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Program Update & ABET Site Visit
Results
Department of Mathematical, Computer and
Natural Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences
Capstone Projects • Summer 2015
– Enhancements to the Backstage Operations Management System for the Tennessee Valley Old-
Time Fiddlers Convention.
– Implementation of Molecular Biology themed Serious Educational Game for the iPad
– Re-design and enhancements to the Athens Learn to Read web presence
• Fall 2015
– Enhancements to the Backstage Operations Management System for the Tennessee Valley Old-
Time Fiddlers Convention -- Continued
– Implementation of Molecular Biology themed Serious Educational Game for the iPad – Continued
– Enhancement to the Athens Limestone United Way web presence and security audit
– Digital Humanities Research Project
• Upcoming Spring 2016
– Re-design and enhancements to the Limestone County Sheriff’s Rodeo web presence
– Re-design and enhancements to the Athens Limestone County 911 Dispatch web presence
– Re-design and enhancements to the Athens Limestone United Way web presence
– Implementation of Molecular Biology themed Serious Educational Game for the iPad -- Continued
Athens State University
Enrollment Data
Athens State University
Computer Science Majors Enrolled per Academic Year
Major Code
Academic Year
2013-14 2014-15 Fall 2015 *
1st Major
2nd Major
1st Major
2nd Major
1st Major
2nd Major
CIN 51 1 49 28
CIS 119 1 130 73 1
DPT 72 1 79 1 60 1
ISO 11 29 30
Total 1st Major
240
(undup) 276
(undup) 191
(undup)
* Fall term only.
Athens State University
Enrollment Trends
ABET: What is it and why is it important?
• ABET: What is it?
– ABET: Accreditation Board for
Engineering and Technology
– CHEA-recognized accreditor in the
fields of applied science, computing,
engineering, and engineering
technology
– Long-term partner of the ACM and
IEEE for accreditation of educational
programs in computer science
– Organized by discipline into
“commissions” with the Computing
Accrediting Commission responsible
for accrediting of computer science
programs
• ABET: Why is it important?
– Quickly becoming “table stakes” for
programs in computer science
• Industry trend towards requiring
job applicants to have degrees
from accredited institutions
• Many defense contractors,
including some of the major
players in our region, will not
reimburse tuition for students if
they are not enrolled in an
accredited program
Athens State University
The ABET Accreditation Process • Status
– Site visit: Sept. 20, 2015 – Sept. 22, 2015
– Preliminary report identified 8
shortcomings across the 5 evaluation
criteria
– Seven shortcomings were identified as
deficiencies
• Deficiencies preclude accreditation
– Institution can respond to these issues in
its response to the Draft Report
• Corrective actions MAY result in
shortcoming being reclassified to
weakness
• If Commission approves, then a 2-
year Interim Accreditation is
granted
Athens State University
ABET Final Report August 2016
CAC Meeting and Vote July 2016
Institution Due Diligence Response Draft Report + 30 days
ABET Release of Draft Report January 2016
Evaluation Team Site Visit
September 2015
Self-Study Document June 2015
Preliminary Self-Study
December 2014 √ √ √
ABET Accreditation Criteria • Criterion 1: Students
Policy and procedures for advising and evaluation of students towards attainment of student
outcomes, thereby enabling attainment of program educational outcomes
• Criterion 2: Program Educational Objectives Program has published set of objectives for graduates who 2-3 years after graduation that are periodically
reviewed by program constituents
• Criterion 3: Student Outcomes
Program has a documented and reviewed set of student outcomes that address key objectives
• Criterion 4: Continuous Improvement
Program must regularly use appropriate, documented process for assessing and evaluating
student outcomes
Athens State University
ABET Accreditation Criteria • Criterion 5: Curriculum
Curriculum must combine technical and professional requirements with general education
requirements and electives to prepare students for a professional career and further study in the
discipline in such a way that consistent with its program educational objectives and designed so
that student outcomes can be obtained
• Criterion 6: Faculty
Collectively, the faculty must have the technical breadth and depth to cover all curricular areas
while being of sufficient number to maintain stability, oversight, student interaction, and advising
• Criterion 7: Facilities
Classrooms, offices, labs, and associated equipment must be adequate to support attainment of
student outcomes and provide an atmosphere conducive to learning
• Criterion 8: Institutional Support
Institutional support and leadership must be adequate to ensure the quality and continuity of the
program.
