The University of New South Wales

Notice of Meeting: CSE-EdC 16/4



A meeting of the Computer Science and Engineering Education Committee
will be held at 10am Wednesday 23 November 2016 in room K17-201B.

Enquiries concerning this agenda should be directed to jas@cse.unsw.edu.au.

John Shepherd
Chair

Agenda


    1. Apologies and Welcome


    2. Minutes of Previous Meeting *

      CSE Teaching Committee 16/4 (7 October 2016)


    3. Reports from Bodies outside CSE

      John Shepherd will report on any interesting/relevant developments that have occurred in committees, working groups, etc. around UNSW.


    4. Review of Software Engineering Program

      Fethi Rabhi will discuss the outcomes from the working group which reviewed the Software Engineering program and, based on this, is proposing a number of changes.

      Attachment: SE Handbook (final report)


    5. Dealing with Large Enrolments

      Preliminary enrolment figures suggest that UG enrolments will be at least as large as 2016, and PGC enrolments will be significantly larger. As the large initial enrolments from 2016 and 2017 pass through, we will need to deal with very large classes. We need strategies to do this effectively. In particular, we need to rethink how we offer and deliver courses to cope with these kinds of numbers, while still giving students a decent range of study options and a good educational experience. Some possibilities:

      • provide reasonable WEB streams (not relying on Echo360)
      • run multiple lecture streams (multiple lecturers or repeats?)
      • obtain "right-size" lecture theatres (difficult with very large courses)

      Note: Under the 2025 Strategy, workload models are being reconsidered across the campus, which may impact these considerations.


    6. 4th Year Theses: 12UOC Thesis B

      Computer Science Honours students are required to complete an 18UOC thesis (under sufferance from UNSW which would prefer 24UOC), which comprises a 6UOC Thesis A and a 12UOC Thesis B.

      COMP4941 Thesis Part B has the following handbook description:

      This course in conjunction with Thesis part A (COMP4930) constitutes an 18 UoC advanced thesis option for excellent students and is suitable for those students desiring a more intensive research experience. The advanced thesis option may describe a higher level directed research work on an approved topic.

      Advanced thesis students must submit a draft manuscript for submission to a scientific conference or journal appropriate for the discipline along with their final thesis report.

      This is quite different to what is required for BE(Hons) students. Helen Paik will lead a discussion on this.

      Also, consider the Handbook wording for COMP4930 and COMP4931.

      Thesis part A and B are done in the last two semesters of the BE degree program. For full-time students, a nominal three hours per week in the first semester and fifteen hours per week in the second semester are devoted to directed laboratory and research work ...


    7. New courses/stream/programs and flow-on effects

      Changing the introductory core courses has already resulted in changing the structure of all of the programs offered by CSE. As the details of these courses are fleshed out, lecturers in following courses need to consider:

      • how the new core affects the content/strcture of their courses
      • what are apporpriate pre-requisites from the introductory core

      This applies primarily to courses whose pre-requisites are COMP1927 or COMP2911 or, to a lesser extent, COMP2121.

      Related: Video describing new core courses, primarily with respect to CS


    8. Elite Students Program

      An Elite Students Program** has been "in the wings" for some time, but never actually implemented. The program essentially allows excellent students (WAM high 80's or more) to vary their program structures to undertake more advanced courses or research work (Special Project) that they might otherwise not be able to fit into their programs. Such a program needs to be managed, with defined rules for eligibility, record-keeping for eligibilty and variations, and with the assistance of Directors of Studies in determining what variations are reasonable, without compromising study programs. Cassandra Nock prepared a proposal document in 2013.

      Attachment: Elite Students Program proposal.

      ** This might be better called a "Scheme" rather than "Program" to avoid confusion with the more common meaning of "Program".


    9. For noting: Review of Core PG Coursework Courses

      Eric Martin will be conducting a review of the content of the new core courses for the MIT. Things to consider:

      • overlap of content, range of Level 0/1/2/3 courses
      • are appropriate technologies being used?
      • can material be shared effectively with UG courses?

    10. For noting: UNSW3+

      Barring a massive protest movement from staff/students, trimesters are coming in 2019. We need to start thinking now how our courses might work under the following model:

      • 10 straight weeks of classes, no mid-term break
      • students taking 3 courses per term, notionally 13 hours/week per course
      • one week stuvac, 2 weeks of exams (3/day), ~2 week break between T1/T2 and T2/T3
      • exams capped at 2 hours and 60% of total mark

      Contrast this with the current arrangement:

      • 12+1 weeks of classes, 1 week "mid"-term break
      • students take 4 courses per term, notionally 10 hour/week per course
      • one week stuvac, 2-3 weeks of exams, ~3 week break between S1 and S2
      • 3 hour exams tolerated, exams preferred to be max ~70% of total mark

    11. Any Other Business