COLUMBUS COLLEGE
Looking for a way to update his college's curriculum to include the newer technologies and skills that are in the greatest demand, a computer sciences professor has developed a complete development environment. Key components in the program are Microsoft BackOffice products.
Small- and medium-size businesses that recruit software engineers from college have one common complaint: graduating students don't have the skills to do useful work in the real world without large amounts of additional training. In fact, many companies say graduates are illiterate in some of the most important new technologies. And, because smaller companies don't have the funds or time to provide the training it takes to make the graduates productive, they are reluctant to hire these students.
There are several reasons for the graduates' lack of practical experience. Foremost among them is that students typically get a variety of unfocused pieces of theory and classical computer science problem exercises. What they don't get is the necessary immersion in newer technologies and associated development methods with effective hands-on experience.
That was certainly the case at Columbus College's Department of Computer Science in Columbus, Georgia. The school's traditional computer science curriculum used a mix of PCs and mainframe technology and emphasized academic tools such as Pascal-many of which were not used in the commercial world. Exercises and projects were academically oriented and used completely structured methods. Much of the work was textbook-based, and the overall curriculum was a diverse mix of topics that lacked the cohesive focus necessary to translate into a usable skill set.
Dr. James Leonard, an associate professor of computer science at the college, decided to do something about the problem. "I set out to update the curriculum to include the technologies that will be most important in the next five to ten years, while maintaining the theoretical core necessary for graduate study," explains Leonard.
"My idea was to use the new technology to build a commercial skill set continuously throughout the students' four years at the college."
Redefining the computer science curriculum.
Leonard had several goals for Columbus College's new curriculum. He wanted to replace academic tools with high-demand commercial tools, such as object-oriented development tools; build consistency and repetition into the curriculum; and add special sequences for upper-level students that build the commercial skill set with the latest technology tools.
After talking extensively with high tech industries, software engineers, software companies, and employment recruiters, Leonard identified a number of skill sets that he believed would have increasing momentum over the next decade. They include:
Leonard also planned to build the new technology into the curriculum from the freshman level, and make the
program PC-based so students could work on projects away from the classroom or lab.
Among the solutions Leonard considered were UNIX®-based workstations. But he didn't feel they accurately reflected the computing environments seen most often at the small- and medium-sized companies that recruited his students. He also wanted to enable the students to have the same platform and software at home as was used at the college.
As a result, Leonard built Columbus College's new computer science curriculum around a number of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Visual C++™ development system, Microsoft Office, Windows NT Workstation operating system, and the Microsoft BackOffice suite of products, including Microsoft Windows NT Server and Microsoft SQL Server™.
New curriculum emphasizes software engineering.
The new curriculum uses a software engineering approach based on object-oriented C++. It emphasizes graphical user interfaces, event-driven architecture, development for Microsoft Windows, component development, prototyping/spiral/iterative development, client-server software, client-server databases, information and process modeling, and visual/RAD software development tools.
Leonard stresses that the program core maintains all of the traditional computer science theory to prepare students for graduate study. But it definitely immerses students in object-oriented software engineering. "They start on C++ and object-oriented methods from day one at the college," he says.
In addition to the core curriculum, Leonard has designed special projects for top seniors to challenge them at a level not suitable for regular classes, and to help them develop marketable skill sets. A typical project provides these students with a complete client-server set-up, including a 90 MHz Pentium™-based server PC and a 66 MHz 486-based client PC, both with 24MB of RAM and all necessary network cards and hardware. The system uses Microsoft BackOffice software, including Windows NT Server and Microsoft SQL Server, as well as Windows NT Workstation, Microsoft Visual C++, and Microsoft Office software. The students also use information modeling and RAD client-server tools.
Using this two-system network, students get practical experience configuring and managing a network. Their work includes:
"We are modeling information and processes, then deploying the model using client-server technology," explains Leonard. "It's all done in a systematic way that involves producing one model at a time, starting with elementary models and increasing the complexity of each subsequent model."
Each student participates fully in every aspect of the system development and administers his or her own network. Each one also integrates his or her network with the other student networks and the instructor's computer. Students use this experience to prepare for certification exams.
Curriculum produces immediately productive graduates.
According to Leonard, Columbus College's new computer science program is graduating students who are immediately productive. "They can document to prospective employers the specific skills, tools, and systems they have experience using," he says. These are commercial tools that are in high current demand. Students are required to produce complete working systems with these tools from the project inception phase through deployment.
A significant benefit of the curriculum is that students can quickly learn and apply new tools and techniques because they have been brought up in the new technology "culture."
Leonard says students seem fascinated by the new curriculum and are "intrinsically motivated to spend enormous amounts of their own time working on their own projects." He adds that most students have gained commercial experience by the time they graduate, thanks to the techniques they learn and utilize in class.
One excellent way to gauge the success of the program is the attention the school has gotten from employment recruiters. "I have received recruitment calls from companies throughout the U.S., as well as Sweden, Germany, and South Africa," says Leonard. "Numerous employers have told me that this program is the only one they know of that graduates students with the newer technology skill sets they need." He says companies start coming to the school in January to recruit June and August graduates.
Even more important, recent graduates had a number of job opportunities to choose from, and are receiving "unusually good" salaries, according to Leonard. They are working in the areas of client-server, graphical interface design, multimedia, OCX automation, and hand-held development. All are using Visual C++ in some way.
Program to evolve along with technology.
Columbus College is extremely pleased with the caliber of graduates its new curriculum is producing-and with the fact that its students are using their skills to find top jobs. Leonard calls the program an ongoing evolution, and says future plans to expand or improve on it are being developed. Already, the college's students are beta testing the next generation GUI operating system, Microsoft Windows® 95.
Leonard says elements of the computer science program will change as the technology that is in demand commercially changes. But one thing is certain: the idea of having students solve real-world computing problems with real-world tools will always be integral to the curriculum.
Solution Overview
School Columbus College, Columbus, Georgia
Solution Revamped computer science curriculum
Products Used Microsoft® Windows NT™ Server
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation
Microsoft Access
Microsoft SQL Server™
Microsoft Visual C++™
Microsoft Office
Asymetrix® InfoModeler
Gupta SQL Windows
Borland® Delphi (Beta)
Benefit Graduates of the program are top job prospects;
students can quickly learn and apply new tools and techniques;
most students have some actual commercial experience
by the time they graduate
© 1994 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
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© 1995 Microsoft Corporation.
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