SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT EDUCATIONAL PATHWAY (SDEP)

Colin Archibald, Valencia College Dick Grant, Seminole State College Craig Tidwell, University of Central

Florida

A collaborative project sponsored by the National Science Foundation

TODAY’S STEMTECH OBJECTIVES

Describe the AS Computer Programming => BAS Software Development project

What we have learned (so far).

Collect feedback and ideas from YOU, the STEMTech attendees

PROJECT OVERVIEW

PROJECT OVERVIEW History

Spring 2008 – Meeting of Statewide Computer Science & Computing Technology Discipline with 14 colleges and universities –

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we had an Applied Degree in Software Development?”

  Feb 2009 - Meeting of DirectConnect colleges at UCF Regional

Campuses: “We should combine resources and make a new track.”

October 2009 – Application to NSF – DUE – Advanced Technology Education (ATE) for a grant to create the BAS Software Development.

May 2010 – Received a project grant for $570k

July 2010 – Effective start date of NSF funding

WHO WE ARE

CountyPopulation(000)

Orange 1,072Osceola 264Seminole 411Lake 307Sumter 74Brevard 536 2,664

ACADEMIC PARTNERS Brevard Community College Lake Sumter Community College Seminole State College (formerly Seminole

Community College) Valencia College (formerly Valencia Community

College) University of Central Florida

WHAT DO WE HAVE NOW? Colleges UCF

AA Computer Science (Transfer Plan) => BS CS => MS CS => PhD

AA Info Technology (Transfer Plan) => BS IT

AS Computer Programming & Analysis => BIG GAPING HOLE BAS SD

AS Computer Information Technology => BAS (Applied

Science) IT

FLORIDA HIGHER ED Colleges offer AS using statewide

Curriculum Frameworks AS Computer Programming is one of these

Community Colleges transitioning to Colleges offering some Bachelors degrees

This BAS program could be offered by a College

Critical mass is not there for any one of the colleges …

… so this is a UCF BAS degree … … but created by the feeder colleges!

DIRECT CONNECT TO UCF An agreement among 4 colleges and UCF AA and AS graduates GUARANTEED

admission to UCF All credits earned during the AA or AS are

automatically accepted as credit toward Bachelors degree

AS => BAS seamless transfer

UCF REGIONAL CAMPUSES UCF’s main campus is full Joint use facilities on college campuses Students taking a degree at Regional Campuses

may NOT attend the Main campus BAS is a Regional Campuses Degree GenEd is taken at the “feeder” College The Core and the Track are taken at UCF The BAS SD Track courses are ONLINE

ISSUES TO ADDRESSWhat are the issues that we need to

address? AA CS => BS CS Not for everybody, but the only path to a

Bachelors degree in software

AS CP&A Doesn’t always offer the students what they need to get the career that they want

Employers want a Bachelor’s degree – especially larger companies Some require a 4-year degree as a minimum

2 year program is not long enough to achieve sufficient depth as a software developer

ISSUES TO ADDRESS (CONT.) What are the issues that we need to

address?

Take a look at job descriptions …

Searched nation-wide for jobs that have “Software Engineer” in the title.

The job descriptions did not match the BS CS program outcomes

They require OJT (On the Job Training) “2 years of experience”

JOB DESCRIPTIONS POSTED Example search results:

They require a Bachelors degree. Associate Degrees (424) Bachelor Degrees (8,975)

In Orlando, where the Education level is specified there were -

Associate Degrees (12) Bachelor Degrees (224)

INDUSTRY PARTNERS Lockheed Martin Disney SAIC AAA Northrop Grumman EA Sports United Space Alliance Every company that was invited to

participate agreed to participate.

