Computing Curricula 2001
Computer Science Volume

 

Chapter 3
Changes in the Computer Science Discipline

As we enter the new millennium, computer science is an enormously vibrant field. From its inception just half a century ago, computing has become the defining technology of our age. Computers are integral to modern culture and are the primary engine behind much of the world's economic growth. The field, moreover, continues to evolve at an astonishing pace. New technologies are introduced continually, and existing ones become obsolete almost as soon as they appear.

The rapid evolution of the discipline has a profound effect on computer science education, affecting both content and pedagogy. When CC1991 was published, for example, networking was not seen as a major topic area, accounting for only six hours in the common requirements. The lack of emphasis on networking is not particularly surprising. After all, networking was not yet a mass-market phenomenon, and the World Wide Web was little more than an idea in the minds of its creators. Today, networking and the web have become the underpinning for much of our economy. They have become critical foundations of computer science, and it is impossible to imagine that undergraduate programs would not devote significantly more time to this topic. At the same time, the existence of the web has changed the nature of the educational process itself. Modern networking technology enhances everyone's ability to communicate and gives people throughout the world unprecedented access to information. In most academic programs today -- not only in computer science but in other fields as well -- networking technology has become an essential pedagogical tool.

The charter of the CC2001 Task Force requires us to "review the Joint ACM and IEEE/CS Computing Curricula 1991 and develop a revised and enhanced version for the year 2001 that will match the latest developments of computing technologies." To do so, we felt it was important to spend part of our effort getting a sense of what aspects of computer science had changed over the last decade. We believe that these changes fall into two categories -- technical and cultural -- each of which have a significant effect on computer science education. The major changes in each of these categories are described in the individual sections that follow.

3.1 Technical changes

Much of the change that affects computer science comes from advances in technology. Many of these advances are part of a ongoing evolutionary process that has continued for many years. Moore's Law -- the 1965 prediction by Intel founder Gordon Moore that microprocessor chip density would double every eighteen months -- continues to hold true. As a result, we have seen exponential increases in available computing power that have made it possible to solve problems that would have been out of reach just a few short years ago. Other changes in the discipline, such as the rapid growth of networking after the appearance of the World Wide Web, are more dramatic, suggesting that change also occurs in revolutionary steps. Both evolutionary and revolutionary change affects the body of knowledge required for computer science and the educational process.

Technical advances over the past decade has increased the importance of many curricular topics, such as the following:

• The World Wide Web and its applications
• Networking technologies, particularly those based on TCP/IP
• Graphics and multimedia
• Embedded systems
• Relational databases
• Interoperability
• Object-oriented programming
• The use of sophisticated application programmer interfaces (APIs)
• Human-computer interaction
• Software safety
• Security and cryptography
• Application domains

As these topics increase in prominence, it is tempting to include them as undergraduate requirements. Unfortunately, the restrictions of most degree programs make it difficult to add new topics without taking others away. It is often impossible to cover new areas without reducing the amount of time devoted to more traditional topics whose importance has arguably faded with time. The CC2001 Task Force has therefore sought to reduce the required level of coverage in most areas so as to make room for new areas. This point is discussed further in Chapter 4.

3.2 Cultural changes

Computing education is also affected by changes in the cultural and sociological context in which it occurs. The following changes, for example, have all had an influence on the nature of the educational process:

• Changes in pedagogy enabled by new technologies. The technical changes that have driven the recent expansion of computing have direct implications on the culture of education. Computer networks, for example, make distance education much more feasible, leading to enormous growth in this area. Those networks also make it much easier to share curricular resources among widely distributed institutions. Technology also affects the nature of pedagogy. Demonstration software, computer projection, and individual laboratory stations have made a significant difference in the way computer science is taught. The design of computer science curricula must take into account those changing technologies.

   

• The dramatic growth of computing throughout the world. Computing has expanded enormously over the last decade. For example, in 1990, few households -- even in the United States -- were connected to the Internet. A U.S. Department of Commerce study [NTIA99] revealed that by 1999 over a third of all Americans had Internet access from some location. Similar growth patterns have occurred in most other countries as well. The explosion in the access to computing brings with it many changes that affect education, including a general increase in the familiarity of students with computing and its applications along with a widening gap between the skill levels of those that have had access and those who have not.

   

• The growing economic influence of computing technology. The dramatic excitement surrounding high-tech industry, as evidenced by the Internet startup fever of the past five years, has significant effects on education and its available resources. The enormous demand for computing expertise and the vision of large fortunes to be made has attracted many more students to the field, including some who have little intrinsic interest in the material. At the same time, the demand from industry has made it harder for most institutions to attract and retain faculty, imposing significant limits on the capacity of those institutions to meet the demand.

   

• Greater acceptance of computer science as an academic discipline. In its early years, computer science had to struggle for legitimacy in many institutions. It was, after all, a new discipline without the historical foundations that support most academic fields. To some extent, this problem persisted through the creation of CC1991, which was closely associated with the Computing as a Discipline report [Denning89]. Partly as a result of the entry of computing technology into the cultural and economic mainstream, the battle for legitimacy has largely been won. On many campuses, computer science has become one of the largest and most active disciplines. There is no longer any need to defend the inclusion of computer science education within the academy. The problem today is to find ways to meet the demand.

   

• Broadening of the discipline. As our discipline has grown and gained legitimacy, it has also broadened in scope. In its early years, computing was primarily focused on computer science. Over the years, an increasing number of fields have become part of a much larger, more encompassing discipline of computing. Our CC2001 Task Force believes that understanding how those specialties fit together and how the broadening of the discipline affects computer science education must be a critical component of our work.

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CC2001 Report December 15, 2001