extended code is returned to the original group, who then has to use the extended codebase for a further lab.
116. Intro sequence in a common language, not RESOLVE
117. More tutorials/demonstrations in class when learning a new language/program
118. Teach the intro courses with a language that is actually used outside the university.
119. Every quarter, I would have to worry about books. To make things easier, the CSE department should either have electronic copies of the book or just hand out supplemental material in lieu of the books. I know personally many people who couldnt afford books and had to share it with people. This gives people with more money an unfair advantage in the form of convenience and more time to spend with the book.
120. A larger selection of elective choices within the major, either as a selection among a group (like the BIO/CHEM/etc. choice) or general technical electives.
121. A larger emphasis on data structures and algorithm analysis. In my time interviewing it seems to be a major focus amongst companies, yet these topics are only covered in a few classes, 222, 321, and 680 if I remember correctly.
122. I would like to have seen more graphics courses specific to game design instead of just the Capstone.
123. The order of courses and the amount of work per credit hour. Engineering stands by itself in terms of technical material. We as engineers rely on hard work and technical expertise and I think that it should be portrayed more accurately in our degree. Expanding the degree to 5 years is absolutely out of the question apparently, but merely cutting the credits down is simply not fair to our education or the representation of known material. Hopefully when the switch to semesters occurs, CS&E will experience an overhaul that dramatically changes the way our courses are taught. As they are, we rush through an immense amount of theory, test on it, then forget about it. (And trust me, all of us normal undergrads completely forget almost all the material we go through within a few quarters) So in summary, the single change I wish to see is a better balance between application and theory, and its representation through credit hours.
124. The faculty were more willing to give out recommendations. There were three professors I had for multiple classes and did very well in all those classes yet none of the professors would write my a recommendation. I feel if I put in the work, I should be able to get something helpful out of it.
125. Difficult to get involved in things related to CSE since there is such a high number of students. I guess that is what you get for going to a large school.
126. Limit some of the requirements for the capstone. The capstone classs are a significant amount of work. Its somewhat misleading to have it as a 3 credit hour course when it is consuming 25-30 hours a week of my time.
127. From interning for over a year, I think the thing that is missing the most from the CSE curriculum is some content about mainframes. Almost all large companies still use mainframes, and they are having trouble finding people to hire because their current people are retiring and the new people never even heard of mainframes in their college curriculum. The place where I intern actually has an extensive training program for new hires that work with mainframes. At the very least, it would be useful to have a 459 credit for COBOL. If the class was closer to the 421 java class and went into some basic mainframe theory, that would be even better.
128. I would like to see more emphasis on how to design good reusable code. There should be more practical applications of things as well. Note this does not mean less theory, just to make sure that the theory gets applied to projects as well.
129. Actual programming practices in varied fields. Such as actual use of databases. Teach real world skills.
130. Use more up to date software development tools instead of command line and emacs.
131. RESOLVE. We did however learn on the importance of off-the-shelf software components but I failed to impress the companies who are interested in me with that knowledge. They prefer to see on how I am able to design and implement the off-the-shelf components instead.
132. I feel ill-prepared for web development. I think that a VERY brief but mandatory course on web development might be useful, as so much work is (sadly) focused around writing awful web-pages for awful companies.
133. Please better differentiate between IT, software engineer, and computer scientist tracks. I am very sorry that I went through the engineering math rather than the pure math track, even though the pure math track was much more difficult, and Im also very sorry that I did not pursue a thesis and an honors degree.
134. I think having optional recitations with a TA for 2 hours a week would not only promote further learning but interaction among students.
135. More modern techniques and technologies taught alongside the theory and principles. Too often what I learned in class was already outdated compared to what was used in the real world.
136. I feel that it would be helpful to eliminate the Resolve language from the curriculum. I feel that those beginning courses should be taught in a language like C,C++ instead. This will allow student to continue with the same language and not have to learn a new one from the one they started with. (Also I would like more classes about C#)
137. More in depth classes or capstones in particular areas would have been nice. For instance more of the animation classes or more of the game classes.
