CSE Curriculum Committee: 2015-16

Agenda items left over for next year

1. Action item: Tech electives for DA students, i.e. with 3430 "Systems 1.5" instead of 2431 "Systems 2" (Paul)

2. Action item: Proposal of new Python course (Fritz)

3. Status report: Reconciliation of official syllabuses at COE vs OAA (Paul)

   • ECE Procedure for Course Changes

4. Status report: Pilot offering of 3430 "Systems 1.5" (Neelam)

2016-04-05

Present: Agrawal, Bucci, Heym, Morris, Cailin Pitt, Reeves, Sivilotti, Soundarajan, Strader, Wenger

1. Status report: Updated prereq's for 2321 (Foundations 1) (Paul).

   Was: Prereq: 1232, 1233, 2221, 214, 222, or 230, and Math 1151 or 152. Concur (for students with credit for 2221): 2231. Not open to students with credit for 625 or 680.

   But 1232 and 1233 do not exist.

   Now: 2122 (230), 2123 (214), or 2221 (222); and Math 1151 (152) or 1161. Concur (for students with credit for 2221): 2231. Not open to students with credit for CSE 625 or 680.

2. Discussion: creation of 3-credit hr 5xy9's (Neelam)

   Faculty specialty courses (5xy9) are typically taught as 2 credit offerings, once every other year. On a case-by-case basis, however, some specialty courses have been offered as a 3-credit course, but less frequently. The question considered was whether a new course should be created to accomodate this pattern.

   One advantage of all specialty courses being 2 credits is uniformity. Students can apply these courses to their majors/minors in consistent ways and the faculty loads algorithm can treat these offerings consistently. In view of these advantages, the committee decided to treat 3-credit offerings as the exception, rather than the norm.

   That is, the approved syllabus of 5xy9 will remain 2 credits. Faculty wishing to offer a 3 credit version of a specialty course will need to consult with the associate chair, and use a different course number.

3. Discussion: experimental separation of 2331/5331 "Foundations 2" (Paul)

   We are using 2331 for multiple purposes that are not quite consistent with each other. On the one hand, it is the main algorithms course for our majors. On the other, we are also asking CS grad students with inadequate backgrounds and non-CS grad students to take the course. It is already a challenging course for our majors, and it is only harder as the fraction of grads in the class increases.

   The committee discussed the possibility of offering a grads-only version of the course.

   It was noted that the challenge of combining the two populations has only been observed in one offering of 2331/5331: Last autumn when a new section was opened late in the scheduling window. As a result of opening the new section late, that the enrollment in that section was skewed: many more grad students than usual and many more junior undergrads (and non-honors) than usual.

   It was agreed that the problems experienced in that offering could be mitigated by proper scheduling and distribution of the graduate students amongst available sections.

4. Action item: Revisit numbering of new database course. (Paul)

   • syllabus CSE 3244

   • materials

   At the last meeting, the committee approved CSE 3244/5244, "Data Management in the Cloud". When this new course was presented (via email) to the general faculty for approval, however, some concerns were voiced. In light of those concerns, the proposal was re-considered.

   The objection is primarily regarding the graduate version of this course (5244). As proposed, the undergrad version is 3 credits while the graduate version is 2.

   The concern is that 3244 is not "core" material in a traditional undergrad curriculum, so granting only 2 credits to graduate students is not appropriate. One counter-proposal is to have a 3 credit graduate course, in which case there is no need for a 3xxx number--the 5xxx number is sufficient to cover both audiences.

   On the other hand, the faculty involved in designing 3244 are adamant that their intended audience is undergraduate students. This will be a required course for the Data Analytics major. The material and presentation will be more suited to undergraduates, hence somewhat elementary for graduate students.

   The committee noted that this issue will not be a concern in the first few years of offering: DA majors will have preference in enrollment since it is required course for them. As a result there will be little/no room for graduate students in the pilot offerings anyway.

   In light of that reality, the committee decided to postpone the decision of graduate credit for this course after the pilot offering. Information from that offering may help resolve the question of appropriateness for a graduate audience.

   The committee approved pilotting the course as 4194, for 3 credits. The deparment does not have a 3194 (group studies) course number on the books. As a group studies pilot, this offering does not require faculty approval.

