This proposal centers around the notion that computing has evolved into an inter- and intra-disciplinary field of intertwined concepts that pervade society. The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and other schools in the University System of Georgia have defined and adopted a number of specialized degrees and contextualized computing courses. Last Fall, Georgia Tech extended this approach to create the Threads model includes a process for creating curricular change, an infrastructure for advising, and software to support administrators, advisors, educators and students. In parallel, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (BC-CUNY) has developed several context-based approaches to computing education with a focus on introductory courses and the high school to college continuum, as well as created two new interdisciplinary masters degrees. The team proposes to create an alliance that validates and extends the Threads model. The proposed work encompasses a methodical approach to understanding the process of defining broad, flexible paths through a computing curriculum, and to measuring and analyzing the outcomes of this process when applied to a variety of departments and interest groups. At the heart of this process is an emphasis on context-based instruction and targeted advising that helps students crystalize career paths and realize the short- and long-term relevance of their coursework. The project explores crucial research questions that arise out of adapting and applying Threads, and evaluating the effects on students, faculty and administrators through quantitative and qualitative studies. Under the work proposed here, they will measure the impact of Georgia Tech?s implementation of the Threads model and the supporting advising mechanisms; extend and adapt Threads to a broad range of computing departments; facilitate its adoption at such departments; and evaluate its efficacy under a variety of conditions. The goal is a validated, widely deployed and broadly-evaluated model of curricular reform that is applicable to small and large departments, students with a range of backgrounds and abilities, and faculty with a range of interests. The combination of diverse experiences brought together by the project team promises to produce results with the potential to serve as national models for both computing and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines.
Our CPATH project was called "EAE: Extending Contextualized Computing inMultiple Institutions Using Threads" or simply, "Threads". The primary goal of the project was to adapt Threads-based curriculum in multiple computing departments, following the model developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and implemented starting in Fall 2007. The hoped-for outcomes were a set of lessons learned and accompanying recommendations, advising tools and evaluation techniques that could be used by other departments interested in adapting Threads-based curriculum. GeorgiaTech handled the evaluation component of the project, while four other universities focused on the adaption of Threads in their computing departments: (1) Armstrong Atlantic State University (AASU), (2) Kennesaw State University (KSU) and (3) Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU),all of the University System of Georgia (UGS), and (4) Brooklyn College (BC) of the City University of New York (CUNY). This Project Outcomes Report reports on the project activites that took place at Brooklyn College. The activities of the other project partners are reported in their respective Project Outcomes reports. Three types of activities were undertaken in the project at Brooklyn College: Intra-Team Collaboration, Local Threads Development and Local Data Analysis. Intra-Team Collaboration involved 6 project meetings during the lifetime of the project, at which investigators from each of the collaborating institutions met and discussed progress in their respective departments in regard to major curricular change and adaption of Threads. The main topics of the meetings included the status of adapting threads to each campus, evaluating progress, and project dissemination efforts. Local Threads Development involved several attempts to adapt the full-scale Georgia Tech Threads curriculum at Brooklyn College. The conclusion, at the end of the funded period of the project, was that a full-scale adaptation was not practical or tractable due to the following combination of factors: (a) the resistance of the department to lessen the number core computing courses; (b) the resistance of the department to make another curriculum change so close on the heels of other changes that went into effect prior to the arrival of this grant; (c) change in priorities (other than curricular change) taking precedence in the department; and (d) the budgetary cutbacks that made it impossible to consider curriculum revisions that would expand the teaching requirements of the department. However two small-scale adaptations were made: (1) the implementation of a Threads-based steady-state schedule and (2) the establishment of Advisory Threads for advanced electives for computer science majors. A final observation: at Georgia Tech, the impetus for Threads came from the top-level administration; at Brooklyn College, the impetus came from the bottom up, at the faculty level. Without the support (and mandate, as Georgia Tech had) from the upper-level administration to make significant curricular change, successes were minor. Local Data Analysis involved studying basic trends in enrollments over a10-year period. There is significant data that can be analyzed to gain better understanding of the reasoning behind these trends, using sophisticated data mining and visualization techniques. To this end, efforts extended to the development of data analysis andvisualization software tools that would support examination of multiple factors, to look for correlations and causes of trends. The factors include demographic information (gender, ethnicity, transfer status) as well as academic information (year in program, course pool). The software tool is called Flora and an alpha prototype can be viewed on the project website: http://agents.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/flora.
