Computing Curricula

1. Computing Curricula • The Joint Task Force for Computing Curricula 2005 A cooperative project of The Association for Computing machinery (ACM) The Association for Information Systems (AIS) The Computer Society (IEEE-CS) 30 September 2005

2. Purpose of Report • This report provides an overview of the different kinds of undergraduate degree programs in computing that are currently available and for which curriculum standards are now, or will soon be, available. • Teachers, administrators, students, and parents need this report because computing is a broad discipline that crosses the boundaries between mathematics, science, engineering, and business and because computing embraces important competencies that lie at the foundation of professional practice. • Computing consists of several fields, and many respected colleges and universities offer undergraduate degree programs in several of them such as computer science, computer engineering, information systems, information technology, software engineering, and more. These computing fields are related but also quite different from each other. The variety of degree programs in computing presents students, educators, administrators, and other community leaders with choices about where to focus their efforts. • Several questions naturally arise. What are these different kinds of computing degree programs? How are they similar? How do they differ? How can I tell what their names really mean? Which kinds of programs should our local college or university offer? And so on. These are all valid questions, but to anyone unfamiliar with the breadth of computing, the responses to these queries may be difficult to articulate. This report may help to provide some answers.

3. Definition of IT • Information Technology (IT) in its broadest sense encompasses all aspects of computing technology. IT, as an academic discipline, focuses on meeting the needs of users within an organizational and societal context through the selection, creation, application, integration and administration of computing technologies.

9. Computer Science Curricula Report 2005 • Computer science spans a wide range, from its theoretical and algorithmic foundations to cutting-edge developments in robotics, computer vision, intelligent systems, bioinformatics, and other exciting areas. We can think of the work of computer scientists as falling into three categories. • They design and implement software. Computer scientists take on challenging programming jobs. They also supervise other programmers, keeping them aware of new approaches. • They devise new ways to use computers. Progress in the CS areas of networking, database, and human-computer-interface enabled the development of the World Wide Web. Now CS researchers are working with scientists from other fields to make robots become practical and intelligent aides, to use databases to create new knowledge, and to use computers to help decipher the secrets of our DNA. • They develop effective ways to solve computing problems. For example, computer scientists develop the best possible ways to store information in databases, send data over networks, and display complex images. Their theoretical background allows them to determine the best performance possible, and their • study of algorithms helps them to develop new approaches that provide better performance.

10. Computer Science in South Carolina • Only two according to the study meet the requirements. • Math – AP Computer Science • Information Technology – Computer Programming • Keyboarding satisfies a Computer Science requirement. • Computer Applications. • Computer Technology.