LONGWOOD COLLEGE ACADEMIC PROGRAM REVIEW COMPUTER SCIENCE

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1 LONGWOOD COLLEGE ACADEMIC PROGRAM REVIEW COMPUTER SCIENCE January 2001 General Note: The mathematics and computer science programs are housed in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. The department budget is not broken down by discipline. There is one department head, some faculty teach courses in both areas, and the department secretary serves both programs. Consequently, many figures in the review are for the department, not for the individual program. I AI. Mission of the Computer Science Program Support of the College MissionNision The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science has for a number of years maintained a list of Goals/Activities that are descriptive for our mission as we perceive it. This list tells what we do. These Goals/Activities are listed below. Prepare students as majors in the discipline of computer science. Prepare students for graduate study in the field of computer science. 3. Prepare students to apply and use computer science concepts in their chosen career fields other than computer science. 4. Prepare students in basic analytic and problem solving skills. 5. Support Department faculty in the study and development of computer science as a discipline. Support Departmental faculty in the teaching of computer science. Support efforts to enhance an interest in the fields of computer science. 8. Maintain sufficient and qualified instructional staff to suppor the departmental mission and achieve these enumerated objectives. Maintain sufficient fiscal and physical resources to support the departmental mission.

2 In what follows we relate the goals to the Mission and Vision statements oflongwood College. MissionNision statement: Longwood College is...dedicated to the development of citizen leaders...a members of the Longwood community will be dedicated to the highest standards of academic distinction. Comment. The discipline of computer science emphasizes the skills of objectivity, logic and problem solving. Such competencies are required of anyone who would call himself an educated person. The major is taught with an emphasis on intellectual integrity, and is among the most rigorous extant. Program Goal I. Prepare students as majors in the discipline of computer science. The department currently has a major in computer science, the requirements and courses for which are listed in the Longwood College catalog. The Catalog courses are taught on a staggered basis from semester to semester with the goal that all courses will be offered over a four-year cycle. Program Goal 2. Prepare students for graduate work in the field of computer science. Promising students are identified and advised in the directions of graduate study. Information about graduate schools is included in the capstone senior seminar course. MissionNision statement: Student accomplishments will be defined by established competencies that demonstrate a sound grasp of the liberal arts and sciences as well as the ability to think critically, to respond creatively, and to apply knowledge to the resolution of practical issues. Comment. While successful computer science majors must be able to apply the knowledge of the discipline, the emphasis on the application of these subjects falls more in the following goals of the department. Program Goal 3. Prepare students to apply and use computer science concepts in their chosen career fields other than computer science. 2

3 . The department provides service courses that are aimed at a variety of fields. These include pre-engineering, physics, chemistry and other sciences, psychology, sociology, business and education. These courses are developed in collaboration with the departments that express a need, and the content of the courses and needs of the client department are subject to continual review. Program Goal 4. Prepare all students in basic analytic and problem solving skills (General Education Goal 4) This goal addresses the general education component of the college mission. has one specific course that meets the general education Goals. The program MissionNision statement: To ensure the vitality of the learning environment, the College will increase its enrollment while maintaining its inherent character and enhancing its academic quality. Comment. The College has committed to attract and admit a larger number of students resulting in an increased emollment over the next five years. The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science hopes to attract its fair share of these students, which should result in an increase in the number of students in both majors. To that end the department carries out a number of activities that are primarily reflected in Program Goal 7. Program Goal 7. Support efforts to enhance an interest in the field of computer science with the goal of increasing the number of majors. The department sponsors a number of activities to showcase our area in computer science, These activities include contests for high school students, invitations to visit for interested individuals and groups and presentations at the fall and spring visitation sessions. Weare making an effort to keep our department web page up to date. These efforts are designed not only to heighten interest in the disciplines but also attract good students to our department. MissionNision statement: The institution's dedication to learning will...embrace all members of the diverse college community, leading to a collegial climate where divergent ideas are respected. Comment. This department is fortunate to have a very congenial staff, who collaborate on and settle departmental questions and policies via consensus. The views of the members are listened to and respected, and the motivation and morale in the department is high. To this end departmental goals that support this cohesion are Program Goals 5 & 6. 3

