Computing Branches Out: On Revitalizing Computing Education

Computing professionals are employed in so many different ways that it is difficult to even define the common foundation that all of them should master; however, a single degree program, computer science, is currently providing the training for most of these jobs. Computing education, following the model of engineering, may need to branch out into specialized degree programs to address the diversity of jobs that computing professionals currently hold. In this paper we describe the approach to computing education taken at DePaul University’s School of Computer Science, Telecommunications, and Information Systems, an approach that involves both specialized computing degrees and the integration of computing in general education requirements. Both of these efforts have had a positive effect on enrollments at DePaul CTI and hold promise for revitalizing computing education more broadly in the United