Educating Next-Gen Computer Scientists

Published

January 31, 2018

Author(s)

Jeff Voas, D. Richard Kuhn, Celia Paulsen, Kim B. Schaffer

Abstract

Just as yeast, flour, water, and salt are to bread, algorithms, data structures, operating systems, database design, compiler design, and programming languages were computer science (CS) education's core ingredients in past years. Then, universities led the computer technology revolution by producing the inventors for Yahoo, Google, Facebook, and others. The overarching question that we pose in this roundtable is: Is university computer science education leading technology forward or are commercial technology demands leaving university computer science programs "in the dust"? [J. Voas and P. Laplante, "Is Software Engineering Driving Software?" IEEE Software, November, 2016.] There are two ways to think about this issue: is commercial technology forcing computer science curriculums to adapt, or are curriculums so rigid that they ignore various trends? The trend toward massive quantities of false information appears to be a new norm. Computer science graduates were once prized for their ability to generate accurate, actionable information. In a time where misinformation and disinformation run rampant, where do today's core CS educational ingredients fit in?

Citation

Computer (IEEE Computer)

Volume

51

Issue

1

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

computer science education, software engineering, software trends

Citation

Voas, J. , Kuhn, D. , Paulsen, C. and Schaffer, K. (2018), Educating Next-Gen Computer Scientists, Computer (IEEE Computer), [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=924636 (Accessed April 25, 2024)