Challenges and Opportunities of Interdisciplinary Computer Science Education

1. Challenges and Opportunities of Interdisciplinary Computer Science Education Jiannong Cao Internet & Mobile Computing Lab Department of Computing Hong Kong Polytechnic University Email: csjcao@comp.polyu.edu.hk http://www.comp.polyu.edu.hk/~csjcao/

2. Outline • What is computer science as a discipline? • How do we identify ourselves? • Is there a need of interdisciplinary education in CS ? • What are the challenges and opportunities?

3. Computer science concerns itself with the nature of algorithms and computations it spans both theory and practice: Computational representation of abstract concepts Computability Computational complexity Design, definition and implementation of programming languages Nature of abstraction and specification … It underpins more than the above: New areas of mathematical study, e.g., logic Computational thinking Computational tools and experiments What is CS as a discipline?

4. Its perimeter has broaden, its scope and focus have changed continuously over the past 70 years Shift of focus from algorithms and programs to systems highly dynamic depending on characteristics of execution platform Increasingly integrated and interacting with the physical environment Cross-layer and cyber-physical co-design What is CS as a discipline?

5. More than any other discipline, CS is driven by applications and progress in technology. Applications impose domain-specific requirements New technologies deemed existing solutions obsolete What is CS as a discipline?

6. Users nowadays are part of the computing systems, some of them are even computer programmers Many other disciplines build their own IT / Computing infrastructure, have their own programming tools, and develop their own applications Identity crisis? How to define the territory of CS? What are our roles as computer scientists? Where the field is going? How do we identify ourselves?

7. How do we identify ourselves? Computing is the computer-specific part of ITbutit is involved in all the parts • “IT is the technology that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and disseminate information” Computer Technology Material Science Communication Technology Use of IT (Applications …)

8. Our mission as Computer Scientists? How do we identify ourselves? Help and Serve Human-being • Increase our performance and power • Facilitate communication and sharing • Enrich and improve quality of life • Faster • Smaller • Smarter • More connected • Seamlessly embedded & integrated

9. Computing is interdisciplinary in nature Knowledge and technology in other fields Requirements in application domains Knowledge about people as users (CHI) Without learning and being equipped with knowledge in fields that help us to create better computers, we cannot advance CS Without clear understanding of domain knowledge, we cannot make solutions and systems effective. Without understanding the users, we cannot develop “user-centered” systems. The need of interdisciplinary education

10. Creativity often requires interdisciplinary knowledge Many intellectual, social and practical problems require interdisciplinary approaches Help attract more people to the field and improve retention The need of interdisciplinary education

11. Changing our mentality from wishing for more academic prestige to wishing for changing people’s life. Changing the idea that CS is more on “thinking about computing in the abstract” than “thinking about novel ways to design and build computer systems that match reality” Learning about commercial / practical products and understanding their limits Bridging communication gaps and fragmented disciplines Challenges and Opportunities

12. Students are not taught much about how to approach practical solutions to real-world problems, working with people from other disciplines CS curricula seldom recognize importance of interdisciplinary education Difficult to develop CS textbooks with true interdisciplinary examples and projects. It is very hard to create a real interdisciplinary program Not only double majors, major/minors, but join degree Teaching, faculty development, assessment Structural barriers: institutional support, curriculum development and assessment, faculty attitude, etc. Challenges and Opportunities

13. ACM / IEEE CS Curricula 2012 CS is rapidly changing field, drawing from and contributing to variety of disciplines- Able to bridge to multi-disciplinary work US NSF funded workshops to identify strategies for increasing and maintaining enrolment, improving the quality og computing education Integrative Computing Education and Research (ICER) Strengthen interdisciplinary connections Increase interdisciplinary collaboration Strengthen industry involvement Efforts on developing interdisciplinary computing Challenges and Opportunities