PROJECT DELIVERABLES Curriculum Alignment

Be sure that the colleges have similar outcomes for the AS degree to facilitate transition into the BAS SD courses

Industry Advisory Board - active in creating the curriculum DACUM Intercollegiate Software Competition BAS SD Curriculum Course Development Online Advising / Communities Faculty Development Outreach to High Schools, under-represented groups Marketing Dissemination

PARTNER ROLES

ROLE OF PARTNERS IN PROJECT Academic Partners

Understand the learning needs of the student

Cognitive Development

Application

Comprehension

Knowledge

ROLE OF PARTNERS IN PROJECT Academic Partners

Understand the employment needs of industry

Create & deliver a curriculum that makes sense to the student AND to the employer

Engaging, accessible, interesting, exciting, participatory, hands-on, and experiential

Relevant and responsive to employer needs AS -> BAS smooth transition

Provide academic advisors with support, training and information on the program

Support the Intercollegiate Programming Competition, faculty development opportunities, and curriculum alignment

ACADEMIC PARTNERS IN PROJECT (CONTINUED)

ROLE OF INDUSTRY PARTNERS IN PROJECT Industry Partners

Develop a Curriculum (DACUM) – What makes sense to industry in the curriculum?

Ensure graduates are employable at graduation

Course Content Development

Share findings and opinions regarding software developer requirements

Continual feedback from industry professionals

Define projects for “in-class experience” Model real-world examples to be used in courses (help

meet OJT requirements for employment)

Internships – after 3rd year

Hire graduates

Be involved in annual intercollegiate programming competition

Examples include - support, recognition, judging, and sponsorship

Provide feedback and review Participate in advisory meetings and conference calls

Adjunct professors and guest lecturers

INDUSTRY PARTNERS IN PROJECT (CONTINUED)

RESULTS OF PROGRAMMING COMPETITION HELD AT SEMINOLE STATE COLLEGE ON MARCH 19, 2011

DATA AND RESULTS 34 competitors 4 programming problems 3 hours to complete Winners determined by number of

problems solved and the total time taken.

The competitors could choose their language from C, C++, Java, C#, or Visual Basic.

Judging of the solutions was done by professional software developers from AAA, Clear Channel, and Lockheed Martin.

WINNERS 1st, 2nd and 3rd place

winners Prizes $500, $250, and

$100 Drawing for $300 in gift

cards and 10 EA games Prizes donated by AAA,

Disney, EA, and Cengage Publishing

WINNERS

CURRICULUM TO DATE

COURSES AND SEQUENCE

TRACK INFORMATION New BAS Track in Software Development Entry Point

AS Programming and Analysis (63 hrs) OR Other AS with “bridge courses”

Core Requirements: 1. UCF General Education Program (+ 18 - 21

hrs) 2. Common Program Prerequisites (none) 3. Required Core (10 - 11 hrs)

New Track in Software Development (21 hrs)

Electives (from S/W Dev (?) 8 – 12 hrs)Total BAS: 120 hrs

CURRENT STATUS SW I and SW II courses have been developed and

were completed in June 2011

Major courses approved by UCF curriculum committee September, 2011.

Track to be approved by November 2011

Started working on other courses in Fall 2011 to be ready for Spring 2012 and Summer 2012 Advanced Database Solutions Software Configuration, Integration, and Testing

CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT

CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT Ongoing between UCF and the 4

state/community colleges (started 6 years ago with math). Groups – Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science,

Math, and Physics Aligning common course content for consistency. Evaluated based on priority of material.

M = Mandatory O = Optional V = Overview R = Review

Sharing of best practices, techniques, and labs.

COURSES ALIGNED TO DATE Introduction to Programming Java Advanced Java Database Management Web programming Other related courses Plan to include secondary and middle

school faculty as related.

