Ovetta Sampson’s Post

We need innovators! This problem is not only seen at the University level, but even in entry level educational opportunities with children. We love to support the idea of pumping out more software engineers without first researching what do we need right now and more importantly in the future? Imagine building the confidence of a child into a dead end career. It’s scary to think about what the tech industry will look like in the next 3-4 years. But even scarier when we are all content in wasting talent on skills that will no longer be needed in human form.  Are we still teaching children how to write checks?  Are we still teaching them how to write in cursive? Etc.  The world is changing, I hope we can try to keep up.  #computing #tech #ComputerScience #colleges #universities #CSMajor #undergraduates #identity #IdentityInclusiveComputing #emergingdelaware #emergingteens #tequity

(Gifted Article: Universities Have A Computer Science Problem) "I used to think computing education might be stuck in a nesting-doll version of the engineer’s fallacy, in which CS departments have been asked to train more software engineers without considering whether more software engineers are really what the world needs. Now I worry that they have a bigger problem to address: how to make computer people care about everything else as much as they care about computers." This is a very real problem at a number of universities. Everyone wants to major in CS, and yet, there's not enough in the curricula that ensures students understand that computing doesn't exist in a vacuum. Additionally, if we want to eradicate the harms present in the technologies, we have to also ensure students (and grads) understand how the harms happen in the environments in which they live, learn, and work. You can't address one without addressing the other. It's exactly why I created my course at Duke and why I do the work I do. This felt like the professional confirmation I needed to "just keep swimming." h/t Alex Hanna, Ph.D. #computing #tech #ComputerScience #colleges #universities #CSMajor #undergraduates #identity #IdentityInclusiveComputing #AiiCE https://lnkd.in/eZvnCg7c

Is a computer science degree enough for thriving in technical jobs these days? As complexity grows, the need for interdisciplinarity, especially some anchoring in the humanities, becomes more important. 💡 🌐 A Surge in Demand The allure of the technology sector's wealth, power, and influence has led to a significant uptick in CS majors, with Stanford and MIT witnessing more than a doubling in the proportion of graduates over the last decade. This burgeoning interest has not only placed administrative pressures on universities but also fueled a competition for prestige, manifesting in diverse CS degree offerings across various academic departments. 🎓 The Rise of Colleges of Computing In response to the escalating demand and to accommodate the multifaceted nature of computing, institutions like MIT, Cornell, and UC Berkeley have established dedicated colleges of computing. This strategic move underscores the elevation of computing to a higher-order domain of knowledge, signifying its pervasive influence across various disciplines. As Charles Isbell, former dean of Georgia Tech’s college of computing, notes, "Computing was going to be a big deal." This, more broadly, is consistent with the rise of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workers. 🔍 Centralization vs. Integration The centralization of computer science education raises fundamental questions about its impact on academia and society. While dedicated computing colleges offer the promise of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, there is also concern about further isolating computing from other disciplines. In the article, Mark Guzdial, a former faculty member in Georgia Tech’s computing college, shares his experience, revealing tensions between CS and other fields, emphasizing the need for computing education that is both truly interdisciplinary and outward-looking. 💡 The challenge lies in not just producing proficient software engineers but in cultivating a generation of computer professionals who are as invested in societal welfare as they are in technological advancement. The goal is to ensure that computing serves as a tool for addressing broader issues, but this will require a renewed commitment to ethics and engagement with morality. #ComputerScience #EducationInnovation #InterdisciplinaryLearning #FutureOfWork https://lnkd.in/e7xtvdtR

