Bridging the Gap between Computer Literacy and Computer Science

Ken Abernethy and

Kevin TreuFurman UniversityGreenville, SC, USA

Bob ShiveMillsaps CollegeJackson, MS, USA

4th Annual LTSN-ICS ConferenceNUI Galway

Galway, IrelandAugust 28, 2003

The Background

All computer science departments agree that . . .

. . . there is no agreement on the content of a beginning computer science course.

The Background (cont’d)

A grant from the Associated Colleges of the South (USA) funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation gave us the opportunity to consider a new type of course that goes beyond traditional computer literacy.

After several iterations, we saw an opportunity to develop a course that is a bridge from literacy to CS.

The idea is based on using concepts that serve as a “follow-on” from pre-college work or from a computer literacy course.

The new course should provide students a better forecast of CS than most literacy courses do.

The Challenge

Large numbers of students take a computer literacy/fluency course.

There are few options for them to move naturally to additional CS courses.

Very few of these students go on to enroll in the CS1 (or similar) course.

How can we attract some significant portion of these students to further sample the discipline?

The Current Situation

What is the “proper” preparation for the introductory computer science course (CS1)?

Literacy/FluencyCourse

CS 0Course

CS 1Course

an optional preparationfor CS1

students could move along these lines

“normal” preparationfor CS1

No PrerequisiteCourses

Problems with this Approach

The literacy course concentrates on computer applications and generally does not provide an introduction to algorithmic thinking.

Literacy/FluencyCourse

CS 1Course

not very good preparation for success in CS1

Few additional options for a

follow-on course

Problems with this Approach (cont’d)

Few students in the literacy course are likely to be attracted to CS0.

Literacy/FluencyCourse

CS 0Course

few students take this route

Problems with this Approach (cont’d)

The CS0 course attracts only those students who already think they may want to major in CS or a related discipline.

CS 0Course

CS 1Course

doesn’t attract a large potential audience

Two Questions

Is there a type of computing course (different from literacy or CS0) that would: be attractive to students in general; encourage them to consider continuing with CS1?

What topics might provide the content for a course that would: serve as a natural follow-on for the literacy course; act as a bridge to the discipline of computer science?

Proposed New Course

Algorithms and Problem-Solving with Scripting

Literacy/FluencyCourse

CS 1

Course

preparation for

Algorithms & Problem-Solving with Scripting

broad-based follow-on

possiblebeginning coursefor those with basiccomputing skills

Main Course Topics

Software development life cycle Algorithms and their development Web programming with JavaScript Server-side scripting with PHP Online databases with MySQL Writing applications for Access and Excel

using VBA Java applets Animation with Flash and ActionScript

Some Example Applications

Javascript slide show Code segment:

var myPix = new Array(“image1.jpg",”image2.jpg”)

var thisPic = 0

function processPrevious() {

if (thisPic > 0) {

thisPic--

document.myPicture.src=myPix[thisPic]

}

}

 

<!– HTML CODE -->

<IMG SRC=”image1.jpg” NAME=”myPicture”>

<A HREF=javascript:processPrevious()> Previous </A> &nbsp;

<A HREF=javascript:processNext()> Next </A>

Some Example Applications

Pedagogical objectives: Easy, fun Variables Arrays Assignment Subroutines Decisions Client-side scripting

http://s9000.furman.edu/~treu/test/slideshow.html

Some Example Applications

PHP display of thumbnails from database Code segment:$SQL = "Select Imageid,Image from images where PlayID=$pID order by Imageid";

$result = mysql_db_query("CSSC", $SQL);

$counter = 1;

echo "(Click on a thumbnail to see the full size image.)<p>";

echo "<table width=500 align=center border=0><tr>";

mysql_data_seek($result,0);

while ($resultObject = mysql_fetch_object ($result)) {

echo "<td align=center><img src=thumbnails/thumb" . $resultObject->Imageid . ".jpg></td>";

if ($counter % 4 == 0) { echo "</tr><tr>"; }

$counter = $counter + 1;

}

echo "</tr></table>";

Some Example Applications

Pedagogical objectives Fun (of course!) Database access Looping an indeterminate number of times Modulo arithmetic File manipulation Server-side scripting

http://www.centrestage.org/index.php ?folder=database&file=playthumbs&pID=12

Some Example Applications

Flash address book with ActionScript and PHP Code segment:

// Sending information from Flash to PHP

var c = new LoadVars();

c.thisLetter = "A";

c.send("dbquery.php","_self","POST");

// Receiving information from PHP

var c = new LoadVars();

c.onLoad = function() {

returnvals.text = "returned from php: \n\n";

for (i in this) {

returnvals.text += i + " = " + this[i] + "\n";

}

};

Some Example Applications

Pedagogical objectives Fun… Variables FOR loops Object-oriented programming

http://actionscript-toolbox.com/samplemx_php.php

Preliminary Student Response Scripting topics were added to 4 sections (81 students,

four different instructors) of a literacy course at Furman University during Spring of 2003.

Students were asked to describe their reaction to the coverage of scripting-related topics:

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

CSS JScript JScript Apps Forms Applets

much more

some more

about right

too much

Course Delivery – One Example

A variety of course delivery designs could be employed.

Materials will be further tested at Millsaps College and Furman University next year.

At Furman, a new course Introduction to Computing with Scripting will be taught in Spring of 2004. Assumes Web authoring skills and basic computing

knowledge Class carries four semester hours of credit

Topic coverage is being developed modularly. Meets five 50-minute periods per week Two-hour lab each week

See http://s9000.furman.edu/cs17 for online syllabus with tutorials.

Conclusions A course with a focus on algorithmic thinking and scripting is

proposed to provide a bridge experience from a computer literacy course to CS1.

The course design is modular to allow various delivery options.

Preliminary experiences with scripting modules in a literacy course have been positive:

37% of responses from 81 students in four sections indicated that they would have liked some more or much more coverage of sample scripting topics.

An additional 56% of responses indicated that the coverage was about right.

Only 7% of responses indicated that the coverage was too much. A new course, Introduction to Computing with Scripting, will

be offered and assessed at Furman University in Spring 2004. Modules will tested at Millsaps College during 2003-2004.

Comments / Questions ?