Multi-disciplinary Pathways to Computing:A Scalable and Col aborative Approach to Capitalize on the Demand for Computer Science Education

The number of students demanding computer science(CS)education is rapidly rising,and while faculty sizes are also growing,the traditional pipeline consisting of a CS major,a CS master’s,and then a move to industry or a Ph.D.program is simply not scalable.To address this problem,the Department of Computing at the University of Illinois has introduced a multidisciplinary approach to computing,which is a scalable and collaborative approach to capitalize on the tremendous demand for computer science education.The key component of the approach is the blended major,also referred to as“CS+X”,where CS denotes computer science and X denotes a non-computing field.These CS+X blended degrees enable win-win partnerships among multiple subject areas,distributing the educational responsibilities while growing the entire university.To meet the demand from non-CS majors,another pathway that is offered is a graduate certificate program in addition to the traditional minor program.To accommodate the large number of students,scalable teaching tools,such as automatic graders,have also been developed.

Recent Development of Computer Science Education in USA

Computer science(CS)is a discipline to study the scientific and practical approach to computation and its applications.As we enter into the Internet era,computers and the Internet have become intimate parts of our daily life.Due to its rapid development and wide applications recently,more CS graduates are needed in industries around the world.In USA,this situation is even more severe due to the rapid expansions of several big IT related companies such as Microsoft,Google,Facebook,Amazon,IBM etc.Hence,how to effectively train a large number of

Recent Development of Computer Science Education in Japan

In this special section,two introductive papers from Waseda University and the University of Aizu are selected for the introduction of recent development of computer science education in Japan.Waseda University is one of top and comprehensive private universities in Japan.The University of Aizu is a public university and the first university dedicated to computer science engineering in Japan.The University of Aizu advocates'advancement of knowledge for humanity'and carries out significant research in computer science.

Overview of the Third Global Forum

Computer science continues to grow at a rapid pace,raising the issue of how universities can best adapt to this trend.At the third Global Forum on the Development of Computer Science(GFDCS),five heads of departments of computer science from Asia,Europe,and North America came together to exchange ideas under the theme Challenges and Opportunities of Computer Science in the New Era.Through the discussions,a number of new challenges were explored,including how to meet the growing demand for computer science education,how to manage increased teaching loads,how to foster collaboration between computer science and other disciplines,how to raise ethical awareness,and how to support new“transdisciplinary”modes of education and research.At the same time,there was a consensus on the need to strengthen the role of computer science in other departments,the importance of industrial collaboration,and the need for more scalable approaches to teaching.The evolving role of computer science within the context of broader science was also discussed.

Traffic Dataset and Dynamic Routing Algorithm in Traffic Simulation

The purpose of this research is to create a simulated environment for teaching algorithms,big data processing,and machine learning.The environment is similar to Google Maps,with the capacity of finding the fastest path between two points in dynamic traffic situations.However,the system is significantly simplified for educational purposes.Students can choose different traffic patterns and program a car to navigate through the traffic dynamically based on the changing traffic.The environments used in the project are Visual IoT/Robotics Programming Language Environment(VIPLE)and a traffic simulator developed in the Unity game engine.This paper focuses on creating realistic traffic data for the traffic simulator and implementing dynamic routing algorithms in VIPLE.The traffic data are generated from the recorded real traffic data published on the Arizona Maricopa County website.Based on the generated traffic data,VIPLE programs are developed to implement the traffic simulation with support for dynamic changing data.

A Threshold Concept Perspective for Enhancing Effectiveness of PhD Supervision in Computing~ Disciplines

This study describes the planning process of a major multi-disciplinary research project that aims to enhance effectiveness of the Higher Degree Research （HDR） training process in computing-related disciplines by applying the threshold concept theories and framework. Two specific disciplines, the computer science and information systems were chosen for the study that closely represents the two ends of a wide range of computing discipline spectrum within the faculties of science, engineering, business and education. The ultimate goal of the above major project, when completed, is to enhance productivity of research training process in computing schools. The foreshadowed problem is that for many of HDR students it takes a long time to produce a specific result expected to be done in much shorter periods of time; and yet at some stage the student seems to get over this hurdle almost overnight. By adopting a threshold concept framework this study extends existing studies in the above area by specifically targeting HDR process in computing disciplines, and provides plans for a wide range of studies that will ideally lead to identification of threshold concept for HDR students in computing disciplines. The issue under development in the current study is how can the process of overcoming the above hurdles be facilitated？ How can the productivity of various resources utilized during the above long and frustrating waiting periods be increased by shortening the waiting times？

Teaching Programming Concepts to K-12 Teachers With Scratch

This study aims to investigate teaching programming concepts to K-12 teachers with Scratch. A total of 10 K-12 teachers enrolled in one graduate course participated in this study. They received lectures, took practices and exercises of Scratch programming and were then asked to design and implement their projects before the semester. It was found that teaching programming concepts to K-12 teachers with Scratch is feasible. K-12 teachers with less computer background can learned basic programming concepts and applied them in their project code implementation. Although no significant difference was found between participants＇ pre-test and post-test on programming self-efficacy, positive attitudes toward learning Scratch programming was revealed in the questionnaire survey and results of interviews. This study paves a way for referring to the teaching of programming concepts for K- 12 teachers.