Curriculum Committee ("CC") Minutes for 17 October 1995

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Attending:  Arora, Babic, Goyal, Jain, Lai, Mamrak, Michaylov, Weide

* Discussion of issues involved in setting up a permanent course
  on ethics/professionalism to meet accreditation requirements

  We discussed answers to the questions posed last week about the
  proposal for a permanent 1 credit hour course on "Social and
  Ethical Issues in Computing".  This course is needed for accreditation
  of the CSE program.
  - Which of our undergraduate programs will require it?
    Probably both ENG and ASC eventually, but we might start with
    just ENG.  This is an Undergraduate Studies matter.  But CC
    estimates that if the course is required of all CIS majors in
    ENG and ASC, at steady state there would be about 6 sections
    per year of the course with an enrollment limit of 25.  The agreed
    faculty load factor of 0.5 courses means this will require slightly
    less than the services of about one FTE faculty member.
  - Is an enrollment limit of 25 appropriate?
    Ken's experience is that one can structure class time so it is
    possible to have a discussion, with decent student participation,
    even with 25.  It seems impossible with 40.  CC might want to
    adjust this limit after more experience if other faculty members
    find 25 inappropriate; but we should start with this.
  - Is the course appropriate for graduate credit?  Should it have
    a 600 number then?
    CC agreed that the course is appropriate for graduate credit for
    CIS majors, and that CIS 601 is an appropriate number.
  CC also agreed that the class might meet once per week for 75 minutes,
  not 48 minutes, given the proposed out-of-class workload.  This
  should also make it easier to involve more students in discussions.
  
  Bruce will ask Deanna to do the official paperwork for the course
  as currently envisioned, and CC will vote on recommending it to the
  faculty ASAP.
    
* Discussion of proposal to make CIS syllabi available on-line

  Bruce reported that he has created a simple HTML format syllabus
  that could be used to put all CIS course syllabi on-line.  Rohit
  and Bruce will be responsible for continuing this project, especially
  working with Deanna to make sure there is a reasonable process to
  get current syllabi on-line and for processing changes.
  
  NOTE: The agendas and minutes of CC meetings for last year and this
  year are available now:
    http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/~weide/curriculum-committee
  Other CC materials will be made available soon at the same place.
  Eventually, this should be directly accessible through the department's
  home page.

* Discussion of proposed networking curriculum changes

  CC discussed several issues related to the proposed changes and
  additions to the networking curriculum.  Specifically, we discussed
  the overview nature of the first course (to replace 677) and
  "bottom-up" vs. "top-down" approaches to the network layers in that
  course.  At the CC meeting on Nov 7, we will continue the discussion
  and concentrate on the proposed third course.  It seemed clear
  that there is a need to update 677 along the lines proposed, and
  to add the proposed second course, but we did not discuss concerns
  raised previously about the demand and audience for the third course.
  
  Bruce will ask Steve to make minor changes to the proposed syllabi,
  and ask Deanna to do the official paperwork, before the Nov 7 meeting.
  
  
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Next meeting: Tuesday October 24, 12:30-1:30 in DL 698.


Respectfully submitted,

	Bruce W. Weide, CC Chair