From F.G.Moller@swansea.ac.uk Fri May 16 16:30:13 2008 Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 16:01:28 +0100 From: Professor Faron G Moller To: Research Staff Subject: [Cs-research] To P/G Students: The New Undergraduate Programme Dear P/G Students, Some of you may be aware that the Department is currently in the process of re-vamping its undergraduate programme, based on very many factors not least of which being student feedback, in particular from 3rd-year students at Gregynog. Below is a brief description of the changes to be implemented for the first-year programme. These changes will obviously have an effect on the later years, and the second year will change accordingly from 2009. Many of you have been through our undergraduate programme, and/or will have experience of the first-year programme through working in Program Advisory, and as such any comments that you may have on the changes to be implemented - positive or negative - would be welcome. I would be happy if those of you with an interest in this topic would arrange a meeting amongst yourselves, and formulate your comments to be received by the Department Learning and Teaching Committee. If you like, I could give a presentation at the start of this meeting describing the new syllabus more fully. There is no requirement on you to do this; anything that you do should be organised through the P/G Student Representatives. Regards, Faron Moller. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= There are four strands to cater for in our undergraduate programme: 1. Programming Technology 2. Professional Issues 3. Computers and Systems 4. Mathematics for Computing 1. Programming Technology ---------------------- CS_141 PROGRAMMING PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE will change dramatically, with far greater emphasis on core imperative programming principles during the first semester. There will be a January Exam worth 20% and a June Exam worth 30%, with year-long continuous assessment worth 50%. The CS_121 DATA STRUCTURES and CS_132 ALGORITHMS AND AUTOMATA modules will be replaced by CS_142 PROGRAMMING PERFORMANCE AND EFFICIENCY, a 10pt module in TB2 which will be strongly linked to CS_141, in that algorithms and data structures will be developed on paper in this module and then subsequently implemented in CS_141. CS_125 LOGIC PROGRAMMING will be replaced by CS_191 FUNCTIONAL PROGRAMMING, which will run in TB2, and also be linked to CS_142 in that data structures and algorithms - particularly those recursively-defined - as introduced on paper in CS_142 will be implemented here. 2. Professional Issues ------------------- CS_134 PROFESSIONAL ISSUES AND SOFTWARE ENGINEERING will be replaced by two new modules: * CS_124 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY will essentially be the same as CS_134 with the small amount of SE replaced by extra PI; and * CS_144 SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES will be a 10pt module in TB2 introducing, eg, IDEs, testing, and version control. It is intended that this module should also be linked to CS_141. 3. Computers and Systems --------------------- CS_113 FROM LANGUAGES TO HARDWARE will be more machine-oriented, with labs to do, eg, a bit of assembly programming. CS_108: COMPUTERS AND COMPUTING will be a 10pt module, complementing CS_113, by giving a user-view rather than a machine-view of computers. It will introduce, eg, GUIs and CLIs; kernels, device drivers and APIs; and file systems and basic networking. There will be labs to do, eg, a bit of simple Linux/Windows/Mac command line interface stuff. CS_116 MODELLING COMPUTING SYSTEMS will remain essentially unchanged. CS_199 COMPUTERS UNPLUGGED will remain essentially unchanged. 4. Mathematics for Computing ------------------------- The two Maths Modules MAM111 and MAM113 will be replaced by: * CS_106: Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science I; and * CS_126: Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science II These are identical to MAM111 and MAM113 but with an extra 1 hour per week mandatory problem session presented by the CS Department giving computing applications; and with the fortnightly problem sheets counting 30% towards the module mark (so the exam will be worth 70%, not 100%). Unless otherwise stated, all modules above will be assessed 30% assignment and 70% examination. =========================================================================== As a final change to the programme, tutorials will be more structured, and delivered by only a few members of staff to larger groups of 10-15 students. They will still support the PROFESSIONAL ISSUES module (CS_124), in that 1st-year reports and presentations will still be handled through tutorials, but there will be a weekly programme of material for the tutors to use. cs-research mailing list cs-research@swansea.ac.uk https://cs-mail.swan.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/cs-research