Computer Information Systems Majors Research Articles

PROGRAMING NOT REQUIRED? DID THE IS-MODEL CURRICULUM GET IT RIGHT?

The requirement for a programming language within the Information Systems major may be going by the way side, according to the IS2010 Model curriculum. But taking a programming language does more than just teach the student to write a syntactically correct program. It teaches the student how the computer makes decisions, stores data and basically how the machine that is so pervasive in our daily lives operates. This paper will show that learning a programming language increases the student’s knowledge in many areas related to computers. Students enrolled in beginning programming courses (C++, Java, Visual Basic and COBOL) were surveyed to ascertain their perceptions of the course. The result of the survey shows that more is attained from learning to program other than just writing correct code. Students learn how the computers work and what a program is all about, thus attaining an appreciation for the computing power at their fingertips. Students learn to think logically in order to solve a problem with computer code. Because computers are infused prominently in all of our daily lives, not only Computer Information Systems majors, but all students should take a programming course.

What Effect Does CS0 Have On CS1 Performance And Major Retention?

Three years ago, due to a lower than desired success rate in our first major course, Introduction to Computer Programming (CS1), and a lower than desired proportion of students in CS1 selecting Computer Science or Computer Information Systems as their major, we introduced a new course, Introduction to Computer Science (CS0), and made it a prerequisite for CS1. It was therefore required of all prospective Computer Science majors and Computer Information Systems majors. Our intention was to improve the subsequent performance of students in CS1, to reduce the proportion of students who withdrew from CS1, and to increase the proportion of CS1 students who became Computer Science or Computer Information Systems majors. This paper reports our progress on these measures. Our results show that after CS0 was introduced, students performed better in CS1 than before CS0 was introduced, and that this difference is statistically significant. The withdraw rate from CS1, among students who completed CS0, has been reduced. The proportion of students who performed well (earned a grade of A or B) in CS1 has been raised among students who completed CS0, and this difference is statistically significant. A higher proportion of students who completed both CS0 and CS1 declared Computer Science or Computer Information Systems majors, than before CS0 was introduced, and this difference is statistically significant. The proportion of students who performed well in CS1 and who declared Computer Science or Computer Information Systems majors was substantially raised, and this difference is statistically significant. We compare these results with previous papers on this topic, and conclude that the results are consistent, and the statistical significance of the results is improved by the larger sample sizes being analyzed.

IMPLEMENTING AN NSF-FUNDED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

The paper describes the implementation of a scholarship program to attract computer science and computer information systems majors. The scholarships are funded through the National Science Foundation Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics, Scholarship (CSEMS) Program. Funds were awarded from NSF for ten, four-year scholarships. Scholarships are available to students with academic promise and financial need. The paper describes the development of the NSF proposal, the recruitment and selection process for scholarship students, and the current status of the program.