Teaching a First-Year Seminar in Computer Science

After an absence of some time, the author has returned with an item about teaching in response to a particular request for more specific materials.  Since I have already fallen into a pattern, I can explain the progress of the course in terms of that framework.

For the introduction and motivation, please see my new CACM blog series on the philosophy of computer science, at:
  https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/238427-lessons-from-a-first-year-seminar/fulltext

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The instructor who wishes to apply the ideas in this article should plug in her or his own specific materials, such as detailed computing topics and a classic work of literature with a theme shared by Internet issues.

Framework for a First-Year Seminar in Computer Science


Major Subject Areas (each about half of the material)
  COMPUTING:  Low-level fundamentals of computing, to introduce enough technical material that students construct a solid, though sparse, conceptual framework of computation, to support subsequent exploration and additional learning.
  INTERNET:  Issues that have emerged from the quick and broad penetration Internet services, particularly social media.  Computing is firmly connected to glaring bad outcomes that the inclusion is necessary, not contrived.

Reading and References
1.  Blown to Bits, by Abelson, Lewis, and Ledeen 2008, available for free as a PDF document online (both COMPUTING and INTERNET)
2.  Several articles from respectable news outlets, and other freely available journalism (for INTERNET)
3.  Web sources for introductory programming, and my own programming materials (for COMPUTING)
4.  Classic work of fiction on a theme related to an Internet issue, supporting assignments to foster humanities skills, such as reading, analysis, and discussion.  I choose a classic work of literature that illustrates a situation similar (given abstraction) to those we see today.
Fall 2018 class read "Frankenstein"; the shared theme was the unintended consequences of technology.
Fall 2019 class read "The Scarlet Letter"; the shared theme is public shaming.
Future Possibilities:
  "Things Fall Apart" where the theme is damage done to a way of life by hubris and intrusion from outside.
  "Madame Bovary" (or even "Emma") where the theme is the hubris of an intended social benefit that proves harmful.

More on the COMPUTING subject area:
I teach the barest fundamentals that allow a grasp of the computational paradigm--
Bits, bit strings and how they represent data, leading to their diverse interpretations by processing instructions.
Number systems, leading to binary and hexadecimal representations, and discrete symbols.
Programming -- minimal structures are sequence, assignment statements, conditionals, and repetition, leading to algorithms and rudimentary design.
Arrays, leading to identification by location; hence, addressing.

The general pedagogical purpose of a first-year seminar, to foster student work at the college level, is fulfilled in part by the research paper assignment.  Students choose a topic of interest to them, related to computing; we go through example topics to demonstrate narrowing down the scope to something meaningful and tractable.  In addition to the usual incremental research paper assignments -- topic development, annotated bibliography, sentence outline, and drafts -- the students write pieces that explain aspects of computing.

Technology and humanities subjects can feed into each other.  My students:
1.  Mine the novel for unfamiliar words for purposes of lookup and search exercises.
2.  Study the technical concerns of writing, such as character codes, in terms of data.
3.  Design a simple graphic icon based on events or settings of the novel, which is then used as a subject for algorithms such as encoding and compression.

A group presentation assignment takes up some issue of the modern Internet and Web, with a topic drawn from current events.  In my experience, first-year students struggle to achieve adequate quality in research papers and presentations, and can be shocked by assessment at college standards.

Special needs for  a first-year seminar in Computer Science include a list of research sources -- scholarly, with peer-reviewed options, but suitable for freshmen (still under development, not satisfactory).