Computing in Liberal Arts

SIGCSE Committee on Computing Education in Liberal Arts Colleges

Summary of Major Activities (2024-04-08)

Building Community in Liberal Arts Computer Science

• Sponsored SIGCSE Technical Symposium full-day event on Wednesday, March 20th in Portland, OR
  • 40 attendees
  • Event was funded in part through an NSF IUSE workshop grant no 2342587
  • Morning presentation topics:
    • BA versus BS Degrees in Computer Science
    • A Minor in Artificial Intelligence Using Liberal Arts Courses
    • Reports from Students and Instructors on a New Synthesized Pedagogical Model for CS1 in Python
    • Challenges and Opportunities in Collaborating on Instructional Materials
  • Additional morning breakout sessions on hiring in CS at liberal arts colleges, valuing pedagogical research in tenure and promotion, and future ideas for committee work
  • Afternoon workshop on working with CS2023
    • Introduction to working with committee developed step-by-step process (see below for more detail)
  • Event page: https://computing-in-the-liberal-arts.github.io/SIGCSE2024-Affiliated-Event/
    • Presentation proposals and materials for this and previous affiliated events are all archived on our affiliated event webpages
• Tutorial Sessions at CCSC Regional Conferences
  • The Committee has held tutorial sessions at many CCSC regional conferences themed around how liberal arts institutions and small programs can work with CS2023
    • 2022: CCSC-NE, CCSC-MW, CCSC-E, CCSC-NW
    • 2023: CCSC-NE, CCSC-SE, CCSC-RM, CCSC-MW, CCSC-E

Advocating for Liberal Arts Computer Science

• Activities with ACM/IEEE Task Force for CS2023
  • Invited to write official liberal arts response to CS2023, published in SIGCSE 2023 proceedings and with updated version included in CS2023 Curricular Practices collection
    • https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3545945.3569793
    • https://csed.acm.org/curricular-practices-volume/
  • Advised Task Force on community surveys about CS Core topics
  • Provided feedback on all draft versions of CS2023
• Developing Process Workbook and Spreadsheet Tool
  • Supported curricular practices article advocating for on mission- and identity-driven curriculum development with a step-by-step workbook and spreadsheet tool
  • Current version of workbook published on our website: https://computing-in-the-liberal-arts.github.io/CS2023/
  • Developed training workshops to support usage of the workbook and spreadsheet tool (see above)
• NSF IUSE proposals
  • NSF IUSE Workshop proposal “Workshops Supporting the Development of a Workbook for Distinctive Computing Programs Aligned with Liberal Arts Institutional and Departmental Identity”, funded January 2024, award number 2342587, PI James Teresco, Siena College
  • NSF IUSE Track Two, Level One proposal “Transforming Computer Science Curriculum Design at Liberal Arts Institutions”, submitted January 2024, Co-PIs Amanda Holland-Minkley, Washington & Jefferson College; James Teresco, Siena College; Karl Schmitt, Trinity Christian College