Athens State University
ABET Student Outcome Evaluation Criteria • The program must enable students to attain by time of graduation:
a) An ability to apply knowledge of computing and mathematics appropriate to the program’s
student outcomes and to the discipline
b) An ability to analyze a problem, and identify and define the computing requirements
appropriate to the problem
c) An ability to design, implement, and evaluate a computer-based system, process,
component, or program to meet desired needs
d) An ability to function effectively on team to accomplish a common goal
e) An understanding of professional, ethical, legal, and social issues and responsibilities
f) An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences
g) An ability to analyze the local and global impact of computing on individuals, organizations,
and society
h) Recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in continuing professional development
i) An ability to use current techniques, skills, and tools necessary for computing practice
Athens State University
Shortcomings - Criterions 2, 3,4, and 5
• No audit trail could be found that indicates
that assessment data is being used
effectively at the department level to
manage curriculum and instruction; narrative
in assessment plans need to provide this +
need to document an audit trail of meetings
where this information is reviewed and
incorporated into operational plans. (Crit. 4,
Rated: Deficiency)
• Faculty workload is excessive compared to
similar programs; no extra bandwidth for
faculty professional activities, program
continuity at risk in case of faculty attrition.
(Crit. 5, Rated: Concern)
Athens State University
• Program Educational Objectives (PEOs)
define characteristics desired of students at
graduation; ABET requires them to be
characteristics of students 2 to 3 years after
graduation (Crit. 2, Rated: Deficiency)
• No evidence found that PEOs and Student
Outcomes are reviewed with constituents
and revised accordingly; verbal proof
provided in interviews, no documented audit
trail. (Crit. 2 and 3, Rated: Deficiency)
Shortcomings – Criterion 5
• ABET standard for CS programs is 30 credit
hours of math and science beyond pre-
calculus trigonometry. (Crit. 5, Rated:
Deficiency)
– Math: 22 hours, Lab Sciences: 8 hours
– Great variation in requirements
between degree options
• ABET requires program to provide for
ethical, legal, and social development of
students. (Crit. 5, Rated: Deficiency)
– Complementary of work done in
Capstone experience
– No evidence of direct instruction within
curricula in this area
• Exposure to multiple programming
languages is limited, particularly in the
Information Security Plan of Study. (Crit. 5,
Rated: Deficiency)
• Exposure to multiple operating systems and
development environments is limited,
particularly in the CIS and CN Plans of
Study. (Crit. 5, Rated: Deficiency)
Athens State University
Action Plan – Curriculum Shortcomings
• Separate the CIS and CN degree options into new Information Technology program
– Students in those degree options are not “traditional” computer science students;
more interest in IT and network operations
– But we are getting feedback from industry that their requirements are for people
capable of dealing with “DevOps” positions
• DevOps – “Developer-Operations”, Example: “software engineer in test”
rather “software quality assurance associate”
– Our feeder institutions are intensely focused on producing graduates with A.A.S
and A.A.T. degrees rather than preparing students for further study via an A.S.
degree
• Focus on certificate programs
• Students coming to ATSU without sufficient preparation for the math required
by ABET’s standards for CS
Athens State University
ASU Programs in Computing, eff. AY17-18
Athens State University
B.S. in Computer
Science
B.S. in Computer
Science (CS)
B.S. in Information
Technology (ITE)
Options:
CS, CIS, CN, IS
Options:
CN
Options:
IS
CS: Computer Science CIS: Computer Information System
CN: Computer Networking IS: Information Security
Current
Proposed
Action Plan – Curriculum Shortcomings
• Add additional coursework to degree options
– Add required math courses to CS degree option
– Restructure IS degree option to incorporate additional programming
language and mathematics requirements
– Add additional requirements to CIS and CN degree options to
incorporate additional system design courses and multiple operating
environments
– New required class in all degree options (CS,CIS,CN,IS) on
“Professional Ethics in Computing”
Athens State University
Action Plan – Curriculum Shortcomings
• Implications of changes
– Original thought was that we need only to change CIP codes for CIS
and CN options in the ACHE Program Inventory
• Upon further review, Academic Affairs determined this approach
would be rejected by ACHE and has sent the original CCR back to
the department to pursue different approach
• Result: CCR for a new Information Technology program w/ target of
implementing in AY17-18
• Based on unofficial feedback from eval. team leader, ABET will
agree to narrowing focus of accreditation to just CS and IS options if
can show approval of this change by ATSU BoT and ACHE
Athens State University
Action Plan – Curriculum Shortcomings • Implications of changes