4 5. Support Department faculty in the study and development of computer science as a discipline. 6 Support Departmental faculty in the teaching of computer science MissionNision statement: Longwood's careful and responsible stewardship of human, fiscal, and environmental resources will be continuously improved to incorporate the most effective methods and practices to support the institution's vision. Comment. Stewardship is the responsible care of the people, the money, the physical and other resources. The department has always encouraged its staff and managed its resources in a responsible way. In more recent years as the discipline of computer science has grown there has been a felt need for more resources in this area. Departmental Goals reflecting the stewardship area are expressed in the following objectives.. Program Goal 8 Maintain sufficient and qualified instructional staff to support the departmental mission. There is a well-defined process for searching for qualified faculty Program Goal 9 Maintain sufficient fiscal and physical resources to support the departmental mission. Funds for replacement of desktop computers for faculty and classrooms is a priority MissionNision statement: The College provides an environment in which exceptional teaching fosters student learning, scholarship, and achievement. Program Goal 5. Support Department faculty in the study and development of mathematics and computer science as disciplines. Professionals must keep up to date in their respective fields. To this end the department seeks to encourage staff development and study in the respective disciplines. Program Goal 6. Support Departmental faculty in the teaching of computer science. Whereas program Goal 5 above emphasized the content and meaning of the discipline, Goal 6 concerns the teaching and presentation and optimal ways for students to learn the material. The department has embraced the use of technology as a teaching tool as it has become available. The computer science courses have used the techniques of group work to foster better 4

5 A2. A3. Bl. tj~~~2_r understanding of concepts, and, of course, computer hardware and software are not only the ends but also a means of instruction in that discipline. MissionNision statement: Longwood will be committed to community service and outreach devoted to local, regional, national, and global advancement. Comment. The department has an active service program, including sponsoring annual high school programming and mathematics contests. Department faculty participate in community affairs and are active in the local school system. For example, department faculty often serve on mathematics and computer science textbook selection committees. 5 Support Department faculty in the study and development of computer science as a discipline. 7 Support efforts to enhance an interest in the fields of computer science. I In 1993, the most recent year for which data is available, 9.21 % of all freshmen took CMSC 121, the general education computer science course. All students must take one of MATH 121, MATH 171, and CMSC 121, or Calculus for the general education Goal 4 requirement. The Fall 2000 enrollment in CMSC 121 was 245 students, approximately 7% of the entire student body. All mathematics majors take CMSC 204, as do computer science majors. CMSC 204 is also popular with science and computer information management systems majors. I The Department does not offer graduate work or continuing education courses in computer SCIence. I FTES/FTEF Ratio rco~puter Sci~nce I ,- College - I 18.6 I

6 B2. B5. AI. I SCHIFTEF Ratio This ratio is a linear transformation of the FTESIFTEF ratio and so is not given for undergraduate programs. I B3. The average number of advisees per computer science faculty member is 17. This number has been steady for the past three years. I B4. Student profile by Race, Sex, Residency, and Age (Data on age is not available. It is replaced by data on full time vs. part time. Only data from Fall 2000 is available) I IT A2. Students will have a broad-based general education and development an awareness of the need for life long learning. They will acquire specific knowledge of at least one high level 6

7 A3. Bl. B3. programming language, an assembly language, operating systems, networks, and databases. They will understand the mathematical underpinnings of computer science. Students will develop the skills necessary to apply classroom knowledge in the work place. They will be able to write technical documents, communicate effectively, organize information, and work well with others to solve problems. The department currently is developing ways to assess students' success in achieving these outcomes. The College's Institutional Research Office has conducted a senior satisfaction survey for computer science. A copy is attached in the appendices. The results show a high degree of satisfaction with the program. Each graduating computer science major takes the Major Field Achievement Test. new requirement, and results are not yet available. This is a B.A. and B.S. in computer science degrees are offered. Majors may earn a secondary teaching endorsement in computer science. No joint degree or cooperative program is offered. B2. Students who begin the computer science major as freshmen can complete their degrees in four years. However, we have not been able to offer as many upper level courses as we would like, due to shortages in faculty and low enrollments in some advanced courses. This means that transfer students and those who begin the major late may have difficulty graduating as soon as they would like. Two times, in Fall 1998 and Spring 2000, we have not been able to offer a course that students had to have to graduate on time. In both cases, a faculty member voluntarily taught the students on an independent study basis and they graduated on time. The department currently is reviewing its requirements and course offerings in the hopes of reducing such problems. The Department does not offer credit-bearing internships or other field experiences. However, a department member currently is working on this, and we expect to have a structure in place to allow credit within a year. 7

