Author(s):
The DEAP project is a collaboration of eight institutions: The University of Alabama (lead), George Washington University, Mississippi State University, Purdue University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Tuskegee University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and University of New Hampshire, along with Shelton State Community College. The IUSE Award number are 2111435, 2110771, 2110815, 2110823, 2110788, 2111157, 2111097, and 2110850.Need: The primary purpose of the DEAP project is to bring the academic and employer/practitioner worlds together to help improve the long-term career readiness of future graduates in computing fields. Bringing this gap is a crucial for higher education in computing to be meaningful for societal needs. Guiding Question: DEAP strives to achieve competency-based curricular change in undergraduate computing programs relevant to long-term careers in computing. Guided by this fundamental question are three goals (or “strands of activities”): (1) to conduct research in computing competencies that can be used to provide a foundation for better communication between employers and academic programs; (2) to conduct community engagement with both employer and academic communities on a national scale; and (3) to engage in direct process improvement in three Alabama institutions: an R1 institution, a minority-serving institution, and a community college based on the research conducted in goal 1 and informed by the engagement conducted in goal 2 – tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of the three institutions. Outcomes: Each of these three strands has produced several outcomes that will be described in the poster, including advances in computing competencies especially professional dispositions; a national survey that has already been administered by the CRA and will continue after the conclusion of the DEAP effort; and beneficial impacts to minority students in the Alabama institutions.Broader Impacts: Each of the above strands has had and will continue have broader impacts in computing education by graduating better-prepared computing students to meet the needs of industry, a better understanding of computing competencies, a long-term survey administration to practitioner input to academia regularly, and direct impact on broadening participation.This poster summarizes the motivation, accomplishments and future directions of the DEAP project.
Coauthors
Rahul Simha, George Washington University, Washington, DC; Allen Parrish, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL; Mihaela Sabin, University of New Hampshire, Manchester, NH; Marisa Exter, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
