Disciplinary Commons
Bellevue Community College
CS 211 (Fundamentals of Computer Science II) is essentially the capstone of the CS program at BCC at this time. Since it is in part a continuation of CS 210 (Fundamentals of Computer Science I), CS 210 is a prerequisite. Prerequisites for CS 210 include Pre-calculus level Math, and reasonable English skills. CS 211 also is used to prepare students for transfer to 4-year schools such as the University of Washington (All campuses).
CS 210 is an introduction to programming, and particularly to Procedural or Control Abstractions, and also introduces the concept of Data Abstraction; CS 211 builds on theat foundation, emphasizing Data Abstraction, and especially simple Data Structures.
Most often, the biggest hurdle for the entering students is the Math requirement, since they are frequently unprepared for college level Mathematics.
Most of the students are full-time students, or work part-time and go to school part-time; most have a very full schedule of classes an/or work. They are nearly all male ( I had 2 females and 27 males in my Winter quarter CS 211 class); there are a few (one or two each quarter) Running Start students, and are nearly all highly motivated. CS 211 is known as a HARD class, so very few of the merely “curious” take it. Nearly all are Computer Science majors, with a few EE majors, and occasionally one or two others; they are nearly all planning on transferring to a 4-year school to pursue at least a Bachelor’s degree.
Most of the students live in the Eastside area, and are for the most part reasonably affluent; most of them have computers at home, and many have laptops that they use for notes and programming in class.
Since CS 210 completion is a prerequisite, we are fairly certain of the level of ability... although even that can vary, within the parameters.
The constraints that we have are primarily articulation agreements, and maintaining and/or exceeding the standards for the 4-year schools. Since I am the primary instructor for CS 211, and the program chair, I have the final decision on textbooks, after consultation with the other instructor. We have had to change our current implementation language from C++ to Java, for UW-S compatibility, but have maintained continuity by using the same author/publisher, just a different language
This context is important, since this is the “Capstone” course of the CS program, and because we must maintain articulation with as many 4-year schools as possible. The preparation of the students allows us to present a rigorous class, at lest comparable to the 4-year schools’ offerings, and allows us to maintain high standards and expectations for the class.
We pay attention to what the 4-year schools are “covering”, and methodologies, so that we can maintain our parity. This often also determines the objectives and “coverage” of topics.