   It is expected that the enrollment will be (almost) exclusively DA undergraduates. After this pilot offering, the faculty involved in course development will present a proposal for (a) permanent number(s), including credit weight(s). Approval as a permanent course will require consideration by this committee, followed by a faculty vote.

2016-03-29

Present: Blanas, Bucci, Heym, Madrid, Morris, Parthasarthy, Pitt, Ramnath, Reeves, Rountev, Sivilotti, Soundarajan, Stewart, Strader, Yang Wang, Wenger

1. Changes to 5235 "Enterprise Architecture" and offering it online (Ramnath, Leon Madrid)

   This course was last offered in Spring 2013, with an enrollment of 20 (7 undergrads, 13 grads). The syllabus is being revised to make the topics more relevant to current industry trends. At the same time, the college would like to offer this as part of the MGEL program, which requires the course to be available on-line.

   Since it is late for adding a class to the Autumn 2016 schedule (students are already scheduling), a Spring offering was recommended for an in-person session. An online version, however, could be offered for MGEL students in the Autumn.

2. New course proposal: CSE 3244/5244 "Data Management in the Cloud" (Srini, Spyros, Chris)

   This course sits between 3241 "Intro to Databases", and 5242 "Advanced DBMS". The former is primarily an undergraduate course, while the latter is almost entirely a graduate level course. It will be required for Data Analytics majors (core), and a tech elective for CSE/CIS majors. It may use the same textbook as 3241, extending discussion of indexing and optimization, and adding new topics such as replication in the cloud, scheduling in the cloud, no-SQL, Hadoop. The course will not serve as a new pre-req for 5242 and is not expected to impact that course. 3241 may eventually be modified to account for this new follow-on course, but there is no proposal at this time for changes to 3241.

   The course is expected to be popular. In addition to the 40 students/year from Data Analytics, other students wishing to continue from 3241 may find it a better option than 5242. No new computing resources will be required: It is expected that industry resources such as Amazon EC2 instances will be available at no cost.

   The new course would have both an undergrad (3 credit) and grad version (2 credits): 3244/5244.

   After adding textbook information and some formatting changes, the committee voted unanimously to recommend approval.

   • syllabus for CSE 3244

2016-01-26

Present: Bucci, Morris, Reeves, Rountev, Cailin Pitt, Sivilotti, Soundarajan, Strader, Wenger, Yang Wang, Wayne Heym, Lori Rice, Michelle Malon, Praveen Kumar, Rajiv Ramnath, Scott ?? (ODEE), Ben ?? (ODEE)

1. Distance Offerings of CSE Courses (Neelam)

We currently offer (or will be piloting shortly) 3 courses in some kind of distance format: 1. CSE 5234 "Enterprise Computing": online 2. CSE 2111 "Spreadsheets and DBs": hybrid 3. CSE 1110 "Computing Technology": online?

Goals: - Review distance offerings of these courses - Assess the success of these offerings

Meta Goals: - does the dept. (CC) need any guiding policies in place?

Topics: how does the work effort for the instructor compare? how does the interaction with the students compare? how do the learning outcomes for the students compare? how does logistical support from univ/college/dept (eg booking rooms, tech support, etc) compare?

Some terminology: "online" means course can be done entirely off-campus (including exams); "hybrid" means some parts require campus presence (e.g. closed labs).

Some resources: * ODEE (Office of Distance Education) web site

2015-10-30

Present: Bucci, Morris, Pitt, Reeves, Rountev, Sivilotti, Soundarajan, Strader, Yang Wang

1. Modification of 2501 "Ethics" exclusions (Neelam)

   Phil 1338 "Computing Ethics and Effective Presentation" is a 4-cr course that Philosophy developed in consultation CSE. Students who take this course meet both the GE Ethics requirement (3 cr) as well as their 2501 "Ethics" (1 cr) requirement. Because of the overlap of material, students who have completed Phil 1338 should not take 2501.

   The committee approved modifying the exclusion list of 2501 to: Phil 1338.

2. Concurrence request for ME course on Geometric Computing, update (Paul)

   Discussions with ME have clarified that the course they are proposing (ME 7194 "Geometric Computing for Engineers") is about solid modeling, using CAD/CAM commercial libraries and components applied to mechanical design and manufacturing problems. The course does not involve any programming related to curves and surfaces.

