Blogs (19) >>
Fri 17 Mar 2023 11:10 - 11:35 at 713 - Computing and Liberal Arts Chair(s): Chase McCoy

Writing skills are often considered unimportant by computer science students and were under-emphasized in our curriculum. We describe our experience embedding CS-specific writing instruction at scale in most of our large, core, first- and second-year Computer Science courses, each with 300-800+ students. Our approach is to collaborate with a writing specialist and a community of course instructors, centralize the management of writing teaching assistants, and introduce a variety of relevant genres and contexts to help students develop and apply writing skills. We outline the institutional support and organization crucial to a project of this scale. In addition, we report on a survey collecting student perception of the writing instruction/assessment. We reflect on both quantitative and qualitative evidence of success, and the challenges that we faced. We believe that many of these challenges will be common across institutions, particularly those with large courses.

Fri 17 Mar

Displayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change

10:45 - 12:00
Computing and Liberal ArtsPapers at 713
Chair(s): Chase McCoy Indiana University
10:45
25m
Paper
Computer Science with Theatricality: Creating Memorable Moments in CS50 with the American Repertory Theater during COVID-19In-Person
Papers
David J. Malan Harvard University
DOI
11:10
25m
Paper
Embedding and Scaling Writing Instruction Across First- and Second-Year Computer Science CoursesIn-PersonERT Best PaperGlobal
Papers
Lisa Zhang University of Toronto Mississauga, Bogdan Simion University of Toronto Mississauga, Michael Kaler University of Toronto Mississauga, Amna Liaqat University of Toronto Mississauga, Daniel Dick University of Toronto Mississauga, Andreas Bergen University of Toronto Mississauga, Michael Miljanovic Ontario Tech University, Andrew Petersen University of Toronto
DOI
11:35
25m
Paper
Computer Science Curriculum Guidelines: A New Liberal Arts PerspectiveIn-Person
Papers
Amanda Holland-Minkley Washington & Jefferson College, Jakob Barnard University of Jamestown, Valerie Barr Bard College, Grant Braught Dickinson College, Janet Davis Whitman College, David Reed Creighton University, Karl Schmitt Trinity Christian College, Andrea Tartaro Furman University, Jim Teresco Siena College
DOI