This award is for the development of a Computer Productivity Initiative (CPI) that is designed to improve computer science education by developing a formal laboratory experience spanning the four year undergraduate program. CPI will allow the students to address a specific industrial problem from the specifications phase through to the implementation phase. Old Dominion University will be producing curriculum support modules, and other educational material which will be made available to educational institutions. Old Dominion University will be using a Computer Productivity Initiative to modify its Computer Science curriculum to provide its students with the knowledge to increase their productivity in software development. Over the four year time period of undergraduate study, computer science students will address a specific unstructured problem in the context of a business application. Existing courses and laboratories at Old Dominion University will be modified and new ones developed. The results of the curriculum and materials development will be made available to other educational institutions, and results of the educational experience will be disseminated in technical and educational journals, and at presentations at professional meetings.
