SIGCSE

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Needs/Opportunities of Faculty in Small CS Departments

Notes

The following note by Cathy Bareiss suggests preliminary work that may fit naturally within the SIGCSE Committee framework.

There has been some initial work done to study the needs specific to those teaching computer science in small departments. A small number of people have formed a committee that has done an initial survey and presented the results and gotten feedback at regional conferences this fall.

We are now at a stage where we need help to get some work done. We have identified two areas of need:

Area 1) Statistical study of what is required to have a good program (including but not limited to faculty load, number of prep's, computer labs, support, budget, etc.) This area would limit itself to small departments (typically 4 or less full-time faculty members) initially. For these numbers to be of use for small departments in assessment, they need to be of similar departments. Future work could expand this to med. to large departments

Area 2) Best practices and other help. This area would be of interest to small departments (and other departments) that would need assistance keeping up in the ever changing field of computer science. This would include (but not be limited to) assessment tools, best-practices, sharing of expertise, etc.

We are looking for people to join this effort. We hope to have a meeting during SIGCSE to come up with a time line for future events. If you are interested, this conversation will continue on the SIGCSE-committee list serve or contact me directly.

created December 28, 2002 last revised December 28, 2002

For more information, please contact Henry M. Walker at sigcse@cs.grinnell.edu.

	There has been some initial work done to study the needs specific to those teaching computer science in small departments. A small number of people have formed a committee that has done an initial survey and presented the results and gotten feedback at regional conferences this fall.
	We are now at a stage where we need help to get some work done. We have identified two areas of need:
	Area 1)	Statistical study of what is required to have a good program (including but not limited to faculty load, number of prep's, computer labs, support, budget, etc.) This area would limit itself to small departments (typically 4 or less full-time faculty members) initially. For these numbers to be of use for small departments in assessment, they need to be of similar departments. Future work could expand this to med. to large departments
	Area 2)	Best practices and other help. This area would be of interest to small departments (and other departments) that would need assistance keeping up in the ever changing field of computer science. This would include (but not be limited to) assessment tools, best-practices, sharing of expertise, etc.
	We are looking for people to join this effort. We hope to have a meeting during SIGCSE to come up with a time line for future events. If you are interested, this conversation will continue on the SIGCSE-committee list serve or contact me directly.