138. Get rid of the resolve sequence but still teach students C/C++ so that they understand pointers well.
139. I think that more applied programming would be nice.
140. A change in the intro sequence of 221,222, and 321. They did not really teach much that I have ever used since. While the idea it is meant to teach is a good one, it is not necessarily practical (or at least not adopted by the rest of the department in higher level classes)
141. Less repetition in the courses because it felt like I heard a lot of the same material multiple times and I felt like I could have used the time better than learning the same things over again. For example, multiple times we learned about different algorithms, etc...
142. As with my response to the previous question, I feel a distinct lack of preparedness for a professional setting. Also noting that the 600 level courses are all Intro to ..., the main focus of this program is general computing knowledge. While thats fine, none of it is very specific and most will be forgotten without further study, of which, only one or two courses will be taken. Perhaps more time could be spent, or simply amended for more classes like 560 and 786 where team building and programming in a professional setting are key, with industry standards of programming practice.
143. Having said that, I would like to see more direct application of theories and ideas in order for me to see these theories in practice. I feel like I will still have some catching up to do when I get into the real world, just learning the current technologies and software used.
144. I would like to see the Resolve series changed to a language that is used in the real-world, so that while learning good principles, we are also building a foundation in a language that we can use in later classes and on resumes.
145. Less theory classes and more experience programming, especially with a lot of OOP. I wish I did programming in my AI, networking and especially databases (both DB courses i took were not centered around programming in sql) courses.
146. I did not like the resolve sequence at all. I already had adequate programming experience before taking it, and I received less than desirable grades in those courses because I was so inclined to not care about them.
147. I understand that the ECE requirements are important to the whole curriculum of CSE majors, many of the classes had only tangential relationships to CSE. I would like to see ECE classes (especially an ECE 320 equivalent) that contain more then a week of relevant information.
148. While I see part of the reason for using the RESOLVE libraries, I think they are a big waste of time for a student who needs to learn a language completely. I would have much rather learned how to do what RESOLVE did for me myself then being handed the code already to use. I found myself very unprepared for C++ ...
149. Drop ECE class and lab requirements, and allow for more tech electives. This will help students improve skill sets important to them and the field they will work on. In general, giving the student more choice in the courses they take will result in a more meaningful education.
150. Less theory classes, specially for things we wont use for a few years after we graduate, if ever (i.e. 757)
151. I would like classes that focus more on skills that we will be using in the workplace and practical knowledge rather than a focus on theoritical concepts.
152. I didnt enjoy the RESOLVE/C++ classes too much. I felt like I could have learned the same core programming concepts in a language that is used outside of OSU.
153. I would not like to see any changes.
154. Eliminate RESOLVE, and start with Java or C# instead.
155. I would like to see more focus on emerging technologies and how they are used. 757 touched on the ideas however we were never exposed to what drives the software side of large scale applications or project management.
156. More hands on work on real world applications and programming lang.
157. I would try to mention the business aspects of software development earlier. I didnt really feel I had a strong grasp on how software development actually takes place outside the classroom until I took CSE 757 this quarter.
158. Take away RESOLVE C++, me and many students feel like its useless and hinder us from catching up with the rest of the CSE students from other universities.
159. More graphics courses, definitely. It would do some good to expand upon the graphics sector quite a bit.
160. I would like to see the Resolve/C++ set of classes removed.
161. i think everything went very well; maybe a few more options for electives like upper-level theoretical cs material
162. Id like to see the resolve series dropped. With previous experience in programming prior to CSE, the resolve series not only confused me, but taught me very inefficient programming habits.
163. I would like to see classes associate more examples of conceptual and theoretical ideas to the real world. If ideas are simply explained to the class without any explanations as to why they are important in the real world, some people may not view the ideas as critically as they should.
164. Teach more about proper design patterns, especially earlier in the program.
165. I would like to see maybe two capstones be necessary.
166. I dont feel like design was stressed enough. So many classes allow students to jump right in without so much as a forethought.
