SCORE Project: CSyllabus
Title: International Computer Science Syllabi Repository
Sponsor: Gruia-Catalin Roman
Project Description
The computer science faculty values free exchange of ideas, availability of open source software, open publications, exchange of pedagogical advances, etc. Yet, upon entering the web site of a particular institution understanding the graduation requirements is often a real challenge and tracking the syllabus of a specific course can be a daunting undertaking. The goal of this project is to create a national repository of computer science course syllabi to assist students in making good educational choices, instructors in sharing best practices, and education researchers in understanding the evolution of our field.
Project Scope
Developing a site where students and faculty may upload syllabi in some standard format like .pdf is not much of a challenge. The real issues are how to encourage participation, how to curate the data, and how to present the data in a meaningful and useful fashion. Accomplishing this with minimal user interaction is the most difficult aspect of this undertaking. Automatically extracting information from the submitted documents will be an important first step in this direction.
Process Requirements
The sponsor is available to advise with the selection of an effective software development process and project management strategy, but the initial ideas need to originate with the team and match the members’ experience and background.
Project artifacts should be hosted on a public repository (such as Github).
Environmental Constraints
It is essential to provide a web based resource accessible to all. The underlying technology is at the discretion of the team, but leveraging of existing products is likely to significantly reduce the magnitude of the development effort. Finally, the social dimension of this undertaking should not be underestimated.
Level of Sponsor Involvement
The sponsor will be available to interact with each team via email. The role of the sponsor is that of a technical consultant who is prepared to answer questions about the nature and scope of the project and to provide feedback with respect to technical solutions being considered by the team.
Sponsor contact: gcroman (at) unm (dot) edu
Project Restrictions
None.
Project FAQ
Answers to selected questions will appear here.