A framework and process for curricular integration and innovation using project based interdisciplinary teams

Abstract

This paper describes a framework and process for ongoing curricular integration and innovation based on feedback from the performance of undergraduate interdisciplinary teams working on problems that reflect the needs of industry. The five-step process is based on a top-down, objectives-based approach to bringing the computer science and engineering curriculum in line with computing practice. Critical to the effort is the selection of projects for undergraduate teams since project definitions serve both as an opportunity to challenge students and to lay the foundation for departmental direction. Each project is associated with a set of capability requirements that reflect what team members should both know and be able to do to meet project requirements. Upon project completion, expectations and actual performance are used in a curricular feedback loop to identify possible curricular modifications. We report on an ongoing implementation of this framework at Southern Methodist University (SMU) where integration between computer science and computer engineering serves as a testbed for the framework. At SMU, undergraduate students from computer science and computer engineering are teamed to develop applications that serve to bring core curricula in line with current trends in computing and industry needs.