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Exploring Global Computing Issues as a Freshman Seminar

This seminar program explores the need for verbal-oriented courses focusing on global and green computing issues. Utilizing ACM/IEEE curriculum topics like social context, privacy, and economic impacts, students engage with quality articles on IT developments worldwide. Through essays, discussions, and participation, students analyze various IT topics, including the effects of culture and economics on software piracy. Discussions on IT by region and the world economy enrich student learning experiences. The course promotes critical reading and writing skills, offering students the freedom to explore diverse perspectives and increase enrollment in computing studies. Student feedback indicates a positive learning experience, even though some find the routine nature less appealing.

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Exploring Global Computing Issues as a Freshman Seminar

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  1. International Computing Issues as a Freshman Seminar Chris Healy Furman University CCSC-E October 31, 2009

  2. Introduction • Freshman seminar program • The need for verbal-oriented course • Global & green issues was my focus • ACM/IEEE curriculum 2001 • SP2 (Social context of computing) • SP7 (Privacy and civil liberties) • SP9 (Economic issues in computing)

  3. Approach • Articles, mostly from IEEE Computer and CACM • Sought quality articles for careful reading • Suggested questions, types of things to look for in a paper • Two essays: vertical and horizontal views of IT development in the world • Class participation

  4. Example papers • “From Subject of Change to Agent of Change – Women and IT in Brazil” • “Engineering the Irish Software Tiger” • “Google’s China Problem” • “Recycling E-Waste: The Sky is the Limit” • “Competitiveness and ICTs in Africa” • “The Effect of National Culture and Economic Wealth on Global Software Piracy Rates” • “Web Searching in a Multilingual World” • “Computing in Post-War Afghanistan” • “Little Finland’s Transformation to a Wireless Giant”

  5. Retrospect • Easy to find good papers • Economic issues • IT by region, e.g. China, India, Africa, Middle East, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, Russia, Finland • 56 papers were assigned in total • World Economic Forum • Communications of the ACM • IEEE Computer; IEEE Spectrum

  6. Retrospect (2) • Participation activity • Award points for contributions • standard error = ¼ letter grade • Laptop & wireless network • Benefits of course • Freedom: Independent of rest of curriculum • Suite of seminars helped to increase total enrollment 30% over previous year • Grade distribution: unipolar but still challenging

  7. Student Survey • Positive responses • Appropriate articles and sufficient variety • Appropriate work load (preparation, essays) • Lukewarm • Easy to understand • “I learned a lot”; “Opened my eyes” • Negative • Routine • Don’t want to take another CS course ?

  8. Conclusion • Seminar: More variety at the front door of the department’s offerings • Show students professional, “human”, and inter-disciplinary issues • Accessible • Practice critical reading, thinking, writing • Captive audience may be double-edged sword • Course Web site: http://cs.furman.edu/~chealy/fys1107

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