EXAMPLE ALIGNMENTCOP 2800 Java Programming

M=MandatoryO=OptionalR=Review

V=OverviewTopic Sub-Topics

Object Oriented concepts

Constructors, mutators, accessors M

Static vs Instance (methods or data) M

Polymorphism M

Encapsulation M

Overriding and overloading M

Graphics M

Inheritence M

Classes and objects M

Package and import M

Interfaces M

Access modifiers M

Exceptions

Trycatch M

Final block M

Catch or specify rule M

Throw and Throws M

Multiple catch blocks M

Inherting from the exception class M

File I/O

Character and binary M

File class M

Data streams M

byte streams M

Filtered streams M

Persistance and object I/O M

Data TypesDescribe/Use all data types M

Control and Iteration Structures

Describe/Use all control and iteration structures M

Methods

Parameters M

this reference M

Ambiguous overloaded methods M

Static vs instance methods M

Turntypes M

Arrays

Single dimension array structures M

Multi dimensional array O

Arrays as parameters (arguments) M

Returning from methods M

Arrays of objects M

COP1000 - Intro to programming

M=MandatoryO=OptionalR=Review

V=OverviewTopic Sub-Topics

Control Structures - selection and repetition

Relational and logical operators M If-then-else statements M Pre-test and post-test loops M Case statements M

Distinguish between sentinal control and counter control loops M Nesting M Iteration, repetition, do-until statements M Block level scoping O

Variables, data types and expressions

Real vs whole numbers MArithemetic operators MAssignment statements MType casting MString data type OConstants MMixed type expressions (adding real and whole numbers) MVariable scope, Block scope O Arithmetic operator order of precedence MIdentifier naming M

Comments MReserved words M

Arrays

Dimensions of arrays MSubscripting MInitialization MLooping through MProblem solving MSorting and searching arrays VOrganize/process multi-dimensional arrays M/VDebug problems with arrays M

Modularization

Predefined functions MUser defined functions MDecomposing problems into functions MUse header files O

Problem solving with functions and debugging with functions MPassing arguments MReturning values M

Problem solving/algorithm development

Syntax and logic errors MPseudo code ODebugging MFlowcharting OLogical analysis M

Input/Output

Command Prompt I/O MFile I/O MOutput formatting MSimple database access O

Binary and hex numbers

Convert binary to decimal (and vice versa) O/VConvert hex to binary (and vice versa) O/VAscii character set O/V

Decsribe data size measurements (bit, byte, kb, mb, gb, tb, etc) V

SDLCIntroduce waterfall and agile O/V

ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS - ADVISING, TEACHING, ETC

ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS Advising, teaching, office hours, TA’s, student group work, etc. Use a variety of tools

FaceBook!

LEARNING FROM STUDENTS

ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS - ADVISING, TEACHING, ETC• Reducing the “distance” in distance education

• Skype to have students “share screen” for online office hours

• Identified a good web-cam for faculty, advisors, students (audio is important) Ordered a bunch of them.

• One advisor at Valencia is communicating face-to-face at a distance with students and faculty

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT

JAVA AND ADVANCED JAVA FOR FACULTY Industry professional lead week-long

courses to strengthen the pool of faculty at the 4 colleges

Next… C#

RISKS, CHALLENGES, “ISSUES”

Get students/faculty/advisors used to communicating with online tools

Find credential-able faculty who can do a good job delivering these classes online

Working with the ‘processes’ at UCF

Keeping up with what we need to know in S/W

Understanding students who are younger than the internet

THE STUDENTS HAVE CHANGED

Then…

and Now

WHAT WE’VE LEARNED Community Colleges can “drive”

curriculum for major university Don’t compete with university program(s) Get university people on your side through

involvement Communicate constantly Be willing to solve the university’s problem

if you caused it!

WHAT WE’VE LEARNED Community Colleges can cooperate and

still compete for students Do what’s right for the student

Local industry wants a seat at the table Don’t just ask for their input – use it also

Implementing curriculum always takes longer than you think!

ATTENDEE FEEDBACK / IDEAS How do you communicate with

regional colleges/universities in your area?

Would regional 4-year schools be willing to partner to put together a 2+2 program with your institution? Determine a good fit!

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