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Session 2793

The Creation of a Partnership to Guide the CIS Curriculum

Michael Doran, Jerrolyn Hebert, Haukur Ragnarsson, Gene Simmons, Joshua Harrison, Neil Henderson, Douglas Phillips, Mike Trippi

University of South Alabama / Accelerated Technologies Division of Mentor Graphics

Abstract

The computing industry is in a constant state of evolution. Technological changes are slow to be merged into the college curriculum. In many cases, faculty members at universities suffer from a lack of industry contact, which hinders this integration of new technology. In addition, to be effective, the curriculum must focus on core computer science concepts and not simply be at the mercy of current trends. To achieve an adequate balance there must be a cooperation and understanding between academia and industry. The theory of the core concepts must be reinforced by concrete experiences that support the learning environment. To this end, an industrial advisory council has been in place for many years at the School of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) at the University of South Alabama. These leaders from local and regional industry consult on a regular basis with the School’s administration and faculty. Recently, this has led to the creation of a partnership to support several targeted courses in the curriculum. Accelerated Technology (AT), a division of Mentor Graphics, is an international company based in Mobile and is focused on embedded real-time processing. It was recognized that a partnership would be mutually beneficial to both parties by providing much needed equipment, resources and expertise to the university as well as giving students - potentially future AT employees - practical experiences using state of the art equipment to supplement their course concepts. It was understood and planned that no theoretical changes would be made to the courses but that practical laboratory experiences would be integrated in order to reinforce the core concepts. The following courses were targeted for this joint venture: operating systems, networks, real-time systems and advanced networks. It was also anticipated that after students completed those courses that later in the curriculum during senior projects, directed studies or theses they might continue to develop projects that were initially started in those courses. The basic attributes of this partnership included: funding of two graduate fellowships, providing a substantial equipment grant, training the graduate fellows at AT and providing support and expertise throughout the year. The paper will report on the creation of the partnership and the observed impact on the CIS curriculum.

“Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Hebert, J., & McKinney, D. (2003, June), The Creation Of A Partnership To Guide The Cis Curriculum Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--12129