Collaborative research: transforming computer science curriculum design at liberal arts institutions

Federal Project Grant Summary

Siena College received a $146,426 Project Grant awarded on October 15, 2025, under the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076) administered by the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education. This collaborative research initiative delivers a structured, facilitated curriculum revision process designed to enable computer science (CS) departments at liberal arts institutions to develop and update undergraduate CS majors. The project will deploy, test, and refine a backward design methodology grounded in curriculum design literature, wherein departments align their distinctive programmatic missions and goals with program outcomes, curriculum structure, and selection of core and elective content. This approach enables institutions to create adaptive, mission-aligned curricula responsive to emerging disciplinary advances such as generative artificial intelligence and quantum computing, evolving employer needs, and shifting student interests and career objectives.

The project addresses a critical national need, recognizing that approximately one-third of CS majors graduate annually from liberal arts and primarily undergraduate institutions. By building faculty capacity for curriculum innovation, the initiative enables these institutions to develop computing workforces with broad preparation while maintaining their distinctive educational missions. The project extends through September 30, 2028, and is performed at Siena College's Albany, New York location. The deliverables include a facilitated curriculum revision process that CS departments can implement to ensure their programs remain responsive to disciplinary evolution, student needs, and labor market demands while supporting liberal arts institutions' role in expanding computing literacy and creating flexible pathways for students to pursue CS majors at any point in their undergraduate careers.

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by helping computer science (CS) departments develop or update undergraduate CS majors to meet evolving student needs while balancing international guidelines for CS curricula with local needs and priorities. This level 1 institutional and community transformation project includes plans to deploy, test, and revise a structured, facilitated process for faculty at liberal arts institutions to use when reviewing and revising undergraduate CS curricula. Liberal arts institutions play an important role in educating the nation's stem workforce, with roughly a third of CS majors each year graduating from liberal arts and primarily undergraduate institutions. These programs often prioritize opportunities for greater computing literacy across the student body and provide pathways for students to switch into or add CS majors to their degree during their sophomore or junior year, allowing them to recruit students who may not enter college with an intent to study computing. CS curricula require regular revision to respond to new advances in the discipline, such as generative AI and quantum computing, changing needs of employers, and shifts in the interests, preparation, and career goals of students. The project aims to understand how best to develop faculty capacity for curriculum innovation and encourage CS departments to develop adaptive, effective, mission-aligned curricula that contribute significantly to the development of a broadly prepared computing workforce. The project plans to guide departments through a backward design process for curriculum revision in which the distinctive programmatic mission and goals drive the later decision-making about program outcomes, curriculum structure, and selection of core and elective content. This process is grounded in the curriculum design literature and designed to work alongside the latest international curriculum guidelines. The project aims to show that successful adoption of this process will result in liberal arts CS programs that are (1) prepared and inclined to regularly update their curricula to respond to changes in the discipline and their operating context, (2) equipped to do so effectively and efficiently, and (3) able to do so in a manner that results in distinctive, institutionally aligned, and innovative curricula that respond to advances in the discipline and employer needs. Departments will be recruited to participate in facilitated working groups and complete the curriculum review process. Both single-department and cohort-based working group modalities will be tested. The project will study the efficacy of this process through three key measures: curriculum innovation and alignment, faculty engagement and efficacy in curriculum design, and long-term institutional capacity for ongoing program revision. Evaluation strategies include analysis of revised curricula and associated documentation, participant feedback through surveys and focus groups, and longitudinal data on program change. These investigations will advance understanding of the support needed for successful use of the process and prepare for broader deployment and long-term systemic change. The NSF iuse:EDU program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of stem education for all students. Through the institutional and community transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve stem education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.