Curriculum
Provisional CORE Computing Curriculum
Introduction
CORE has proposed a standard for Australasian degrees in Computer Science. It recognises degrees in Computer Science in collaboration with the broader ACS (Australian Computer Society) accreditation process for IT degrees; when the ACS is invited to accredit a Computer Science undergraduate degree, CORE can be invited to participate and subsequently may issue a separate statement of accreditation.
CORE believes that there is a pressing need to have standards that are aspirational, facilitating development of high standards for computing educational programs and ensuring that their graduates will be able to make contributions of high quality to the Australian economy. At the same time, these standards need to be realistic and achievable. CORE also believes that it needs to provide academics with a basis for the design of curricula that are sound and have the flexibility to cater to the differing needs and contexts of each institution.
Standards
Degree programs in Computer Science should:
* Be based upon the ACM/IEEE/AIS 2005 Curriculum (CC2005).
* Cover at least nine of the thirteen core knowledge areas in CC2005.
* Cover the foundational material in the areas of programming fundamentals, discrete structures, algorithm analysis, information management, and software engineering, as well as social and professional issues.
* Have a mathematics component that provides a rigorous study of the core discrete mathematics topics required in computing.
* Constitute at least one half of the degree program (together with the CBOK, noted below), or be spread across twelve subjects in a typical Australian undergraduate program containing 24 subjects in total.
* Develop knowledge to a third-year level in at least four advanced subjects; and facilitate the development of intended skills. The depth of knowledge at the third year level should be beyond core knowledge and be demonstrated by building upon knowledge gained in the previous years of study. The material covered in the first two years should demonstrate rigorous and increasingly advanced study of a particular topic.
* Emphasise fundamental knowledge combined with practical experience rather than on specific flavour-of-the-month technology or languages (for example, focus on the fundamental concepts of object orientation such as classes, inheritance and polymorphism rather than have an MS C# certification module).
Contain modules that:
o require the development of effective methods to solve computing problems (i.e. provide significant experience with algorithm design and analysis and promote critical/analytical thinking);
require the design and implementation of software (from CC2005, page 13)
o Be substantianally taught by staff who are research active in Computer Science, have an appropriate PhD, or are otherwise academically qualified to teach Computer Science.
CC2005 defines and distinguishes between a range of qualifications in the broad domain of information technology. In a department or school with multiple degrees, there should be a clear distinction between the Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, and Software Engineering degrees; the names cannot be used interchangeably. Each program has a specific focus and aim thus leading to different career paths.
Specifically:
CS - places significant emphasis on the theoretical aspects of computing; the aim is to produce graduates that have the capability to design and develop software for areas ranging from infrastructure to specific domain application technologies.
IT - is focused on the practical aspects of computing; the aim is to produce graduates that can develop, manage, and maintain the computing infrastructure of all types of organizations.
SE - is focused on the understanding and rigorous development of complex software systems; the aim is to produce graduates that have the skills to work as part of a team and excel at the development of large-scale software that meets customer requirements.
CORE encourages departments and schools to tailor their degrees to their local contexts, and to teach subject matter that reflects local research expertise.
Process
The primary accreditation process is controlled by the ACS. As part of the process, CORE seeks three sets of documentation:
o The profiles of staff teaching into the degree including research strengths and research areas.
o Analysis of the degree against the current CORE/CC2005 requirements and the standards specified above, to show which subjects cover which components of the CC2005 material and to what depth.
o Lecture notes and assessment materials for final year subjects.
Some of this material is required by the ACS, some is additional.
The CORE members on the accreditation team participate in interviews and assessments as part of the usual ACS process, and then determine whether the department meets the CORE requirements and, if these are not met, identify specific issues.
The outcome is a statement from CORE certifying that the named degrees meet the CORE curriculum criteria. Where they are not met, the team will identify shortcomings, and then seek a response from the department, typically required within three months, on how they will be addressed. If there is a satisfactory plan to address the shortcomings, CORE can provide provisional accreditation.
It is our expectation that most Australian schools and departments will already largely meet CORE standards. In this first phase of having a CORE standard, our intention is primarily to provide guidance on how these standards can be met.
CBOK
As background, the committee took account of several documents, in particular the ACS's Professional Standards Board's Working Paper Version 3.0 (18 January, 2007), The ICT Profession and the ICT Body of Knowledge, which states that discipline-specific knowledge developed by a degree program should:
o build on the foundational knowledge identified in the CBOK as appropriate;
o share a common focus, providing breadth of treatment within an identified ICT discipline or focus area, and not be a mere collection of unrelated ICT subjects;
o constitute at least one third of the degree program (together with the CBOK), or be spread across eight subjects in a typical Australian undergraduate program containing 24 subjects in total;
o of these, develop knowledge to a deep level in at least three advanced subjects.
The ACS CBOK can be found
Updated 30th September 2009
