Review Assessment Report

CSCI 1108, CSCI 1151, CSCI 1152, and CSCI 1153.

Critical thinking skills are assessed by tests, homework, and in-class activities requiring students to not only use correct syntax, but determine how to approach and organize their code in a logical and methodical fashion. Testing of the code is emphasized and the formation of hypotheses prior to writing code, but also experimentation to explore the effects of changes to code. Difficulties arise in student time management and patience leading to "quick and dirty" programming or explanations such as "I did it this way because it worked" or haphazard changes to student code "until it works" without developing a mental model of the underlying processes. From the instructor side, teaching critical thinking is always a difficult and time intensive process that can easily fall by the wayside when students have not yet mastered basic syntax.

CSCI 1108, CSCI 1151, CSCI 1152, and CSCI 1153.

I understand quantitative reasoning to include such things as the ability to assess program output and distinguish between reasonable unreasonable outcomes. Also, identifying appropriate tools for different tasks, such as the use of while loops for unbounded repetition and the use of for loops for "counting" repetition. 1108 has many opportunities for students to engage in quant reasoning due to its many "real world" assignments. Likewise 1153 draws many of its questions from the sciences. Assessments show that there is a significant divide between successful students engaging in quantitative reasoning and the remainder of students flailing around in their implementations, with some students in the middle developing over the course of each semester. Another challenge is the need for better aligned assessments to gather this data as it is currently mostly anecdotal due to the shifting responsibilities and new faculty over the past few years.

CSCI 1108, CSCI 1151, CSCI 1152, and CSCI 1153.

I understand information and digital literacy to include things such as the ability to use books and the internet to seek out and integrate information, as well as computer skills including but not limited to: typing proficiency, use of hotkeys, folder navigation, file naming, use of zip files, effective emailing, etcetera. These skills are assessed by open-internet assignments, required citation of sources, and the use of tools such as the command prompt, which introduces students to text interfaces. These skills are mostly assessed indirectly and constantly as the use of the internet as an external brain is essential to success in any computer science class.