The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects that 3 out of every 4 new jobs in science and engineering will be in computing fields through 2018. This corresponds to nearly 1,000,000 jobs in computing over the 2008-2018 time span. Meanwhile, the number of computer science and engineering graduates nationally is approximately 15,000 each year - falling well short of the future job needs. One solution to bridging this gap is to focus on creating opportunities for the underemployed and unemployed graduates to align their skills to opportunities that exist in computing. Oregon State University recently announced a new program to do exactly that. They are launching a new on-line post baccalaureate degree in Computer Science where students can earn a second Bachelor of Science degree in as short as one year without relocating. The process of developing this degree program has already presented many new challenges. These topics and others are common to programs as they move to more remote delivery formats. The team intends to capture its journey developing this program. The team will capture the steps taken, what worked and what did not. As on-line education is taking off nationally and becoming more mainstream, capturing lessons learned from one program can help inform others as they move into this new paradigm of education.
The goal of this project was to create the nation's first post baccalaureate on-line degree in computer science. In creating this program, we documented the steps along the way and also had external assessment of the program once it was developed. The program at Oregon State University has 1000 students enrolled after only 2 years and more than 130 students have graduated. The program is designed to address the shortage of computer scientists by retraining unemployed or other individuals that have a bachelor's degree but would like to find employment in computing. Industry recruiters have found the graduates to be highly desirable due to their combination of maturity (median age is 29), communication skills, depth of knowledge in another discipline and topped off with a bachelor's degree in computer science. New on-line instrutional techniques have been developed and innovative ways to deliver the materials are continuously explored. As part of the program, scholarships are provided to students to attend a career showcase. In this gathering, students have a chance to meet others in the program and also learn techniques for success. Half of the day is devoted to meeting with 25 company representatives and includes speed networking, speed technical interviews as well as comprehensive discussion. Since many of the students have not worked in a high tech environment, this experience is very helpful to understanding the culture they will eventually work in.
