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Computing is everywhere, and it's here to stay. Computing is crucial in many disciplines and influences every discipline. It’s unlikely we'll willingly return to a society unmediated by computing. How do our institutions proceed? This BoF asks, "Should computing be a requirement for all college and university students?" Some say yes, citing potential for improving equity-of-access, for expanding students' capabilities, for diversifying the people who understand and critique computing, and for increasing the diversity of computing participation. Some say no, citing the lack of equity-of-outcomes, the infeasibility of teaching all students equitably, and students' need for freedom in choosing what they study. Some say, "Let's consider the spectrum of possibilities... ." This session will discuss these possibilities, expressed and constrained by 2024's forces. Is computing's value saturated - or soon to be? Or is computing a meta-skill, whose practice in learning-to-learn amplifies individual efficacy along all paths? Is Computing1 too gate-kept to be as equitable a GenEd as Composition1? Or does requiring computing, in fact, help dismantle those gates? Can students adequately learn about core computing concepts via non-CS courses that use computing? What might required computing entail? We invite and welcome all with an interest in computing-as-degree-requirement, program-requirement, or GenEd offering. The session's seed materials will highlight evidence against the idea, for the idea, and across its vast, uncertain middle. Our BoF proposers include researchers and educators, both non-CS-requiring and CS-requiring, as well as non-CS-required and CS-required "educatees." Join us!more » « less
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First impressions are important. The initial environment in which our computing students express themselves helps shape their foundational understanding of what computing is, what it's for, and who participates. This work distills experiences and insights from offering Comp1 and Comp21 with two different IDEs: Microsoft's VSCode and Google's Colab. We identify and describe several axes along which we compare our students' experience of these two. This effort has changed the way we offer Comp1, a degree requirement of all students at our institution, and Comp2, an optional follow-up course, required by some computationally-themed programs.more » « less
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As a means of inquiry and expression, computing has become a literacy across many professional paths. This paper casts a vision for how a small, STEM-focused school supports this role of computing-as-literacy. We share several examples, both future visions and past experiences. We hope to prompt and join discussions that further the reach, use, and enjoyment of computing.more » « less
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This work envisions resources that help all of an institution's undergraduates build a foundation of computational authorship. Here we present materials evolved from many years of experience requiring Intro-to-Computing (Comp1) of all first-semester students. We hope to prompt and join other institutions looking for ways to engage as much of their undergraduate cohort as possible in computing.more » « less
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null (Ed.)For a decade, our institution has offered both a biology-based CS1 (CS1-B) and a traditional, breadth-based CS1. This project follows the paths of students in both courses -- tracking their subsequent interests (what courses do the two groups choose afterwards') and their grades in those courses. Within the biology-based cohort, we also contrast the futures of the students who chose a biology-themed introduction with the group who expressed no preference or requested the breadth-based approach. Even when student preference was not accommodated, equitable downstream performance results hold. We discuss the implications of these results, including the possibility that, like introductory writing, introductory computing is a professional literacy in which many disciplines have a stake.more » « less
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“CS for All” has set computing on an unusual journey. Those words ask CS to change: to grow from a compelling discipline and useful mindset into a full-fledged human literacy. Just as cogent writing, critical reading, and compelling speaking are today’s hallmarks of literacy, so too will leveraging computing for insight become part of the goals and expectations we all share. This paper considers how Computer Science, both as a discipline and as an academic department, can support this journey. To map the landscape, we first survey the extent of computing’s current curricular reach – beyond CS departments – at a sample of fifty U.S. institutions. We then present findings from three experiments, local to our institutions, which explored interdisciplinary course structures. Both the local and the global overviews suggest that CS departments have, now, a unique opportunity to help smooth computing’s transformation into a modern literacy. It’s in the best interests of all disciplines, together, to bring computing, its resources, and its roles into their distinctive identities.more » « less