Hi all,
Regarding the thread between Mark and Simon: At Penn State we have
the following problem as I see it: We have a CS1 for budding
computer science/engineering students, and we also offer two
different CS1s for non-majors. The non-majors courses are oriented
either toward science or as a general education elective. However,
these courses are sometimes seen as "less than" the for-majors
course, so students in other disciplines try to schedule the
for-majors course, and then perhaps are turned off because of the
necessary "you'll need to know this in the long run" mentality of the
for-majors course. We've experimented with some other approaches,
but I think we still run into this roadblock. Thus, as is mentioned
in the thread, often the individual departments start offering
"programming for chemical engineers" etc. courses. The problem is
that this is sort of like me offering a course in linguistics because
I understand how compilers work. Also, the other departments (e.g.,
chem eng) can offer what is essentially a rudimentary programming
class as a 400-level course, whereas we always offer such classes at
the 100 level. This means that our course often will not apply to
needed graduation requirements unless the department changes their
requirements which means a lot of paperwork and hassle for them; it
also means that graduate students can not take the course for credit.
If anyone has implemented a solution to this problem within a CS or
CE department, please let me know either by posting here for all or
contacting me directly.
Thanks,
Steve Shaffer
===========================================
Dr. Steven C. Shaffer
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
(814) 865-0375
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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