~~~~~~~~ COURSE PORTFOLIO ~~~~~~~~
Introduction to Computer Science: A Course Portfolio for CSCE 144
Laurie Murphy (Pacific Lutheran University)
INTRODUCTION
Why a course portfolio and why this course?
I would argue that although this is the lowest level course in the curriculum for our majors and minors, Introduction to Computer Science (CS1) is one of the most difficult to teach. In the CS education community there is a great deal of controversy about the content, pedagogy, programming language, paradigm, tools and approaches that are most effective for this course. I've only taught this course a few times at PLU (spring 2002 and spring/fall 2005) and even though I have nearly 20 years of teaching experience under my belt, I often find myself overwhelmed by all the choices to be made and frustrated with the difficulty I've had teaching the course. In preparing to teach the class in 2005 I didn't feel I learned much from the mistakes I made in 2002 because, other than student evaluations, I didn't have much documentation of what worked and what didn't. My goal is for the portfolio to both provide this type of documentation and to encourage me to pay closer attention to what and how well the students learn.From a professional standpoint creating a course portfolio allows me to document my teaching process for post-tenure review. From a scholarly perspective, it fits with my interests in computer science education research. Constructing a portfolio will force me to be disciplined about looking closely at evidence of student learning. Such close inspection may well lead to ideas for future research projects.
During 2005-06 I am co-teaching the class with a colleague and a course portfolio offers a way to justify and track decisions and document what does and doesn’t work so that course modifications can be made. The hypertext nature of the portfolio also allows me to incorporate links to relevant references and supporting materials that my teaching partner, as well as others who teach similar courses, may find helpful.
Portfolio Theme and Organization
The American Association for Higher Education publication, The Course Portfolio: How Faculty Can Examine Their Teaching To Advance Practice and Improve Student Learning (Hutchings, Ed. 1998), stresses the importance of organizing a portfolio around a theme. I decided to organize the portfolio for Introduction to Computer Science around three main objectives for the course. These include: (1) students will develop fundamental programming skills in Java, (2) students will develop an understanding and appreciation of the breadth of Computer Science as a discipline, and (3) students will experience a hospitable and cooperative learning environment in the course.
Intended Audience
Teaching partner and other departmental faculty who will teach this course in the future.
Portfolio commons members and other computer science faculty who teach CS1 or similar courses.
Faculty from other disciplines within my own or at other institutions who may be interested in constructing portfolios for their own courses.
Last Modified: 06/02/2006