Educational Improvement Plan

This document was created in December 2003 as a central repository for efforts made to improve the academic quality of our educational programs. Prior documented activity to improve our educational programs will be referenced whenever possible.

Educational Objectives

Fall 2003

In 2003 ABET defined "educational objectives" as "statements that describe the expected accomplishments of graduates during the first few years after graduation." In response to this definition, our educational objectives are being reformulated. By spring 2004, we expect consensus from our various constituencies on these objectives.

Educational Objectives History

Prior educational objectives of the programs offered by the department have been documented in a series of annual reports. In most cases, the documented objectives would be classified as outcomes using the new ABET definitions.

Simplified summary reports are now kept on the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness Web site.

Educational Outcomes

Fall 2003

The ABET definition of educational outcomes as "statements that describe what students are expected to know and are able to do by the time of graduation, the achievement of which indicates that the student is equipped to achieve the program educational objectives" was recognized and our educational outcomes are being reformulated in response. By spring 2004, we expect consensus from our various constituencies on these outcomes.

The following changes are being tested to improve the programs we offer.

  1. Faculty members will maintain a notebook of graded student assignments organized by educational outcomes.

Department Level Improvements

Fall 2005-Spring 2006

  1. Faculty discussions on department re-organization leading to the formations of the Committee for Undergraduate Education (CUE) and the Graduate Committee (GC), with charges to improve the programs at these respective levels.

    Rationale: The department service activities of faculty members had become fragmented and there was an obvious need to empower faculty in actively improving the academic programs.

Spring 2004

  1. Initial meeting of the Computing Alliance, a board of external advisors composed of alumni, employers and colleagues.

    Rationale: The need to improve all programs offered by the department and to involve constituents in the development of educational objectives and program outcomes, as well as improve the research opportunities of our faculty and students.

Bachelor of Science Programs

Curriculum Improvements

General changes in the department which have the potential to improve all programs are cataloged in this subsection.

Fall 2006

Based on a review by the CUE of teacher reflections of classes given Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 and presentations on core and required courses to the faculty the following changes have been or will be made in an effort to improve the undergraduate programs:

  1. CSE 1400 Applied Discrete Mathematics will become a prerequisite to CSE 2010 Algorithms and Data Structures. Structural changes will be implemented in CSE 1400 to introduce mathematical induction earlier and apply it throughout the course.

  2. To improve communication skills, students will videotape their senior projects and these videos will be streamed and displayed on monitors to be installed in the Olin Engineering Complex.

  3. The course description for CSE 3421 Software Design Methods will be changes to reflect that learning how to design software using one method is the subject of the class rather than a survey of design methods.

  4. Other improvements remain under discussion:

    1. A second course in discrete mathematics: Lack of or insufficient mathematical skills were noted in several courses.

    2. A follow on course for CSE 4083 Formal Languages and Automata, where it was noted that Turing machines, reductions and undecidability were not well understood. There is a graduate level course, CSE 5610 Computational Complexity, where these topics are covered in detail, but this course is rarely taken by undergraduates.

Spring 2006

  1. An experimental section of CSE 1001 Fundamentals of Software Development 1 is offered. Test-driven development using Eclipse and JUnit is being field tested for the first programming course.

    Rationale: Not all students respond to the traditional ways in which software development is taught. The method used in this experimental class provides more hands-on instruction, incremental code development with extensive testing between changes, and exposure to a professional integrated development environment.

  2. All course descriptions were reviewed with emphasis on performance measures and their relationship to program outcomes. An online system for completion of course descriptions was implemented.

    Rationale: Course descriptions have been and will be reviewed at least every three years.

  3. The "teacher-reflection forms" were improved to provide better data.

    Rationale: The revised form better focuses on achievement of program outcomes by measuring performances. An online system for completion and collection of the forms was implemented.

Fall 2005

  1. Lectures on team work skills have been incorporated in the senior project classes, CSE 4101, 4102, 4201 and 4202.

    Rationale: Evaluation of senior exit, alumni, and employer surveys indicates a need to improve the ability of our students to work productively as members of teams.

Spring 2005

  1. Requirement that all student teams participate in the College of Engineering Senior Design Showcase.

    Rationale: Evaluation of senior exit, alumni, and employer surveys indicates a need to improve the communication skills of our students. The Senior Design Showcase offers the students a stage where they can present their efforts to a wide audience.

  2. An initial collection of "teacher-reflection forms" for a subset of classes was conducted.

    Rationale: A simple effective assessment of program outcomes at the class level was needed. The teacher-reflection form encourages faculty to evaluate the performances of students on measures that relate to program outcomes and report their findings.

Fall 2004

  1. Requirement that all students in the senior project classes, CSE 4101, 4102, 4201 and 4202 make presentations to the faculty and students on their progress toward the completion of their projects.

    Rationale: Evaluation of senior exit, alumni, and employer surveys indicates a need to improve the communication skills of our students.

Spring 2004

  1. First offering of CSE 1400 Applied Discrete Mathematics.

    Rationale: Although students perceive strength in mathematics (see the senior survey faculty perceive students have weakness in applying discrete mathematics to computing.

    Expectation: Better performance in classes that rely heavily on discrete mathematics concepts.

  2. First offering of CSE 2400 Applied Statistics.

    Rationale: Although students perceive strength in mathematics (see the senior survey faculty perceive students have weakness in applying statistics to computing.

    Expectation: Better performance in classes that rely heavily on statistical concepts.

Fall 2003

  1. The course CSE 4302 Speech Recognition was approved by the department and will be submitted to the Dean and University Curriculum Committee.

    Rationale: Graduating seniors report lack of advanced courses and the course supports research interests of faculty members.

    Expectation: Improved response on senior survey with respect to advanced knowledge; improved undergraduate research opportunities.

  2. Paired programming has been instituted in our first three programming classes: CSE 1001, CSE 1002, and CSE 2010.

    Rationale: Research presented in the computer science education literature.

    Expectation: Improved programming performance in the freshman/sophomore years; improved retention rates.

  3. Six hours per week of laboratory programming help has been scheduled.

    Rationale: Too many students find programming difficult.

    Expectation: Improved programming performance in the freshman/sophomore years; improved retention rates.

  4. A proposal has been made to the dean to recruit at least one instructor to teach service courses offered by the department.

    Rationale: Although supervised, graduate teaching assistants need more support to deliver these classes.

    Expectation: Improved performance in computing by students in programs we serve.

Software Engineering

Fall 2003

  1. The Software Engineering program had its first ABET review. As a result, we are instituting:

    1. Changes in our objectives, a formal documented process to determine, assess and improve objectives.
    2. Changes in our outcomes, a formal documented process to determine, assess and improve outcomes.
    3. Changes in expectations from our senior projects.

Doctor of Philosophy Program

Spring 2004

  1. A proposal to the college and university to waive tuition for Ph.D. students.

    Rationale: Increase the research conducted at Florida Tech.

    Expectation:

    1. Attract faculty with high research potential;
    2. Increase our pool of well-qualified Ph.D. students;
    3. Generate scientific publications, research grants;
    4. Motivate professors to carry-on research;
    5. Quota system will burst research areas;
    6. Increase FIT's overall scholarly activities.