Standards and Influences for Assessment

Standards

In the context of this Assessment Plan, "standards" are considered to be criteria, requirements, or guidelines that have a direct impact on our assessment activities. As such, the Department considers such standards to be authoritative sources that will guide the program's goals and outcomes.

Standards Common to B.S. and M.S. Programs

• Program Goals and Outcomes
  • for the B.S. in Computer Science
  • for the M.S. in Applied Computer Science
• Existing Assessment Plan and Process
• Results, Changes, Actions from Previous Assessments
• Department Mission and Goals
• University Mission & Vision
• General Education and the Core Curriculum in the University System of Georgia
  • UWG Core Curriculum Requirements
• University System of Georgia Academic Policies and Program Reviews
• Specific skills needed for qualified computing and information technology (IT) professionals in the west Georgia region, the State, and the nation (as suggested by entities such as, but not limited to, Carroll Tomorrow and Georgia and U.S. Departments of Labor)

Standards Specific to the B.S. in CS

• Final Report of the ACM/IEEE Joint Task-Force on Computing Curricula 2001
• Criteria for Accrediting Computing Programs from the Computing Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (CAC/ABET)
  • Curriculum Standards

Influences

In the context of this Assessment Plan, "influences" are considered to be guidelines and references which may have an impact on our assessment activities. As such, the Department considers influences to be indirect inputs to the assessment process and which will be considered as "secondary sources" that may influence the program's goals and outcomes.

• Relevant publications from professional computing/IT professional societies such as:
  • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
  • IEEE Computer Society
  • USENIX
• Publications and discussion within the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
• Other relevant trade publications
• General trends within the computing and IT industry
• Industry Advisory Council
• Identification and analysis of Departmental Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT)
• Student surveys and student evaluations
• Surveys from CS alumni and their employers
• Informal discussions within the Department (including curriculum committees, CS student organizations and Student Advisory Committee)

While influences may not have as direct an impact on the program, the Department considers them to be just as important as standards since they provide information which may be less likely to be obtained via standards, as standards tend to be more rigid and limited in scope. For example, one of our Standards, the CAC/ABET Criteria for Accrediting Computing Programs, defines a specific requirement that our program include a minimum number of hours for coverage of discrete mathematics. However, the criteria do not address the issue of how such coverage should be made relevant and meaningful in the larger context of the program's goals and outcomes. Yet, there are frequent discussions and ongoing research within the ACM SIGCSE community on this topic; thus, this community serves as an indirect, but nonetheless important, influence on how we might address such an issue.