CS2013-final-report

Additional Comments
Although the existing curriculum aligned well with previous national curricular
recommendations, it had surprisingly low coverage of Core-Tier1 and Core-Tier2 topics in
Curricula 2013, due to several primary factors:
• CS 2013 includes some new areas, such as security and professional issues.
• CS 2013 specifies particular learning outcomes, many of which are different than the
learning outcomes that might have been specified for some earlier knowledge units.
• CS 2013 has placed lower precedence on some areas, such as architecture.
• The Grinnell curriculum covers many tier 3 topics, particularly in algorithms, theory,
and programming languages.
Revision of the curriculum to give students fewer options, to separate 4-credit courses into 2-
credit courses, and to align some of those 2-credit courses closely with CS 2013 shows strong
potential to achieve reasonably good alignment with CS 2013. The few missing Core-Tier1
topics are not topics Grinnell's faculty consider essential, and the coverage of Core-Tier2 at
about 78% is offset by the deep coverage of algorithms, theory, and programming languages at
Tier 3.
Appendix: Information on Individual Courses
CSC 151 – Functional Problem Solving
http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/courses/csc151
CSC 151 introduces the discipline of computer science by focusing on functional problem
solving with media computation as an integrating theme. Since the course explores mechanisms
for representing, making, and manipulating images, some modest revisions may highlight themes
in the area of GV. However, this course is expected to continue in largely its present form,
taking advantage of a workshop format or “flipped classroom” pedagogy, with substantial
utilization of lab-based exercises and collaborative learning. Appendix C of CS 2013, Course
Exemplars, provides more detail on CSC 151.
CSC 161 – Imperative Problem Solving and Data Structures
http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/courses/csc161
CSC 161 utilizes robotics as an application domain in studying imperative problem solving, data
representation, and memory management. Additional topics include assertions and invariants,
data abstraction, linked data structures, an introduction to the GNU/Linux operating system, and
programming the low-level, imperative language C. The review of CS 2013 identified some
refinements of coverage for CSC 161, but substantial changes are not anticipated. The course
follows a workshop format that emphasizes both collaborative learning and individual problem
solving. More information on CSC 161 can be found in CS 2013, in Appendix C, on Course
Exemplars.
- 489 -