167. dont cover the same concept three times in different classes, this is INCREDIBLY obnoxious. If i only learned things once I probably couldve graduated in three years.
168. I think it would of helped me a lot to see a lot more project management classes up front. As it stands, I really didnt learn how to officially go about doing large scale projects until my senior year. In specific, I would of found the knowledge gained in these classes extremely helpful in a class such as 560....
169. I would like to see the RESOLVE removed from the CSE curriculum. It is pointless to learn a language that is never used, and even more so when that is the only language you learn for your first year of college. This puts students at a serious disadvantage when looking for internships the summer after theyve begun the major since they know no useful languages ...
170. Removal of the physics/chemistry requirements, as well as the social diversity and art/literature GEC requirements. These are a waste of time and are irrelevant to a student of computer science. Also, too much time is spent studying outdated procedures in classes such as 660, 677 and 651, and too little time is spent on current or modern practice.
171. Web Development Course, learning javascript is a MUST for any type of web development. I learned ZERO javascript through the CSE curriculum. Many new languages/design principles are ignored or not emphasized enough by the curriculum. PHP or Ruby on Rails should be taught through this course. Half of the job offer emails you send out require a PHP background yet the department teaches none.
172. More experience with various programming languages beyond introductory courses.
173. Microsoft Programming (Visual Studio), introduct other software engineering tools, teach a language that is actually used in the introductory sequence (Conceptually we learn to work with any language, however, it is still beneficial to learn a specific language)
174. Lots of unnecessary review in overlapping courses at times. I think its a product of the curriculum layout. However, I know that the curriculum is being overhauled for the semester switch. So, Im not sure how much this actually helps.
175. Less of a focus on languages that are impracticle for recent graduates (lisp, resolve,...)
176. More options when it comes to technical electives. Though I was able to choose from a list the number of electives required was near the level of electives to choose from.
177. 1. The very first thing taught should be UNIX. 2. Get rid of RESOLVE/C++. I cant stress this enough. I agree that it does teach some very important concepts, but the same concepts can be taught (if not more successfully) with a language used in industry. 3. In the Junior and Senior years, offer more on both dynamically typed and functional programming languages.
178. Eliminate the RESOLVE series; I think 1 full year of this language is way too much(1 quarter would be fine to introduce some concepts). The new Java 421 course is not much of a better substitute either. I think the CSE program really needs to change how programming is introduced to CSE majors, and hopefully this is addressed in the semester update.
179. It seems silly that all the classes are worth less credit hours than classes from other departments, but require just as much or more work. I think the credit hours for most CSE classes should be increased.
180. I think the CSE program needs to be more flexible in embracing recent technological developments. For example, web and mobile development have been two very significant areas in software engineering, but very few classes touch on these subjects.
181. More hands on programming
182. 601 claims to instruct us on ethics in computers. I honestly cant tell you what the course was about. There were papers, but none of them seemed to form a serious thesis that was any more than a common sense statement. The presentations also provided no fruitful knowledge as most students did them on game addiction. This class should be greatly altered or dropped all together.
183. Learning things that will directly influence the capstone projects earlier. I feel that when I complete a capstone or work in one, that I am still learning new things and technologies, instead of going straight to implementation and design. ...
184. Get rid of RESOLVE, and better prepare graduates in terms of their knowledge of a particular real language.
185. I would like to see more classes that have students working on larger projects together. I feel that the undergrad portion of the curriculum should be more geared towards software development, and keep some of the more technical things like compiler design to more in depth graduate classes. ...
186. There does not seem to be enough in class projects that keep engineers programming from one quarter to the next in order to maintain skills.
187. Reduce variability between professors teaching specific courses. From my understanding, in other majors, students feel the same way about the course regardless of instructor. However, for myself, the CSE courses have different levels of difficulty, interest, and focus depending on the professor.
188. More programming in different languages.
189. more real world projects. because in this field we requires a lot of experience for jobs.