SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
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To
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MEMORANDUM
SNAIE .......................................... .
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From ... SENAT.E. GOITIEE. .Ot't .UNDERGRADUATE .....
STUDIES
Subject. . .
.COMUIIN. SCIENCE CHANGES................
Date. . .
NOVEMBER. -12,..19.80 ...........................
FOR INFORMATION
At its meeting of November 4, 1980, acting under its
delegated authority, SCUS approved change in credits and vector
for CMPT 103 - Introduction to a High Level Programming Language I,
effective Fall 81-3.
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SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITYS6
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MEMORANDUM ?
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To
To.........
Mr.
Mr. H.M. Evans, Registrar and
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From
Janet Blanchet, Secretary to the
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change of Vector and
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.Date.......
October 198
Credit hours, I.S.C. 80-15(a)
A change in vector and a change in credit hours from 3 to 4 for CMPT 103
was approved by the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies Undergraduate
Curriculum Committee at a meeting held on Tuesday, October 14, 1980.
Would you please place this item on the next agenda of the Senate Committee
on Undergraduate Studies.
T:1.
cL45
Janet Blànchet
JB:jk
Attachment
OCT22 1980
REGISTRARS OFFICE
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MAIL DESK
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
MEMORANDUM
To: Dr. C. Griffiths, Chairman,
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From:
UCC, F.IID.S.
'r.
'
No-Shun Luk, Chairman,c
UCC, Computing Science
Subject: CMPT 103 - Credit Change
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Date: Sept 19, 1980
This is to request
OflCQ
again the committee to consider the
proposal to increase the credit hours of CMPT 103 by 1 (presently 3).
The first proposal was referred.back to the department for further
consultation with the departments which might be most affected by the
change. The responses from various departments have been obtained over
the phone during the summer semester and they are summarised as
follows:
Business Administration: The largest group of students outside
computing Science come from this department. Their Undergraduate
Program Coordinator in fact welcomes that increase and thinks it will
o justice to the students in the course.
athematics: CMPT 103 is a required course for the mathematics majors.
Dr. Graham, the chairman of UCC, trusts our judgement and does not
think the increase will have much impact on their programs.
nAftiology: this department also requires CMPT 103 for their majors.
e y
e had lengthy discussion with Dr. Bhakthan who has made valuable
suggestions, which
we very
much appreciate. He too does not feel the
Increase will affect their programs too much.
Physics: It has been a required course in their Mathematical Physics
program, administered by the department jointly with Mathematics. The
current UCC chairman, Dr. ,Viswanathan, did not favour such a change,
but suggested that we get in touch with some other colleagues
in
the
epartment who were more knowledgable in the field, such as Dr.
Palmer, vhich.we.did. (Dr. Palmer, as Ilater found out, is to succeed
Dr. Visvanathan as the UCC chairman.). It turns out that Physics holds
viewpoint that students,
at least
their students, do not need an
?ntire course to study introductory programming. CMPT 103 is therefore
;uperfluous and
will be
dropped from their program anyway, regardless
)f what we are going to do with, it.
Themistry, Biological
Sciences:
CMPT 103is not required course nor is
Lt a prerequisite of any courses in either departments. The UCC
hair men I contacted do not feel very strongly about one way or other...
As you can see, none of the departments above is expressing any
riajor concerns about our proposal. Some do feel that avector change
(presently 1-0-3) is necessary to reflect more accurately the lab time
-'quired. This is done
in
the revised proposal (attached).
41PT.103
We have also had some discussion about the high attrition rate of
and we conclude that we have little at our disposal to
correct it. On one hand, the nature of the course requires not only
hardwork, but also a fair amount of mental adaptation to new concepts
from those who have not hitherto been exposed to them.' On the other
hand, the high demand of programmers in the marketplace attracts
many
unsuspecting,
job-oriented students who
are otherwise unprepared for
it. Our past statistics show that over half of the students enrolled
in CNPT 103 who eventually dropped out, did not even submit one single
assignment.For these students, the heavy workload did not seem to be
the major problem. It is therefore our opinion that the proposed
change will have little effect on the attrition rate. It will however
reflect more accurately the wcrkload of the course. The statement of
rationale is revised accordingly
(see
attached).
