Terminology Used in CSE Course Intended Learning Outcomes and
Summary Cross-Reference Tables
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,
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 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.
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.
Summary Cross-Reference Tables
In the summary tables that relate individual
CSE courses to ABET criteria and CSE program outcomes, we distinguish three
levels of relationship (most to least).
- *** means the substance
of the ABET criterion or
program outcome is a primary theme of the course; a significant
fraction of course time (7 hours or more,
often woven through the fabric of the course) is
directly related to this
criterion or outcome.
- ** means the substance of
the ABET criterion or program outcome is a secondary theme of the
course; a substantial but smaller fraction of course time (3-6
hours) is directly related to this criterion or outcome.
- * means the substance of
the ABET criterion or
program outcome is not a theme of the course, but it is
still treated in the course a non-trivial way; some, but a smaller
fraction, of course time (1-2 hours) is
directly related to this
criterion or outcome.
Last modified: Mon Oct 24 15:03:16 EDT 2005