Post on 26-Feb-2016
description
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT EDUCATIONAL PATHWAY (SDEP)
Colin Archibald, Valencia College Dick Grant, Seminole State College Craig Tidwell, University of Central
Florida
A collaborative project sponsored by the National Science Foundation
TODAY’S STEMTECH OBJECTIVES
Describe the AS Computer Programming => BAS Software Development project
What we have learned (so far).
Collect feedback and ideas from YOU, the STEMTech attendees
PROJECT OVERVIEW
PROJECT OVERVIEW History
Spring 2008 – Meeting of Statewide Computer Science & Computing Technology Discipline with 14 colleges and universities –
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we had an Applied Degree in Software Development?”
Feb 2009 - Meeting of DirectConnect colleges at UCF Regional
Campuses: “We should combine resources and make a new track.”
October 2009 – Application to NSF – DUE – Advanced Technology Education (ATE) for a grant to create the BAS Software Development.
May 2010 – Received a project grant for $570k
July 2010 – Effective start date of NSF funding
WHO WE ARE
CountyPopulation(000)
Orange 1,072Osceola 264Seminole 411Lake 307Sumter 74Brevard 536 2,664
ACADEMIC PARTNERS Brevard Community College Lake Sumter Community College Seminole State College (formerly Seminole
Community College) Valencia College (formerly Valencia Community
College) University of Central Florida
WHAT DO WE HAVE NOW? Colleges UCF
AA Computer Science (Transfer Plan) => BS CS => MS CS => PhD
AA Info Technology (Transfer Plan) => BS IT
AS Computer Programming & Analysis => BIG GAPING HOLE BAS SD
AS Computer Information Technology => BAS (Applied
Science) IT
FLORIDA HIGHER ED Colleges offer AS using statewide
Curriculum Frameworks AS Computer Programming is one of these
Community Colleges transitioning to Colleges offering some Bachelors degrees
This BAS program could be offered by a College
Critical mass is not there for any one of the colleges …
… so this is a UCF BAS degree … … but created by the feeder colleges!
DIRECT CONNECT TO UCF An agreement among 4 colleges and UCF AA and AS graduates GUARANTEED
admission to UCF All credits earned during the AA or AS are
automatically accepted as credit toward Bachelors degree
AS => BAS seamless transfer
UCF REGIONAL CAMPUSES UCF’s main campus is full Joint use facilities on college campuses Students taking a degree at Regional Campuses
may NOT attend the Main campus BAS is a Regional Campuses Degree GenEd is taken at the “feeder” College The Core and the Track are taken at UCF The BAS SD Track courses are ONLINE
ISSUES TO ADDRESSWhat are the issues that we need to
address? AA CS => BS CS Not for everybody, but the only path to a
Bachelors degree in software
AS CP&A Doesn’t always offer the students what they need to get the career that they want
Employers want a Bachelor’s degree – especially larger companies Some require a 4-year degree as a minimum
2 year program is not long enough to achieve sufficient depth as a software developer
ISSUES TO ADDRESS (CONT.) What are the issues that we need to
address?
Take a look at job descriptions …
Searched nation-wide for jobs that have “Software Engineer” in the title.
The job descriptions did not match the BS CS program outcomes
They require OJT (On the Job Training) “2 years of experience”
JOB DESCRIPTIONS POSTED Example search results:
They require a Bachelors degree. Associate Degrees (424) Bachelor Degrees (8,975)
In Orlando, where the Education level is specified there were -
Associate Degrees (12) Bachelor Degrees (224)
INDUSTRY PARTNERS Lockheed Martin Disney SAIC AAA Northrop Grumman EA Sports United Space Alliance Every company that was invited to
participate agreed to participate.
PROJECT DELIVERABLES Curriculum Alignment
Be sure that the colleges have similar outcomes for the AS degree to facilitate transition into the BAS SD courses
Industry Advisory Board - active in creating the curriculum DACUM Intercollegiate Software Competition BAS SD Curriculum Course Development Online Advising / Communities Faculty Development Outreach to High Schools, under-represented groups Marketing Dissemination
PARTNER ROLES
ROLE OF PARTNERS IN PROJECT Academic Partners
Understand the learning needs of the student
Cognitive Development
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
ROLE OF PARTNERS IN PROJECT Academic Partners
Understand the employment needs of industry
Create & deliver a curriculum that makes sense to the student AND to the employer
Engaging, accessible, interesting, exciting, participatory, hands-on, and experiential
Relevant and responsive to employer needs AS -> BAS smooth transition
Provide academic advisors with support, training and information on the program
Support the Intercollegiate Programming Competition, faculty development opportunities, and curriculum alignment
ACADEMIC PARTNERS IN PROJECT (CONTINUED)
ROLE OF INDUSTRY PARTNERS IN PROJECT Industry Partners
Develop a Curriculum (DACUM) – What makes sense to industry in the curriculum?
Ensure graduates are employable at graduation
Course Content Development
Share findings and opinions regarding software developer requirements
Continual feedback from industry professionals
Define projects for “in-class experience” Model real-world examples to be used in courses (help
meet OJT requirements for employment)
Internships – after 3rd year
Hire graduates
Be involved in annual intercollegiate programming competition
Examples include - support, recognition, judging, and sponsorship
Provide feedback and review Participate in advisory meetings and conference calls
Adjunct professors and guest lecturers
INDUSTRY PARTNERS IN PROJECT (CONTINUED)
RESULTS OF PROGRAMMING COMPETITION HELD AT SEMINOLE STATE COLLEGE ON MARCH 19, 2011
DATA AND RESULTS 34 competitors 4 programming problems 3 hours to complete Winners determined by number of
problems solved and the total time taken.
The competitors could choose their language from C, C++, Java, C#, or Visual Basic.