This article raises good questions about the consequences of placing Computer Science within an engineering school or making it an independent college, as CMU, GA Tech, MIT and Cornell have done (in 1988, 1990, 2019 and 2020, respectively). Most recently, UC Berkeley announced last year it would be following suit, and creating the university’s first new college in more than half a century. The author, Washington University in St. Louis Professor of Film & Media Studies and Professor of Computer Science & Engineering Ian Bogost, asks “whether computing ought to be seen as a superfield that lords over all others, or just a servant of other domains, subordinated to their interests and control?” The answer to this question has important implications for students, and, of course, society at large! A stand-alone CS department can define its own requirements, such as the extent to which a student will be broadly educated about the context for their work - or not. At Lantern College Counseling, LLC, I advise students wanting to major in CS to ask important questions about what they will actually be studying and experience at a specific institution. Where is the CS department housed at a university and in which school(s) can they study CS? The School of Arts and Sciences? Engineering? Computer Science? Other? What are the requirements for the major and the degree (beyond the CS major)? What types of opportunities are there for students to take courses in other schools or colleges at the university? Major or minor in other disciplines? Professor Bogost spoke with Charles Isbell, a former dean of Georgia Tech’s college of computing and now the provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who said that “setting up colleges of computing “absolutely runs the risk” of empowering a generation of professionals who may already be disengaged from consequences to train the next one in their image.” I am reminded that when I was a professor of CS at Wellesley College in the 2000s, CS enrollments were at a nadir. It is hard to believe given the state of CS enrollments now, but the department struggled to fill CS classes and CS students asked us for help talking with their parents about their choice to major in CS - parents were worried that their children would not have a job upon graduation due to outsourcing jobs to other countries! We created materials about our graduates’ job placement rates for students and the strong value of a liberal arts education to share with their parents. If anyone needs evidence of this, just look to MIT’s president, Sally Kornbluth who has a BA degree in political science from Williams College! #collegeadmissions #collegeprep #collegecounseling #collegecounselor #collegeplanning #collegebound #collegesearch #collegeapplications #collegeadmission #collegeapplication #collegesuccess #collegetips #collegelife #college #collegesanduniversities #cs

I have lots of thoughts on this article! #collegeadmissions #collegeprep #collegecounseling #collegecounselor #collegeplanning #collegebound #collegesearch #collegeapplications #collegeadmission #collegeapplication #collegesuccess #collegetips #collegelife #college #collegesanduniversities #cs

🚀 The Growing Complexity of Computer Science Education As universities worldwide see a surge in computer science (CS) majors, a complex problem emerges: how to effectively teach CS in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. At Stanford and MIT, CS major proportions have dramatically increased, reflecting a broader trend across North America. This shift not only places administrative pressure on universities but also prompts a reassessment of CS education's structure and goals. Institutions like MIT, Cornell, and UC Berkeley have responded by establishing dedicated colleges of computing, signifying computing's elevation to a domain of knowledge akin to law or engineering. However, this development also raises critical questions about computing's role in academia and society. Should computing dominate other fields, or should it serve them? The answer could shape the future of education and technology. 👉 Like, share, and follow for more insights into the future of education and technology. #ComputerScience #EducationInnovation #TechTrends #AcademicEvolution #FutureOfWork

Last year, 18 percent of Stanford University seniors graduated with a degree in computer science, more than double the proportion of just a decade earlier. Over the same period at MIT, that rate went up from 23 percent to 42 percent. These increases are common everywhere: The average number of undergraduate CS majors at universities in the U.S. and Canada tripled in the decade after 2005, and it keeps growing. Students’ interest in CS is intellectual—culture moves through computation these days—but it is also professional. Young people hope to access the wealth, power, and influence of the technology sector. https://lnkd.in/d2Cxzf-m

An argument that applies to lawyers and medical doctors, too... "Their vision does not reflect the idea that computing can or should be a superordinate realm of scholarship, on the order of the arts or engineering. Rather, they are proceeding as though it were a technical school for producing a certain variety of very well-paid professionals. A computing college deserving of the name wouldn’t just provide deeper coursework in CS and its closely adjacent fields; it would expand and reinvent other, seemingly remote disciplines for the age of computation. Near the end of our conversation, Isbell mentioned the engineering fallacy, which he summarized like this: Someone asks you to solve a problem, and you solve it without asking if it’s a problem worth solving. I used to think computing education might be stuck in a nesting-doll version of the engineer’s fallacy, in which CS departments have been asked to train more software engineers without considering whether more software engineers are really what the world needs. Now I worry that they have a bigger problem to address: how to make computer people care about everything else as much as they care about computers."

Interesting piece about how colleges might think about CS education for a society that needs more than just software engineers. "The struggle to figure out the best organizational structure for computing education is, in a way, a microcosm of the struggle under way in the computing sector at large." #studentsfirst #collegeadvising #computerscience #liberalarts