Proposal for Determining the Feasibility of Providing New Workshops

To: Dr. Erika Paterson

From: Yang Liu, ENGL 301

Date: Oct 15, 2021

Subject: Proposal for Determining the Feasibility of Providing New Workshops

Audiences:

The intended audience for this proposal is Leonard Wang, the president of CSSS, the club for UBC computer science students.

Introduction:

Computer science is an essential part of society and benefits our lives in many ways. Computer science education is more important than ever, and demand for computer science graduates continues to outpace supply. As a top-ranking university globally, UBC helps students acquire computational thinking and problem-solving skills by delivering professional computer science courses. However, the academic targets do not meet the industrial requirements in many ways. Computer science courses in UBC focus on understanding conceptual ideas and principles, while industries require designing and writing a program in any specific programming language. Students from the UBC computer science program are usually under stress when they start their first jobs.

Statement of Problem:

Students from universities are unskilled in using programming languages because university computer science courses emphasize academic principles instead of programming skills. Even though students can practice when they write their programming assignments or participate in co-op programs, their programming skills are not enough to meet the actual industry requirements. A new graduating student faces many challenges in seeking jobs, and technology companies must lower their employment requirements for incoming new graduating students. Many companies even design training sessions in specific programming languages for new graduating students after they get employed, increasing their cost.

Proposed Solution:

One possible solution to the problem of mismatching between the academic target and industrial requirements is to design some training workshops for university students. The CSSS, club for UBC computer science students, will take responsibility to hold these workshops. In the workshop, students practice coding in some specific programming languages, learn about standard use models/packages and any tips in programming.

Scope:

To assess the feasibility of solving academic target and industrial requirement mismatch, I plan to pursue four areas of inquiry:

1. What programming languages are commonly required in the industry and essential to teach in the workshop session?
2. How willing are students to attend the workshop, and how many hours they will spend?
3. How to quantify students if they are well-trained in a specific programming language? What are the standard requirements for students to complete the workshops?
4. Whom should UBC hire to lead workshops?

Methods:

My primary data sources will be surveys with previous UBC students in the computer science program, and I will ask them questions about the industry requirements. My secondary data source is current students in the UBC computer science program. I will round out my secondary research with a survey about their attitudes toward the new workshop.

My Qualifications:

I am a fourth-year computer science student at UBC. I have completed many UBC computer science courses and many personal projects.

Conclusion:

The computer science program is one of the most popular programs in UBC. Action is required to help students learn programming skills to meet the industrial requirements. By investigating the four questions mentioned earlier, I can determine the feasibility of providing new workshops to train students’ coding skills. With your approval, I will begin research at once.