– ABET requirements contradict the recent push over past 2-3 years to try to reduce credit hours in program to
as close to 120 credit hours as possible
• Need to find way to add anywhere from six to 12 hours worth of additional math classes to CS and IS
program
• Need to add anywhere from 1 to 6 hours of additional CS/CIS/CN courses to add degree programs to
address programming languages,
– Result:
• Elimination of general electives from all four Plans of Study
• We have been under pressure for many years to take a different approach to teaching Computer
Science 1 (CS1)
– Feeder institutions have been pushing that we accept their courses for this requirement
– Proposal is to move CS1 to Area V of the General Education/Pre-professional requirements
» Incoming students will have opportunity at start of term to take a placement exam
» Sufficient grade on that exam means we will waive the CS1 requirement
» Students who do not take the exam or fail to achieve sufficient score will be required to
take CS317 in their first semester at ATSU
Athens State University
Action Plan – Assessment & Cont. Improvement
• Program Educational Objectives will be revised to include characteristics of graduates at both
graduation and 2-3 years after graduation
– PEOs will be measured using Graduating Senior Exit Survey (each semester) and Alumni
Surveys (administered on 2-year cycle by Institutional Research)
• Program Educational Objectives and Student Outcomes will be reviewed at minimum on an
annual basis with the our Program Advisory Board
– Program Advisory Board will be an extension of our current Industry Advisory Board with
representation added from current students and recent alumni
• The Consolidated Action Plan will be reviewed with Faculty and Program Advisory Board on an
annual basis
– Additional narrative is to be added to the AY15-16 CAP detailing how plan will be used and
how it will be tracked over the AY
– Faculty will meet on a regular basis to review progress against plan with written meeting
minutes collected for all such meetings.
Athens State University
Implementation Timeline
AY16-17
• Modify CS/IS with objective of 2-yr interim accred.
• Structure changes to CIS/CN to prep. for split
AY17-18 • Formal split of CS and ITE
AY18-19
• CS - 2-yr Interim Review
• ITE - Initial Accreditation
Athens State University
Next steps in Accreditation • Implement approved curriculum changes for 2016-2017
• Shepard the split of the current CS program into CS and IT programs through the CC, BoT, and
ACHE
• Implement the action plan for assessment and continuous improvement
• Use the documents collected in support of prior items to generate the ABET Due Diligence
Response upon receipt of the “Draft Report to Commission” from ABET
Athens State University
Student Objectives
At time of Graduation
• Develop knowledge of fundamental core
concepts of Computer Science and their
applications.
• Develop analytical and problem solving
skills.
• Learn large-scale project development in
team development environment.
• Demonstrate oral and written
communication skills.
2-3 years after Graduation
• Can assume leadership roles or positions,
including team and project leader, within their
organization or have made significant progress
toward a graduate degree in computing.
• Use the background they have acquired in a
wide range of areas in computer science during
their undergraduate study as a basis for
continued growth of their professional
knowledge and skills.
• Use teamwork skills effectively in the
development of complex software systems.
• Display continued high ethical standards within
the community and profession.
Athens State University
Student Outcomes • Technical understanding of computer science
• Familiarity with common themes and principles
• Appreciation of the interplay between theory and practice
• System-level perspective and problem solving skills
• Communication and organization skills
• Commitment to life-long learning and professional responsibility
Athens State University
Student Outcome Program Educational Objective at time of Graduation
Technical understanding of computer science PO1, PO2, PO3
Familiarity with common themes and principles PO1, PO2, PO4
Appreciation of the interplay between theory and practice PO1, PO2, PO3
System-level perspective and problem solving skills PO1, PO2, PO3
Communication and organization skills PO3, PO4
Commitment to life-long learning and professional responsibility PO1, PO2, PO3
New Course Development
CS 310 – Ethics
This course is an applied introduction to the ethical problems
faced by computer scientists, professional codes of ethics in
computing, legal issues involved in technology, and the social
implications of computing and other digital technologies.
CIS 441 – Systems Integration & Architecture
This course exposes students to the Information Technology
(IT) hardware and systems software concepts. Topics include:
computer hardware, operating systems, system software,
hardware and software integration, operating procedures,
system performance, security/safety, and compatibility.
Student labs and hands-on activities will include: Windows,
Unix, and Linux systems, system utilities and software tools.
Athens State University
Athens State University