   ME circulated a revised syllabus that clarifies the distinction between this course and CSE 5542 "Geometric Modelling". The ME course is renamed ("Three Dimensional Geometric Modeling for Engineers"), and topics are listed with relative emphasis. We have concurred.

   • Revised syllabus for ME 7194.

3. Adding Marion campus to 2231 offerings (Neelam)

   We have modified the 2231 syllabus to include Marion as an offering campus. There is some concern about staffing, as there is just one faculty member at Marion who can teach this course, but the Dean at Marion is aware of this concern and supportive in ensuring continuity and qualifications of staffing.

   CSE major courses at regional campuses have been running with low enrollments. But the number of these courses available at regional campuses is nevertheless expanding.

4. New AP CS Course--CS Principles (Jeremy)

   A new AP course in Computer Science has been developed and is currently being rolled out in several states. The current AP course (now known as "AP CS-A"), which is a Java programming course, will remain. The intent of the new course (known as "AP CS-Principles") is to reach a broader audience. In some cases, it may even be used as a pre-requisite for AP CS-A.

   There is considerable latitude in the syllabus of AP CS-Principles, meaning that there will be many differences from region to region how the core material is taught and even what topics are covered. For example, while there will be a programming component, any one of a number of languages might be used, ranging from Scratch and Alice to Python or Java. While "data analysis" is one of the core topics, this could mean anything from putting together spreadsheets to writing programs.

   For us, the question is for what course, if any, should a student receive credit if they have taken AP CS-Principles? While it seems reasonable that students should receive credit for some CS course, it isn't at all clear whether such students will be ready for Software I. AP CS-Principles is perhaps most closely related to 1211 "Computational Thinking in Context: Images, Animation, and Games". But 1211 can serve as a pre-requisite for Software I.

   • ACM Inroads Article "Transforming K-12 computing education"

2015-10-09

Present: Bucci, Lai, Morris, Pitt, Reeves, Rountev, Sivilotti, Soundarajan, Strader, Yang Wang

1. Introductions (Paul)

   Cailin Pitt, the new student representative to the committee, was introduced.

2. Concurrence request for ME course on Geometric Computing (Paul)

   ME has requested concurrence from CSE for a new course, ME 7194 "Geometric Computing for Engineers" (syllabus).

   There appears to be considerable overlap with the topics and learning objectives of CSE 5543 "Geometric Modeling" (syllabus). CSE 5543 is also graduate-level and has identical pre-requisites to ME 7194, so it should be accessible to ME students. In fact, Tamal Dey reports that non-CSE students do take it occasionally.

   There is also some overlap with CSE 2331/5331 "Foundations 2", at least to the extent that ME 7194 involves data structures and algorithms for graphs. The 2-credit grad shadow version (5331) would be available for grad credit to non-CSE students.

   ME was likely unaware of 5543 when designing their course. Paul will contact Dan Mendelson (ME) with information about 5543 so they can decide how to proceed.

3. New / potential courses under development (Paul & Neelam)

   • R is a popular language for statistics and data analysis. A course (425x) would be useful both inside and outside the department. Statistics has indicated their interest in developing a course in R. Once a draft syllabus and perhaps other materials are ready, they will consult with CSE.

   • Mike Fritz is considering developing a new course in Python. This course will likely be a 1-cr 425x course. Predictions from the advising office and the students are that such a course would be quite popular.

     We used to have an intro "computational thinking" course in Python (204 under quarters), as well as one that used Phrogram (203). In the switch to semesters, however, 203 and 204 were merged and the new course, 1211, does not use Python.

   • Jeremy will attend the webinar on the new AP "Principles of CS" course and report back to committee. We should consider which of our courses, if any, the new AP course would count towards.

   • A hybrid version of 2111 Spreadsheets & DB is being developed by Lori Rice. This is a high-enrollment course taken by business students. Lectures are in sections of 160 and labs are in sections of 80. The hybrid course will use online delivery of lecture materials, and in-person contact for lab activities. The plan is to pilot this course in autumn 2016.