Judging of the solutions was done by professional software developers from AAA, Clear Channel, and Lockheed Martin.
WINNERS 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
winners Prizes $500, $250, and
$100 Drawing for $300 in gift
cards and 10 EA games Prizes donated by AAA,
Disney, EA, and Cengage Publishing
WINNERS
CURRICULUM TO DATE
COURSES AND SEQUENCE
TRACK INFORMATION New BAS Track in Software Development Entry Point
AS Programming and Analysis (63 hrs) OR Other AS with “bridge courses”
Core Requirements: 1. UCF General Education Program (+ 18 - 21
hrs) 2. Common Program Prerequisites (none) 3. Required Core (10 - 11 hrs)
New Track in Software Development (21 hrs)
Electives (from S/W Dev (?) 8 – 12 hrs)Total BAS: 120 hrs
CURRENT STATUS SW I and SW II courses have been developed and
were completed in June 2011
Major courses approved by UCF curriculum committee September, 2011.
Track to be approved by November 2011
Started working on other courses in Fall 2011 to be ready for Spring 2012 and Summer 2012 Advanced Database Solutions Software Configuration, Integration, and Testing
CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT
CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT Ongoing between UCF and the 4
state/community colleges (started 6 years ago with math). Groups – Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science,
Math, and Physics Aligning common course content for consistency. Evaluated based on priority of material.
M = Mandatory O = Optional V = Overview R = Review
Sharing of best practices, techniques, and labs.
COURSES ALIGNED TO DATE Introduction to Programming Java Advanced Java Database Management Web programming Other related courses Plan to include secondary and middle
school faculty as related.
EXAMPLE ALIGNMENTCOP 2800 Java Programming
M=MandatoryO=OptionalR=Review
V=OverviewTopic Sub-Topics
Object Oriented concepts
Constructors, mutators, accessors M
Static vs Instance (methods or data) M
Polymorphism M
Encapsulation M
Overriding and overloading M
Graphics M
Inheritence M
Classes and objects M
Package and import M
Interfaces M
Access modifiers M
Exceptions
Trycatch M
Final block M
Catch or specify rule M
Throw and Throws M
Multiple catch blocks M
Inherting from the exception class M
File I/O
Character and binary M
File class M
Data streams M
byte streams M
Filtered streams M
Persistance and object I/O M
Data TypesDescribe/Use all data types M
Control and Iteration Structures
Describe/Use all control and iteration structures M
Methods
Parameters M
this reference M
Ambiguous overloaded methods M
Static vs instance methods M
Turntypes M
Arrays
Single dimension array structures M
Multi dimensional array O
Arrays as parameters (arguments) M
Returning from methods M
Arrays of objects M
COP1000 - Intro to programming
M=MandatoryO=OptionalR=Review
V=OverviewTopic Sub-Topics
Control Structures - selection and repetition
Relational and logical operators M If-then-else statements M Pre-test and post-test loops M Case statements M
Distinguish between sentinal control and counter control loops M Nesting M Iteration, repetition, do-until statements M Block level scoping O
Variables, data types and expressions
Real vs whole numbers MArithemetic operators MAssignment statements MType casting MString data type OConstants MMixed type expressions (adding real and whole numbers) MVariable scope, Block scope O Arithmetic operator order of precedence MIdentifier naming M
Comments MReserved words M
Arrays
Dimensions of arrays MSubscripting MInitialization MLooping through MProblem solving MSorting and searching arrays VOrganize/process multi-dimensional arrays M/VDebug problems with arrays M
Modularization
Predefined functions MUser defined functions MDecomposing problems into functions MUse header files O
Problem solving with functions and debugging with functions MPassing arguments MReturning values M
Problem solving/algorithm development
Syntax and logic errors MPseudo code ODebugging MFlowcharting OLogical analysis M
Input/Output
Command Prompt I/O MFile I/O MOutput formatting MSimple database access O
Binary and hex numbers
Convert binary to decimal (and vice versa) O/VConvert hex to binary (and vice versa) O/VAscii character set O/V
Decsribe data size measurements (bit, byte, kb, mb, gb, tb, etc) V
SDLCIntroduce waterfall and agile O/V
ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS - ADVISING, TEACHING, ETC
ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS Advising, teaching, office hours, TA’s, student group work, etc. Use a variety of tools
FaceBook!
LEARNING FROM STUDENTS
ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS - ADVISING, TEACHING, ETC• Reducing the “distance” in distance education
• Skype to have students “share screen” for online office hours
• Identified a good web-cam for faculty, advisors, students (audio is important) Ordered a bunch of them.
• One advisor at Valencia is communicating face-to-face at a distance with students and faculty
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
JAVA AND ADVANCED JAVA FOR FACULTY Industry professional lead week-long
courses to strengthen the pool of faculty at the 4 colleges
Next… C#
RISKS, CHALLENGES, “ISSUES”
Get students/faculty/advisors used to communicating with online tools
Find credential-able faculty who can do a good job delivering these classes online
Working with the ‘processes’ at UCF
Keeping up with what we need to know in S/W
Understanding students who are younger than the internet
THE STUDENTS HAVE CHANGED
Then…
and Now
WHAT WE’VE LEARNED Community Colleges can “drive”
curriculum for major university Don’t compete with university program(s) Get university people on your side through
involvement Communicate constantly Be willing to solve the university’s problem
if you caused it!
WHAT WE’VE LEARNED Community Colleges can cooperate and
still compete for students Do what’s right for the student
Local industry wants a seat at the table Don’t just ask for their input – use it also
Implementing curriculum always takes longer than you think!
ATTENDEE FEEDBACK / IDEAS How do you communicate with
regional colleges/universities in your area?
Would regional 4-year schools be willing to partner to put together a 2+2 program with your institution? Determine a good fit!
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