CSEE

Should computer science be a required course for today’s college students? That’s the question posed by USA TODAY reporter Sonia Su. UMBC’s Marie desJardins tell Su that, “Being a smart computer user is like being a smart consumer — the more you understand how it works, the more you can benefit from it,” Su writes, “In her introductory computer science class for non-majors, desJardins said she emphasizes key concepts, one of which is that computational thinking is, as its core, about problem solving, which is useful for everyone.” desJardins tells Su, “I find that my students often do not really… Continue Reading Marie desJardins and Penny Rheingans, Computer Science, USA TODAY College

Marc Olano, associate professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and director of the Computer Science BS in Game Development Track, was quoted in a Baltimore Sun story on the closing of the Timonium-based video game company Big Huge Games. The story, “Timonium video game maker closes, lays off 100,” appeared on May 25. The 12-year-old company of 107 employees was shuttered last week as a result of its parent company, Providence, RI’s 38 Studios, closing down due to its own mounting debts. The loss of Big Huge Games to the Maryland video game industry is significant, as the company… Continue Reading Marc Olano, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, in the Baltimore Sun

UMBC and Marie desJardins appeared in the New York Times. The article, “Computer Science for the Rest of Us,” describes the idea that all students should learn how to ‘think computationally’ and discusses the growing number of new efforts to teach non-majors how to do that, with or without learning how to program in conventional programming languages like Python or Java. Marie desJardins, a computer science professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, says her department uses Scratch in its “Introduction to Computers and Programming” course, in which students can try a few basic concepts. About 25 percent of… Continue Reading Marie desJardins, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, in the New York Times