Randy W. Connolly

Awakening Rip Van Winkle: modernizing the computer science web curriculum

The world of web development has experienced a great deal of change over the past decade. The importance and complexity of web development is currently not adequately reflected in the ACM Computer Science 2008 Curriculum, nor in most reported computer science programs. This paper examines published literature on teaching the web since 2001 and argues that the computer science curriculum needs to be woken up and modernized in regards to the importance of web development. The paper critiques the approach of teaching web development topics within a single course. It articulates a wide variety of web development topics that need to be covered in any contemporary computer science program and which are often absent in other published accounts of this course. The paper concludes by arguing that a multi-course stream in web development can help the students integrate the discrete pieces of knowledge garnered during their undergraduate education.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Web Development

Despite its prevalence in computing, web development is underrepresented in computing curricula and computing education research. This special issue takes a step towards improving its representation with three articles on web development education. Drawing upon diverse methods from a variety of contexts, the articles address challenges of teaching web development and common difficulties students encounter when learning particular concepts. All three articles identify web development as a promising avenue for motivating students in their study of computing.

Beyond good and evil impacts: rethinking the social issues components in our computing curricula

It is by now widely accepted that social and professional issues are an important part of any computer science curriculum. The approach taken in most social issues courses is to articulate the social impacts of different computer technologies and then apply macro-ethical theories to those impacts. This paper argues that this approach has a number of drawbacks. First, it is based on a technological deterministic style of social explanation that has been in disrepute in the academic social sciences for decades. Second, it uses an algorithmic approach to ethics that simplifies the social complexity and the uncertainty that is the reality of socio-technological change. It concludes by suggesting that the alternative to the ethical evaluation of impacts is to focus the course instead on the social context; that is, on clarifying and unpacking the complexity involved in the relationship between technology and society.

Criticizing and modernizing computing curriculum: the case of the web and the social issues courses

Computing education has faced a variety of ongoing and critical self-examinations over the past 15 years. This paper provides a set of critiques and alternative teaching approaches for two vital but under-reported computing knowledge areas: web development and computing ethics/social issues. It concludes with a claim that these two knowledge areas can also provide an important way to integrate the often-heterogeneous knowledge areas in the computing curriculum.

No longer partying like it's 1999: designing a modern web stream using the it2008 curriculum guidelines

One of the key knowledge areas in the IT 2008 Curriculum Guidelines (IT2008) is web systems and technologies. While the minimum core coverage for this area is only 22 hours, any program that wishes to substantively address the majority of the advanced learning outcomes will easily require double or even triple that number of hours. This paper describes the design of a three course stream or pillar in web development that endeavors to incorporate the majority of the advanced learning outcomes in the web systems knowledge area. This three-course stream was designed to be a much more accurate reflection of contemporary best practices in the real world of web development and integration than is sometimes found in IT, IS, or CS programs.

Is there service in computing service learning

A variety of researchers have advocated for service learning projects in post-secondary computing programs. While these projects can achieve important disciplinary outcomes for the students, what has been under examined is the benefit that these projects have for the service recipients and their community. This paper argues that since service learning projects are meant to benefit both student donors and community recipients, we must examine much more carefully how computing service projects interact with all the social actors affected by the projects. Taking such an approach will require recognizing that ICT by itself will not improve or increase democracy, equality, social inclusion, or any other social good. Analogous to the experience of foreign aid recipients in the developing world, some service learning projects may actually do more harm than good. The paper concludes by providing some sample computer learning projects that are oriented more strongly towards achieving true service for the recipients.

Even so with the pieces borrowed from others: dressing an IS program in IT clothing

This paper describes the background, the decision-making processes, and the curricular philosophy of a new four-year degree in the Computer Science & Information Systems department at Mount Royal University. The program created could be described as a hybrid between the Information Systems 2002 Model Curriculum and the Information Technology 2008 Curriculum Guidelines (IT2008). The approach described here may be of interest to other departments with existing IS programs that would like to take advantage of the strengths of the IT approach without abandoning some of the unique strengths of the IS curricula. The paper also argues that instead of trying to erect clear disciplinary boundaries around IT, we should instead think of IT as the computing discipline whose focus is the practical integration of the other computing disciplines.

Towards a Better Understanding of the Different Computing Disciplines

The field of computing has undergone significant differentiation over the past twenty years, resulting in several distinct computing sub-disciplines. After extensive consultation with experts and industry stakeholders, the ACM [1] defined five distinct sub-disciplines within the computing field: computer science (CS), information systems (IS), computer engineering (CE), software engineering (SE), and Information technology (IT). While these areas are unique, they are not completely discrete, and there seems to be ambiguity around which tasks fit into which sub-discipline. The ACM has made significant efforts to define these in terms of expected program content and by the outcomes and skills required to prepare students for the dynamic labor market. Nonetheless, research [4,5,6,9] shows that there is a need for an even clearer understanding of these sub-disciplines by the academic community, by guidance and career counsellors, and by, of course, prospective students. This panel will address some of the issues and problems involved with communicating how the computing disciplines overlap and diverge. The panelists straddle several computing disciplines as well as provide insight into the advising issues faced by non-computing guidance and career counsellors. We hope that through a lively dialog between the audience and the panelists, all participants will come away with improved understanding and techniques for communicating the differences between the different computing disciplines

Keeping up with web development trends

Craig S. Miller (moderator) DePaul University Chicago, IL USA 60604 1 312 362-5085 cmiller@cdm.depaul.edu Jack Zheng Southern Polytechnic State University Marietta, GA USA 30060 1 678 915-5036 jackzheng@spsu.edu Randy Connolly Mount Royal University Calgary, Alberta, Canada T3E 6K6 1 403 440-6061 rconnolly@mtroyal.ca Amos Olagunju St Cloud State University St Cloud, MN USA 56301 1 320 308-5696 aoolagunju@stcloudstate.edu

Offline, but on track: reassessing young people's understanding of citizenship

Over the past two decades, a wide variety of researchers have documented the dramatic decline in traditional political participation activities among young people and a corresponding increase in a more expressive form of citizenship focused around social media. This paper will briefly outline the sociological and political debate about the changing nature of citizenship and then reflect on this debate in light of our own multi-year qualitative citizenship research project. Our findings indicate that many of the transformative claims made about young peoples Digital Citizenship orientations are overstated.