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Teaching communication, leadership, and the social context of computing via a consulting course

Published: 10 March 2010 Publication History

Abstract

This paper describes a course at Carnegie Mellon University that engages students as consultants working with non-profit organizations. Different from most "service learning" courses, students in the Technology Consulting in the Community course focus on building capacity within organizations to sustain IT solutions without ongoing assistance. They do not merely provide IT support, nor do they focus on system development. Rather they focus on solving organizational problems using IT solutions. In doing so, they may develop a system, or adapt open source or commercial tools as appropriate to the situation. Computing systems do not exist in isolation, but in the context of people, organizations, and their policies. We want to train leaders in our community who can not only develop new technologies, but can solve organizational and societal problems. The course has as its learning goals to build inquiry, communication and leadership skills, in addition to engaging students in project development. At the same time it provides a valuable service in the community.

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Adams, J. B. and Runkles, E. 2004. "May we have class outside?": implementing service learning in a CS1 curriculum. J. Comput. Small Coll. 19, 5 (May. 2004), 25--34.
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Rosmaita, B. J. 2006. Accessibility first!: a new approach to web design. In Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (Houston, Texas, USA, March 03 -- 05, 2006). SIGCSE '06. ACM, New York, NY, 270--274. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1121341.1121426
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Brooks, C. H. 2008. Community connections: lessons learned developing and maintaining a computer science service--learning program. SIGCSE Bull. 40, 1 (Feb. 2008), 352--356. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1352322.1352256
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Christensen, K., Rundus, D., Perera, G., and Zulli, S. 2006. CSE Volunteers: A Service Learning Program to Provide IT Support to the Hillsborough County School District. SIGCSE Bull. 38, 1 (Mar. 2006), 229--233. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1124706.1121412
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Beyer, H. R. and Holtzblatt, K. 1995. Apprenticing with the customer. Commun. ACM 38, 5 (May. 1995), 45--52. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/203356.203365
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Cited By

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  • (2024)Faculty, Student, and Community Partner Experiences in Computer and Information Science Service LearningACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/365467824:3(1-26)Online publication date: 27-Mar-2024
  • (2024)External Projects and Partners: Addressing Challenges and Minimizing Risks from the OutsetProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653593(555-561)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
  • (2023)CISing Up Service Learning: A Systematic Review of Service Learning Experiences in Computer and Information ScienceACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/361077623:3(1-56)Online publication date: 12-Sep-2023
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    cover image ACM Conferences
    SIGCSE '10: Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
    March 2010
    618 pages
    ISBN:9781450300063
    DOI:10.1145/1734263
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    Published: 10 March 2010

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    1. capstone course
    2. consulting
    3. leadership
    4. professional skills
    5. project course
    6. service-learning

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    Cited By

    View all
    • (2024)Faculty, Student, and Community Partner Experiences in Computer and Information Science Service LearningACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/365467824:3(1-26)Online publication date: 27-Mar-2024
    • (2024)External Projects and Partners: Addressing Challenges and Minimizing Risks from the OutsetProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653593(555-561)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
    • (2023)CISing Up Service Learning: A Systematic Review of Service Learning Experiences in Computer and Information ScienceACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/361077623:3(1-56)Online publication date: 12-Sep-2023
    • (2021)Supporting Pharmaceutical Healthcare OutreachProceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/3408877.3432470(376-382)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2021
    • (2020)Applying the Design Process to Life GoalsProceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/3328778.3366895(739-745)Online publication date: 26-Feb-2020
    • (2019)Capstone as consultingJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/3344013.334402034:4(67-77)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2019
    • (2018)A scalable model of community-based experiential learning through courses and international projects2018 World Engineering Education Forum - Global Engineering Deans Council (WEEF-GEDC)10.1109/WEEF-GEDC.2018.8629695(1-6)Online publication date: Nov-2018
    • (2014)A service learning practicum capstoneProceedings of the 45th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/2538862.2538974(265-270)Online publication date: 5-Mar-2014
    • (2012)Killing 3 birds with one courseProceedings of the 43rd ACM technical symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/2157136.2157331(657-657)Online publication date: 29-Feb-2012
    • (2011)An engineering approach to teaching writing.Proceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/1953163.1953315(535-540)Online publication date: 9-Mar-2011

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