Terminology Used in CSE Course Intended Learning Outcomes
In CSE syllabi, course intended learning outcomes are stated in terms
of intended student learning outcomes;
i.e., each outcome is implicitly prefaced by "The student is expected
to...". We use the following terminology to describe familiarity
level (most to least) with respect to various kinds of material
and procedures. A student who receives an "A" in a course should have
met substantially all the intended learning outcomes as stated, and a
student who merely passes the course should have met all the intended
learning outcomes at least at the next lower familiarity level.
- Master means the student will be able to exhibit knowledge
of the material and/or skill with the procedure in a new context or
novel situation, even when not instructed to do so.
- Be competent with means that the student will be able to
exhibit knowledge of the material and/or skill with the procedure in a
routine situation such as those covered in the course, even when not
instructed to do so.
- Be familiar with means the student will be able to answer
questions about the material and/or to use the procedure in a routine
situation such as those covered in the course, when instructed to do so.
- Be exposed to means the student will have heard the term
and/or seen the procedure, but may not be able to discuss or use it
effectively without further instruction.
The above is a revision of the following original three-level version
that still appears in many of our syllabi. The revision was a result
of extensive discussions in the Curriculum Committee of our experiences
using the three-level version:
-
Master means the student will be able to
exhibit knowledge of the material and/or skill with the procedure, even
in a new context, and even when not instructed to do so.
- Be familiar with means the student will
be able to answer questions about the material and/or to use the
procedure, even in a new context, when instructed to do so.
- Be exposed to Be exposed to means the
student will have heard the term and/or seen the procedure, but may not
be able to discuss or use it effectively without further instruction.
Briefly, the reason for the revision was that "mastery" seemed too strong
a characterization of the expected level of achievement of a number of
outcomes, especially in advanced required and elective courses, but
"familiarity" seemed too weak a characterization. In particular, the
ability to apply, without instruction, a knowledge or skill in a new
context seemed a step-up from doing so in familiar contexts. The four
level version accounts for this.
Computer science and engineering deals with the general problem of
making precise descriptions of "things": static situations, dynamic
behaviors, procedures, processes, relationships, assertions,
proofs--just about anything. The languages and notations used in these
descriptions are themselves objects of attention in many courses.
Therefore, many course intended learning outcomes use the following
terminology for skill level (least to most) to describe a
student's facility in dealing with various languages and notations.
- Reading means the student will be able to
recognize a syntactically and semantically well-formed instance of the
notation, and to understand its meaning.
- Using means the student will be able to read the notation, and will be able to apply the understanding to perform some task.
- Writing means the student will be able to use the notation,
and will be able to create new instances of it to perform some task.