A Unified Approach for Analysing Computer Science Courses: An Australian Case Study

Abstract

A large variety of Computer Science (CS) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) programs are offered in different institutions across Australia. Even the same institution has several majors of CS programs due to its recent popularity among students and demand in the job market. Current practices in CS education lack a unified approach to analyse and compare these programs, and consequently cannot assess the students in different programs based on a common platform. In this paper, we propose a unified and systematic approach to analyse CS units and courses. Our approach is based on CS curriculum guidelines, according to which each subject (or unit) of a program (or course) can be mapped to knowledge areas. The insights gained through the proposed unified approach could help education providers, students, and governing bodies to understand the fundamentals of CS and ICT programs. A case study involving data from CS programs offered by two Australian higher education institutions show the efficacy of our proposed approach.