program update & abet site visit results

Program Update & ABET Site Visit

Results

Department of Mathematical, Computer and

Natural Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences

Capstone Projects • Summer 2015

– Enhancements to the Backstage Operations Management System for the Tennessee Valley Old-

Time Fiddlers Convention.

– Implementation of Molecular Biology themed Serious Educational Game for the iPad

– Re-design and enhancements to the Athens Learn to Read web presence

• Fall 2015

– Enhancements to the Backstage Operations Management System for the Tennessee Valley Old-

Time Fiddlers Convention -- Continued

– Implementation of Molecular Biology themed Serious Educational Game for the iPad – Continued

– Enhancement to the Athens Limestone United Way web presence and security audit

– Digital Humanities Research Project

• Upcoming Spring 2016

– Re-design and enhancements to the Limestone County Sheriff’s Rodeo web presence

– Re-design and enhancements to the Athens Limestone County 911 Dispatch web presence

– Re-design and enhancements to the Athens Limestone United Way web presence

– Implementation of Molecular Biology themed Serious Educational Game for the iPad -- Continued

Athens State University

Enrollment Data


Computer Science Majors Enrolled per Academic Year

Major Code

Academic Year

2013-14 2014-15 Fall 2015 *

1st Major

2nd Major

1st Major

2nd Major

1st Major

2nd Major

CIN 51 1 49 28

CIS 119 1 130 73 1

DPT 72 1 79 1 60 1

ISO 11 29 30

Total 1st Major

240

(undup) 276

(undup) 191

(undup)

* Fall term only.


Enrollment Trends

ABET: What is it and why is it important?

• ABET: What is it?

– ABET: Accreditation Board for

Engineering and Technology

– CHEA-recognized accreditor in the

fields of applied science, computing,

engineering, and engineering

technology

– Long-term partner of the ACM and

IEEE for accreditation of educational

programs in computer science

– Organized by discipline into

“commissions” with the Computing

Accrediting Commission responsible

for accrediting of computer science

programs

• ABET: Why is it important?

– Quickly becoming “table stakes” for

programs in computer science

• Industry trend towards requiring

job applicants to have degrees

from accredited institutions

• Many defense contractors,

including some of the major

players in our region, will not

reimburse tuition for students if

they are not enrolled in an

accredited program


The ABET Accreditation Process • Status

– Site visit: Sept. 20, 2015 – Sept. 22, 2015

– Preliminary report identified 8

shortcomings across the 5 evaluation

criteria

– Seven shortcomings were identified as

deficiencies

• Deficiencies preclude accreditation

– Institution can respond to these issues in

its response to the Draft Report

• Corrective actions MAY result in

shortcoming being reclassified to

weakness

• If Commission approves, then a 2-

year Interim Accreditation is

granted


ABET Final Report August 2016

CAC Meeting and Vote July 2016

Institution Due Diligence Response Draft Report + 30 days

ABET Release of Draft Report January 2016

Evaluation Team Site Visit

September 2015

Self-Study Document June 2015

Preliminary Self-Study

December 2014 √ √ √

ABET Accreditation Criteria • Criterion 1: Students

Policy and procedures for advising and evaluation of students towards attainment of student

outcomes, thereby enabling attainment of program educational outcomes

• Criterion 2: Program Educational Objectives Program has published set of objectives for graduates who 2-3 years after graduation that are periodically

reviewed by program constituents

• Criterion 3: Student Outcomes

Program has a documented and reviewed set of student outcomes that address key objectives

• Criterion 4: Continuous Improvement

Program must regularly use appropriate, documented process for assessing and evaluating

student outcomes


ABET Accreditation Criteria • Criterion 5: Curriculum

Curriculum must combine technical and professional requirements with general education

requirements and electives to prepare students for a professional career and further study in the

discipline in such a way that consistent with its program educational objectives and designed so

that student outcomes can be obtained

• Criterion 6: Faculty

Collectively, the faculty must have the technical breadth and depth to cover all curricular areas

while being of sufficient number to maintain stability, oversight, student interaction, and advising

• Criterion 7: Facilities

Classrooms, offices, labs, and associated equipment must be adequate to support attainment of

student outcomes and provide an atmosphere conducive to learning

• Criterion 8: Institutional Support

Institutional support and leadership must be adequate to ensure the quality and continuity of the

program.


