Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Minutes
Monday 12 March 2007

Agenda Items

1. Issue: How is the second programming language requirement satisfied? We seem to have unintentionally ruled out Java, since Java is in the official syllabus for COP 3331.

   Resolution: (unanimous) Recommend to the department that the statement of the second-language requirement be modified to explicitly allow Java regardless of whether it happens to be taught in a require course, as follows:

   One of the electives must cover an additional programming language not presented in the other required course offerings a programming language other than C and C++.

2. Issue: Since COP 3502 was removed from the list of required courses for bachelor's degree in CS it has not been stated clearly in the Bulletin that this course cannot be counted toward the eleven hours of computer science electives, even though that policy appears to have been enforced consistently.

   Resolution: (unanimous) Recommend to the department that the description of COP 3502 Introduction to Computer Science be modified to include the phrase "May not be applied toward a computer science degree".

   Note: We should also change the Bulletin in other places where we currently say "may not be applied toward a computer science major" to refer to "degree" rather than "major".

Issue: CEN 4516 Distributed Systems and Networks has, apparently, never been offered. The networking content has been subsumed by CDA 4503 Computer Networks. No faculty member has shown an interest in teaching the course. If a course on distributed systems is offered in the future, it would need to be re-designed.

Resolution: (unanimous) Recommend to the department that CEN 4516 be deleted.

3. Issue: CEN 4012r Mentored Software Project has been used only rarely, primarly to give credit for employment-related software projects to part-time students. The same purpose could be served by CIS 4900r Directed Individual Study, the only difference being that CIS 4900r does not count toward the 4000-level CS elective requirement for the undergraduate CS majors. Did we intend this loophole for the 4000-level electives requirement?

   Resolution: (unanimous) Recommend to the department that CEN 412r be deleted.

4. Issue: Sara Stoecklin and Chris Lacher have recommended creation of a new undergraduate sequence, Software Engineering I and II (6 hours). (See the draft curricular change forms and syllabi (file temporarily missing).) This is viewed as a solution to several long-standing problems, including: (1) problems teaching software engineering to students who do not yet have sufficient maturity as programmers, in COP 3331; (2) too much separation in time between COP 3330 and CEN 4010 for the two courses to form a single logical course; (3) insufficient time in CEN 4010 to cover enough topics in enough depth; (4) the need for a capstone course, including a design and implementation project, in the SE major.

   Resolution: (unanimous) The committee recommends approval of the proposals, subject to the following provisions:

   • Sara will redo the paperwork using the current approved Faculty Senate forms.
   • The list of topics will be amended to include software/document configuration managment and configuration management tools, and use of a software configuration managment tool will be added to the list of objectives.

5. Issue: What is the relationship of the existing courses COP 3331 Object Oriented Analysis and Design and CEN 4010 Software Engineering Principles and Practices to the new sequence? Should the new set of courses should replace the old? How should the transition be handled?

   Resolution: (unanimmous) The committee recommends to the department a phased replacement of COP 3331 and CEN 4010 by the new two-semester sequence, as follows:

   • As soon as possible, COP 3331 is removed as a prerequisite from all courses, except for CEN 4010. (See appendix for list of specific changes.)
   • Effective fall 2007, the new SE courses are offered on the PC campus and by Distance Learning, and can be applied toward the SE major. These will replace COP 3331 and CEN 4010, which will no longer be offered on the PC campus or by DL.
   • Effective fall 2008, COP 3331 and CEN 4010 are deleted, the new software engineering sequence is offered on the main campus; the requirement for COP 3331 is changed to the first course in the new SE sequence for the CS major; the second SE course is suggested as a 4000-level CS elective.
   COP 3331
   • Ad hoc policies will be developed for for students caught in the middle of the transition, such as .
   • SE Students will be advised of the planned changes, to avoid cases of a student taking COP 3331 and then needing to also take the new first course in SE.

6. Issue: Recommendation to department to approve the new SE curriculum flowchart for the (tentatively approved) SE requirements. It has been verified that these new requirements are in compliance with the State requirement that the degree be able to be completed in two years and 60 credit hours beyond an Associate of Arts degree, by a student who has made an appropriate choice of courses in the AA program. (See the appended list, below.)

   Resolution: (unanimous) The committee recommends the department adopt the new flowchart, and modify the requirements for the SE major accordingly.

7. Issue: Should the department require that the programming assignments in some courses be done in the Unix/Linux environment? This has long been the practice for all courses, but some courses now appear to be using the MS Windows environment. While experience programming in both environments is a good thing, there is concern that a student not be able to leave the program without (at least) competency in the Unix environment.

   Resolution: (unanimous) The committee recommends that the department adopt a policy that programming assignments in at least the following courses will be done (entirely) in the Unix/Linux environment: COP 3330, COP 4530, COP 4531, COP 4610. Instructors in other courses should have discretion to choose apppropriate programming environments for the courses, with the understanding that there is benefit to exposing students to a variety of environments.

8. Issue: The committee needs to perform a periodic review the following data relative to our objectives for the bachelor's degree program, to assess the extent to which our program objectives are bing met and to identify opportunities for program improvement (including changes to objectives and assessment techniques as well as changes to cirriculum).

   • SMALCs
   • Student exit surveys
   • Year-out surveys
   • SUSSAI/SPOT reports

Summary of Action Items

1. Sara Stoecklin:
   • Revise curricular change forms for new SE sequence, using current forms from http://www.fsu.edu/~fasenate/forms.html and following the instructions there on how to write objectives. Send the forms to Ted Baker.
2. Ted Baker:
   • Write up meeting minutes and circulate to committee members.
   • Upon receipt of the above forms, get the signed by David Whalley and forward to the Science Area Curriculum Committee.
   • Locate data for SMALC, student exit surveys, etc. and notify committee members on how to access them.
   • When all committee members have had time to review the data, call another committee meeting to discuss what actions, if any, the data suggest.
3. All committee members:
   • Upon receipt of the draft minutes, review them and send e-mail with approval or corrections to Ted Baker.
   • Upon receipt of e-mail with information on how to access data from SMALCs, student exit surveys, etc., review the data and send e-mail to group with your observations.

Minutes by Ted Baker