4. CSE course numbering scheme (Paul)

   Revisions and corrections are requested for the numbering scheme in use. Since the formulation of the original scheme, several modifications and exceptions have been introduced, but they are not sufficiently documented. Everyone's help is solicited in bringing the documentation up to date:

   • Course Numbering Help

   • Course Numbering Overview

2015-09-11

Present: Blanas, Bucci, Morris, Rountev, Sivilotti, Soundarajan, Strader, Supowit, Yang Wang

1. Plans for the year (Paul)

   Meeting materials, agendas, etc will be available at ~sivilotti.1/service/cc/2015-16/. There isn't yet a student representative on the committee, so Paul will try to find someone from 3901. A graduate student rep would be helpful too.

2. Modify pre-req's for 3430 "Systems 1.5 for non majors" (Paul)

   3430 is a new Systems course designed for non majors. It is part of the Data Analytics major (taking the place of 3421 and 3431) and the (proposed) minors in CIS & CSE. The pre-req's for 3430 currently are 2122 or 2123, and 2321. The Data Analytics students, however, take (2221 &) 2231 instead of (1222 &) 2122 or (1223 &) 2123.

   The committee approved modifying the pre-req's for 3430 to: 2122 or 2123 or 2231, and 2321.

3. Grade Forgiveness (Nikki)

   The university has replaced "freshman forgiveness" with "grade forgiveness". Grade forgiveness allows up to 3 classes to be retaken, regardless of when the class was taken the first time or when it is retaken. In other words, a student who has progressed through the program can, as a senior, go back and retake 2231 (Soft 2) to improve their grade.

   This raises several concerns, some practical and some philosophical.

   • (practical) Students retaking a course will generally be of higher rank, and therefore have an earlier scheduling window than students who haven't yet taken the course. For over-subscribed courses, like 2231, a student who is retaking may prevent freshmen/sophomores from getting in.

   • (practical) Students can schedule to retake a course without having petitioned yet for grade forgiveness. The petition deadline is the 2nd week of the semester in which they are retaking the course. At that late point, if the petition is denied, it is too late to use that seat for another student.

   • (practical) Petitions are considered by a student's enrollment unit. For CSE, our advisors do it. For CIS, Arts & Science does it, but they work closely with us before approving or denying a petition. For our minors, we don't necessarily have any input.

   • (philosophical) It seems odd for a student who has already completed courses that come later in the curriculum to go back and retake a course that is a prerequisite. (See the next item on Grading Policy for Math's policy.)

   It was agreed that Nikki would report back to the committee next semester with a sense of the impact of this new policy (eg the number of students scheduling retakes and/or petitioning for grade forgiveness).

4. Grading policy (Bucci)

   There was a wide-ranging discussion about grading policy within CSE courses. In particular, the implications of assigning D/D+ as a grade were considered in two contexts:

   1. What grade in a course is indicative of sufficient competence to take the next course in a sequence?

   2. What grade in a course is indicative of sufficient competence to graduate?

   For example, experience has shown that students who do poorly in 2221 (Soft 1) are unlikely to do well in 2231 (Soft 2), or further on in the major. Imposing a higher threshold for continuing in the sequence (like a C- in 2221) may be beneficial to everyone: students have more realisitic expectations of their future success in the major, Software 1 grading is more likely to use the full scale (including D/D+), and the 2231 Software 2 / 2321 Foundations 1 cohort has higher minimum competence.

   For the second question (competence required for graduation), there is an important difference in philosophy between Engineering and Arts & Science:

   • In Engineering, a C average in the major is required to graduate
   • In Arts & Science, a C- in each course in the major is required to graduate

   Because of this difference, a D/D+ has different impact on CIS vs CSE students: the CIS student must retake the course, the CSE student does not (assuming they have a C average in the major).

   The Math department has a long-standing policy that: (i) students can not (re)take a course if they already have credit for a subsequent course, and (ii) students must earn a C- or higher in a course in order to use it as a pre-req.

   This policy is appealing for a couple of reasons. Part (i) minimizes the potential problems caused by the new grade forgiveness policy. Part (ii) would give CSE some measure of uniformity with CIS.

   There was concern about the consequences of applying such a policy across our entire program. However, we might consider applying it in particular places, for example at the very start of the major sequence.

   This item was tabled.