ABET Student Outcome Evaluation Criteria • The program must enable students to attain by time of graduation:

a) An ability to apply knowledge of computing and mathematics appropriate to the program’s

student outcomes and to the discipline

b) An ability to analyze a problem, and identify and define the computing requirements

appropriate to the problem

c) An ability to design, implement, and evaluate a computer-based system, process,

component, or program to meet desired needs

d) An ability to function effectively on team to accomplish a common goal

e) An understanding of professional, ethical, legal, and social issues and responsibilities

f) An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences

g) An ability to analyze the local and global impact of computing on individuals, organizations,

and society

h) Recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in continuing professional development

i) An ability to use current techniques, skills, and tools necessary for computing practice


Shortcomings - Criterions 2, 3,4, and 5

• No audit trail could be found that indicates

that assessment data is being used

effectively at the department level to

manage curriculum and instruction; narrative

in assessment plans need to provide this +

need to document an audit trail of meetings

where this information is reviewed and

incorporated into operational plans. (Crit. 4,

Rated: Deficiency)

• Faculty workload is excessive compared to

similar programs; no extra bandwidth for

faculty professional activities, program

continuity at risk in case of faculty attrition.

(Crit. 5, Rated: Concern)


• Program Educational Objectives (PEOs)

define characteristics desired of students at

graduation; ABET requires them to be

characteristics of students 2 to 3 years after

graduation (Crit. 2, Rated: Deficiency)

• No evidence found that PEOs and Student

Outcomes are reviewed with constituents

and revised accordingly; verbal proof

provided in interviews, no documented audit

trail. (Crit. 2 and 3, Rated: Deficiency)

Shortcomings – Criterion 5

• ABET standard for CS programs is 30 credit

hours of math and science beyond pre-

calculus trigonometry. (Crit. 5, Rated:

Deficiency)

– Math: 22 hours, Lab Sciences: 8 hours

– Great variation in requirements

between degree options

• ABET requires program to provide for

ethical, legal, and social development of

students. (Crit. 5, Rated: Deficiency)

– Complementary of work done in

Capstone experience

– No evidence of direct instruction within

curricula in this area

• Exposure to multiple programming

languages is limited, particularly in the

Information Security Plan of Study. (Crit. 5,

Rated: Deficiency)

• Exposure to multiple operating systems and

development environments is limited,

particularly in the CIS and CN Plans of

Study. (Crit. 5, Rated: Deficiency)


Action Plan – Curriculum Shortcomings

• Separate the CIS and CN degree options into new Information Technology program

– Students in those degree options are not “traditional” computer science students;

more interest in IT and network operations

– But we are getting feedback from industry that their requirements are for people

capable of dealing with “DevOps” positions

• DevOps – “Developer-Operations”, Example: “software engineer in test”

rather “software quality assurance associate”

– Our feeder institutions are intensely focused on producing graduates with A.A.S

and A.A.T. degrees rather than preparing students for further study via an A.S.

degree

• Focus on certificate programs

• Students coming to ATSU without sufficient preparation for the math required

by ABET’s standards for CS


ASU Programs in Computing, eff. AY17-18


B.S. in Computer

Science

B.S. in Computer

Science (CS)

B.S. in Information

Technology (ITE)

Options:

CS, CIS, CN, IS

Options:

CN

Options:

IS

CS: Computer Science CIS: Computer Information System

CN: Computer Networking IS: Information Security

Current

Proposed


• Add additional coursework to degree options

– Add required math courses to CS degree option

– Restructure IS degree option to incorporate additional programming

language and mathematics requirements

– Add additional requirements to CIS and CN degree options to

incorporate additional system design courses and multiple operating

environments

– New required class in all degree options (CS,CIS,CN,IS) on

“Professional Ethics in Computing”



• Implications of changes

– Original thought was that we need only to change CIP codes for CIS

and CN options in the ACHE Program Inventory

• Upon further review, Academic Affairs determined this approach

would be rejected by ACHE and has sent the original CCR back to

the department to pursue different approach

• Result: CCR for a new Information Technology program w/ target of

implementing in AY17-18

• Based on unofficial feedback from eval. team leader, ABET will

agree to narrowing focus of accreditation to just CS and IS options if

can show approval of this change by ATSU BoT and ACHE


Action Plan – Curriculum Shortcomings • Implications of changes

– ABET requirements contradict the recent push over past 2-3 years to try to reduce credit hours in program to

as close to 120 credit hours as possible

• Need to find way to add anywhere from six to 12 hours worth of additional math classes to CS and IS

program

• Need to add anywhere from 1 to 6 hours of additional CS/CIS/CN courses to add degree programs to

address programming languages,

– Result:

• Elimination of general electives from all four Plans of Study

• We have been under pressure for many years to take a different approach to teaching Computer

Science 1 (CS1)

– Feeder institutions have been pushing that we accept their courses for this requirement

– Proposal is to move CS1 to Area V of the General Education/Pre-professional requirements

» Incoming students will have opportunity at start of term to take a placement exam

» Sufficient grade on that exam means we will waive the CS1 requirement

» Students who do not take the exam or fail to achieve sufficient score will be required to

take CS317 in their first semester at ATSU


Action Plan – Assessment & Cont. Improvement

• Program Educational Objectives will be revised to include characteristics of graduates at both

graduation and 2-3 years after graduation

– PEOs will be measured using Graduating Senior Exit Survey (each semester) and Alumni

Surveys (administered on 2-year cycle by Institutional Research)

• Program Educational Objectives and Student Outcomes will be reviewed at minimum on an

annual basis with the our Program Advisory Board

– Program Advisory Board will be an extension of our current Industry Advisory Board with

representation added from current students and recent alumni

• The Consolidated Action Plan will be reviewed with Faculty and Program Advisory Board on an

annual basis

– Additional narrative is to be added to the AY15-16 CAP detailing how plan will be used and

how it will be tracked over the AY

– Faculty will meet on a regular basis to review progress against plan with written meeting

minutes collected for all such meetings.


Implementation Timeline

AY16-17

• Modify CS/IS with objective of 2-yr interim accred.

• Structure changes to CIS/CN to prep. for split

AY17-18 • Formal split of CS and ITE

AY18-19

• CS - 2-yr Interim Review

• ITE - Initial Accreditation


Next steps in Accreditation • Implement approved curriculum changes for 2016-2017

• Shepard the split of the current CS program into CS and IT programs through the CC, BoT, and

ACHE

• Implement the action plan for assessment and continuous improvement

• Use the documents collected in support of prior items to generate the ABET Due Diligence

Response upon receipt of the “Draft Report to Commission” from ABET


Student Objectives

At time of Graduation

• Develop knowledge of fundamental core

concepts of Computer Science and their

applications.

• Develop analytical and problem solving

skills.

• Learn large-scale project development in

team development environment.

• Demonstrate oral and written

communication skills.

2-3 years after Graduation

• Can assume leadership roles or positions,

including team and project leader, within their

organization or have made significant progress

toward a graduate degree in computing.

• Use the background they have acquired in a

wide range of areas in computer science during

their undergraduate study as a basis for

continued growth of their professional

knowledge and skills.

• Use teamwork skills effectively in the

development of complex software systems.

• Display continued high ethical standards within

the community and profession.


Student Outcomes • Technical understanding of computer science

• Familiarity with common themes and principles

• Appreciation of the interplay between theory and practice

• System-level perspective and problem solving skills

• Communication and organization skills

• Commitment to life-long learning and professional responsibility


Student Outcome Program Educational Objective at time of Graduation

Technical understanding of computer science PO1, PO2, PO3

Familiarity with common themes and principles PO1, PO2, PO4

Appreciation of the interplay between theory and practice PO1, PO2, PO3

System-level perspective and problem solving skills PO1, PO2, PO3

Communication and organization skills PO3, PO4

Commitment to life-long learning and professional responsibility PO1, PO2, PO3

New Course Development

CS 310 – Ethics

This course is an applied introduction to the ethical problems

faced by computer scientists, professional codes of ethics in

computing, legal issues involved in technology, and the social

implications of computing and other digital technologies.

CIS 441 – Systems Integration & Architecture

This course exposes students to the Information Technology

(IT) hardware and systems software concepts. Topics include:

computer hardware, operating systems, system software,

hardware and software integration, operating procedures,

system performance, security/safety, and compatibility.

Student labs and hands-on activities will include: Windows,

Unix, and Linux systems, system utilities and software tools.


program update & abet site visit results

Documents