8 B5. Department faculty have frequently taught independent study courses, working one-on-one with small groups of advanced students who are interested in a specialized topic. These have been the offerings during the past three years. Operations Research Java Programming Compiler Design Scripting Languages UNIX Security Systems Development Computer Security Software Analysis (2 students) (4 students) (3 students) (1 student) (1 student) (1 student) (1 student) (1 student) All department faculty have experimented with group and cooperative learning experiences in their classes. Many faculty are doing significantly less lecturing and more group work than three years ago. The Department has made significant financial contributions towards installing state of the art, audio-visual computer workstations in two of its classrooms, and computers on wheels (COWs) are available in all classes. The Department is working to establish a regular timetable of when classes will be offered, so that students will be able to plan their schedules better. Seven ofs1, or 14%, of lower level computer science courses were taught by adjuncts over the past three years. None was taught by a graduate student. B7. All computer science majors take CMSC 350 as part of their general education requirements. This is an applied ethics course that deals with ethical dilemmas in computer SCIence. CMSC 121 teachers discuss ethical problems in that course. 8

9 I Cl A copy of the Senior Satisfaction for Computer Science survey, done by the Institutional Research Office is attached in the appendices. C2. The 1998 Longwood College Alumni Survey found that 93% of the Longwood class of was employed full time and that 14% were enrolled in graduate school. Furthermore, 80% felt that their Longwood major and current occupation was very much or somewhat correlated. C4. The department has just begun requiring all of the senior computer science majors to take the Major Field Achievement Test. Data on student performance is not yet available. Dl DEMOGMPmCSOF FACULTY CURRENTLY TEACHING [enure Status No. & o/~_ftenufea --No~ Faculty 8(62%) % of Nontenured Faculty 2(T5%) but on a tenure track No. & %~fnontenured FacultY 3(23%) and not on a tenure track Rank Lecturer 3(23%) AssIstant Professor 2{I5%j6(46%)2(15~ Associate Professor Professor Gender Female Male 2(15%)11 (85%) y earsatron~ood' 3(23%) 2(~ 3(23%) 5(39%) 9

10 All aspects of the current curriculum are adequately supported by faculty expertise. D3. The level of faculty scholarly, service, and teaching activities is appropriate to the mission of the department. The department has participated in two major grant programs during the past three years, the Virginia Collaborative for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers (VCEPT) and the Eisenhower Professional Development Program. VCEPT has allowed us to improve our general educational offerings, particularly Computer Science 121, and has allowed us to compare our mathematics education curriculum to others around the state and nationally. In addition, it has provided our student with opportunities to observe and assist in K-8 classrooms. The Eisenhower program has allowed us to work with area teachers to show them new ways of teaching math and science and to help them incorporate the SOLs into their classroom lessons. Most professional activity by the faculty has concerned pedagogy. Several department members have presented papers at conventions concerning good teaching practices. Dr. E. T Noone has published an article about teaching probability and statistics using the lottery, and Dr. Gary Nelson has published a book on the use of the Cuisenaire Four-Bar Algebra Balance. Department members have been active in professional organizations, serving as reviewers for submitted papers, judges in statewide math and science contests, and officers of local, state, and national organizations.. I The Longwood College library has 2025 volumes on computer science and 21 current computer science serials subscriptions. It subscribes to the online databases ACM Digital Library and Computer ASAP. It is a member of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence.: The library has been very cooperative at securing computer science books and publications requested:by the faculty. The libr~ holdings are adequate to supporthe computer science program I A2. The department has exclusive use of four classrooms and one seminar room. Two of the classrooms are equipped with state of the art multimedia stations, and two computers on wheels 10

11 (COWs) are available for use in the other rooms. Four computer labs with PCs and one UNIX computer lab are available for class use by reservation. All faculty offices have computers and printers, and all classrooms and offices are wired for the Internet. All software we need has been made available. Lab PCs and office computers are regularly updated. However, there does not exist a plan to periodically update the UNIX machines nor to buy new editions of software. I A3. Externally Funded Services of Revenue VCEPT stands for the Virginia Collaborative for Excellence in the Preparation of Teachers, funded by the National Science Foundation. Bl. Direct program costs per student credit hour 11

12 $582, I B2. Program cost for faculty, GAs, classified staff, travel, and other basic operating expenses ifaculty I Graduate:ASSiStaiitS Classified Staff Travel ooer-operating Expenses $588, $26, $3, $5, $24, $1, $4, $565,916:57 0 $23, $ $6,