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.

 

___________________________________________________________________

 

To: Dr. Erika Paterson 

From: Yang Liu

Date: Oct 29, 2021 

Subject: Formal Report Progress 

 

The following is an update on my progress on the formal report assignment for English 301. The topic of this report is Determining the Feasibility of Providing New Workshops to Improve Coding Ability

Audience:

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

Purpose:

The purpose of this report is to conduct a comparative analysis of providing a workshop for the computer science students to improve their coding ability and to solve the mismatch between the academic goals in the UBC computer science program and actual industrial needs.  

Significance:

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. Recommendations to provide a workshop to improve students’ coding ability helps students seek a job and stay well in the workplace. 

Research Plan:

• Designing a survey for previous CS students
• Investigate the industrial need and their expectation from graduate students
• Investigate appropriate approaches to improve coding ability
• Designing a survey for current CS students
• Qualify current students’ coding ability 
• Determine if students’ coding ability is enough to meet industrial requirements
• Investigate students’ expectations from the workshop
• Analyze the feasibility of providing the new workshop
• Identify the pros and cons of this workshop

Schedule:

• Oct 30 – Nov 7: Collecting Data using survey
• Nov 7 – Nov 14: Drafting formal report 
• Nov 15: Formal report draft submission 
• Nov 16 — Nov 19: Peer review
• Nov 19 — Nov 25: Revising formal report draft 
• Nov 26: Formal report submission

Enclosed: Survey_current_ubc_students, Survey_previous_ubc_students