I
5. Approval
Date:
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14
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ON 11141)ERCRADUATE
STUDIES
Change of Vector and Credit Hours
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Department:
Computing Science
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tit
ion Code:
CMPTC
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U r.0
Number
:103 -
Credit ftours:_L_ Vector;
1-0-6
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Title of Course: ?
Introduction t9 a High Level Programming Language 1
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(:isietidar DscrLptton of Court&.:
This course introduces the student to ONE of the following languages: PL/I, COBOL, APL;.
PASCAL, FORTRAN and other languages subject to availabilities of necessary facilities.
This is a guided self-study course. A text, self-study guide and weekly lecture will be.
used to direct the student. The programming assignments cover techniques such as
/looping, decision making, construction
Nitu.e of Course
Lecture/Laboratory ?
/of subroutines, input/output handling
?
• ?
Prerequisites (or special instructions):
/documentation. The student should consult
/the program advisor for a list of currently
None
?
/available languages and for advice in selecting
/the language most suited to his/her program.
What course (course.), if any, is being dropped from the calendar if this course is
approved:
/(Laboratory) Students who have taken CMPT 102-2
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• ?
None - CMPT
103-3
will become CMPT
103-4
/may not take this course for further credit.
.2. Sched
u
lin
g
How frequently will the course be offered?
Every semester
Semester in which the course will first be offered?
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81-SPRING
Which of your present faculty would be available to make the proposed offering
possible?
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R.D. Godwin
Objectives of the Course
By the end of the course the student will be able to take
a reasonably simple programming problem and define the necessary input/output require-
• ments, prepare a flowchart and an algorithm to solve the problem, write the program in
the selected programming language, debug it, and produce documentation specifying how
the program can be used and the overall methods by which it achieves its objectives.
4. Hudgetary
and
Space Requirements (for information only)
What additional
resources will be required in the following areas:
Faculty ?
None
Staff ?
None
library
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None
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D
Audi" Visual
None
Space
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Extra lab time
Lquipasnt
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None
Department Ch(fmsit
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Dean
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Qainnan, SCUS
SCUS 73-34b:- (When completing this form, for instructions see Memorandum SCUS 7-34.a.
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At o
ach
course outline).
Oct.
1
73
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RATIONALE
As the approach to computer programming has become more rigorous,
it has been found necessary to expose the student 'to a more disciplined
curriculum during his or her first course. ?
The computer cross
communication problems are of major concern today. ?
Algorithms must
not only be well thought out but must also be well documented. ?
Output
must exist in a convenient readable form, and not just be there.
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The
increased emphasis on documentation, style, and computer communication
•
problems has necessitated an increase in the contact, hours to one hour
of lecture per week plus a minimum of six hours of "lab-tutorial" time.
The lab itself is part lab, part tutorial. ?
Its form has developed
over several semesters and has been successful in meeting student
needs without requiring the extensive people and room resources of a
formal tutorial, accommodating each of the *languages covered in the
cMPT. 103 course.
The student facility provides the "working" lab environment.
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The
supervision required here is minimum as the student activity consists
a.
primarily of keying in program work and obtaining the necessary output
for consideration. ?
A supervised "lab-tutorial" facility open from
9:30 to 15:20 and 19:30 to 22:20 hours Monday to Friday, and 13:00
to 17:00 hours Saturday and Sunday is used by the students for
'development of programs and analysis of output. ?
Two or three-staff
members (lecturer, lab instructor, or teaching assistant) are present
at all times to provide individual student assistance.
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Student use
•
of the combined facilities ranges from about six to ten hours per
week.
The current heavy work load is cited as the number one criticism
of the course. ?
The new vector will give the students a more accurate
indication of the work load required.
(6
