Integration of Cross-Disciplinary Skills and Dispositions into a Computer Science Degree Program

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing resources and approaches to support teaching and assessing cross-disciplinary skills and dispositions within a computer science degree program. Prior research has shown that cross-disciplinary skills (e.g., teamwork) and professional dispositions (e.g., adaptability and resilience) are crucial in STEM occupations.

Yet, fostering and assessing undergraduate success in developing non-technical competencies is challenging and best achieved when embedded across the curriculum. The goal of this project is to work with the Tuskegee University’s Computer Science Department to integrate essential cross-disciplinary skills and dispositions into its computer science degree program as part of a general continuous improvement model.

This project is a partnership of a long-standing computer science program of study with a clear vision for continuous improvement and a team experienced in the design of instruction, assessments, and program evaluation.

Cross-disciplinary skills and dispositions must be clearly defined in order to be taught and assessed consistently. The project's activities are framed around six goals. First, is to identify behavioral indicators (criteria) and assessment approaches for cross-disciplinary-skills and dispositions.

Second, is to incorporate cross-disciplinary-skills and dispositions across the Tuskegee CS curriculum. Third, is to incorporate teaching strategies and assessments of cross-disciplinary-skills and dispositions into Tuskegee CS core courses, based on behavioral indicators. The fourth project goal is to enhance Tuskegee’s longitudinal evaluation and continuous improvement model.

The fifth and sixth goals are to develop open education resources and to conduct evaluative research. The project team will develop and share research-based teaching, assessment, and evaluation instruments and protocols, in addition to delivering academic presentations and contributing papers to the computer science education research literature. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students.

Through its Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.