Interdisciplinary approaches to revitalizing undergraduate computing education

"Through the CISE Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education (CPATH) program, NSF's Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) is challenging its partners - colleges, universities and other stakeholders committed to advancing the field of computing and its impact - to transform undergraduate computing education on a national scale, to meet the challenges and opportunities of a world where computing is essential to U.S. leadership and economic competitiveness across all sectors of society." [4] One approach to such revitalization is the introduction of interdisciplinary courses to expand the scope of computing education. This approach has its roots in programs such as Lynn Stein's "small footprint" core [2] and Georgia Tech's "threads" [3]. The basic idea is to have students from various disciplines work together on computing projects to expand their educational horizons and make computing courses more appealing. This panel brings together educators who have developed and taught interdisciplinary courses with these goals in mind. The panelists will share their experiences and solicit new ideas from the audience. We expect a lively discussion on the pros and cons of this approach.