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What are three ways that the UH ICS program could improve?

If you can think of more than three things, then please limit your response to your top three!

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1) Stress! 

Similar to many other majors, ICS requires most if not all of your time dedicated to classes or finding internships/jobs. It's also very difficult to both work and be a full time student while still getting good grades. This leaves a student with little time for relaxation and other hobbies (...like surfing!).

2) Class times

I noticed that a lot of the upper division courses are scheduled in the afternoon/evening around 2-6pm. This can be added stress on a commuting student because of the traffic and long breaks between other classes.

3) Flipped classroom shock

As I just transferred from LCC to UH Manoa this semester, it was like a classroom culture shock now taking ICS 311. I actually support the flipped classroom model, but I think it would be a good idea to implement it from the beginning ICS courses at all UH campuses. I'm finding it a little difficult to adjust my habits for the flipped classroom since I have never experienced it.

I am in the Computer Engineering program rather then the ICS program, so my biggest complaint is that if I want to take any ICS sources I am required to get an override. Better integration into the Engineering program would be great.

1) I believe that many students learn well through a lecture, a face to face interaction where they can take notes and participate live. While I understand that certain students zone out, I would have preferred having a lecture and also the videos for reviews. There are some teachers that aren't very effective in teaching and teach very textbook.

2) Hearing from my upperclassman and my intro experience in this major, there isn't a lot of opportunity within classes to do hands, real career work.

3) From my previous classes that I took, many of the assignments, and exams were driven on memory and less on problem solving. 

  

1. First thing is that ICS course will take most time of students' day. Inorder to pass course. There are too many things to learn, so students must keep study and have a little time to rest.

2. It is too expensive as a ICS students, besides tuition students also need buy expensive textbook and good labtop. However, students don't have time to work to earn extra money.

3. Students have to spent more time on self-learning than on lecture. It is better and efficient for some students to learn face to face in lecture.

1) I honestly think the early classes doesn’t do a good job to show how important some things they learn early on can be helpful later on like in ICS 311 with all of this accumulated knowledge on several classes
2) I feel as if some classes don’t teach enough for the next class in line or the classes afterward sometimes expect you to know some bit of things that didn’t really get emphasized in prior classes which can throw any student behind to learn this concepts out of no where just to keep up with newer concepts
3) some classes tells you to get help from the internet and others not which I understand both reasons but having to swap over from the other really makes a student struggle on a reliable source of info where one could rely on the internet and other saying it’s better to not and read on your own instead

Three ways that the UH ICS Program could improve:

1) On top of taking ICS classes that are challenging and demand your time outside of class to learn on your own, especially those that hold a "flipped classroom" policy, you are required to take other classes to fulfill your other academic requirements. We have focus and general science requirements with mandatory secondary language classes which are almost equally as challenging and require time outside of class to also study the material. The motto of "15 to Finish" on STAR also emphasizes taking a minimum amount of credits to graduate on time but it really puts a load on students that can severely stress them out. In addition, some students have to be working part-time jobs to help pay for their college tuition. If it's recommended that these students reduce their work hours to focus on their classes, how will they pay for their upcoming semesters? Here, it's rather reduce the stress load and take more classes in another semester to stay on course or power through and risk a poor performance.

2) Some classes starting at later times are almost detrimental to schedules. For example, my ICS 311 class starts at 4:30-5:45 on Mondays and Wednesdays while the recitation is from 4:00-4:50. For some students, myself included, I find that it's hard to start paying attention to things during the afternoon since I'm much more of a morning person. Now, after having several classes, how are we expected to perform at our best and pay full attention when the classes start at such a late time?

3) Lastly, there should be some change to the curriculum to introduce classes early on that are related to your focus rather than leaving it towards the later years after taking all the general courses. For example, I really wanted to focus into cyber security but have yet to even start learning about it because of all the time I have to invest in my other classes. I understand that having these classes teaching the basic skills required are important but having early classes in these areas can boost a student's interest and may help some find what area of computer science they want to focus on.

Unnecessary Classes:

One of the things I was surprised to find is the focus on classes that are not ICS based. While I understand we are getting a Bachelor of Science degree, I feel like most of my time and stress has gone towards classes like Chemistry and classes that fulfill only the certain parts of our degree. For instance, I am currently taking a class that will not benefit my understanding of my chosen field, only to fulfill my ethics and writing intensive requirements. After meeting with a school counselor, we found that I might have to take more classes that are not ICS based to fulfill my oral and writing-intensive credits. This was disheartening because I was looking forward to being able to focus my attention on learning more within my field. I wish we could focus on the classes that will help us once we are out in our work field. Maybe trying to get important and required classes to fulfill these requirements would help students feel like they are not wasting their time on unnecessary classes.

Flipped Classrooms:

Another aspect of the UH ICS program that I was surprised by, was the idea of flipped classrooms in upper-level classes. I took 311(Algorithms) last semester and found it very difficult to get used to the way the class operated. The class is notoriously one of the more difficult classes that students have to take, and I felt that there should be a lecture included in the class time. I do think that some classes could benefit from a flipped classroom, I just feel like it needs to be re-evaluated as to which classes should have it. Maybe some of the lower-level classes should implement the idea of them so students can prepare for harder classes later on in there degree. 

Late Classes:

I have heard a lot about the upper-level classes for the ICS department being held late in the day. Already I'm starting to feel like there is a lot on conflicting times with the classes that I want/need to take in a semester. Maybe polling the registered ICS students in what times they want to take these classes could help students with scheduling their classes. 

The three ways i believe that the UH ICS program could improve are:

1. Increasing the number of online classes. I understand that being able to effectively communicate is a very important part of computer science, but i feel as if having the ability to take some of these classes online would increase the pass rate of people who work full time jobs like myself because of the reduced commute times, stagnate time between classes, and also the small talk that tends to happen at a university when you run into friends. All this time adds up by the end of a semester and could have been used to effectively study, do homework, or catch up on needed sleep.

2. The work load can be intense with a full class load and if you have to work to make ends meet as well, then good luck to you. I think this ties directly with #1 because less down time equates to more study time.

3. More available times for some classes. I've noticed that some of the classes have very limited times you can take the classes. Making more times available could decrease class sizes giving more of a one on one feel with instructors and also give students a better selection of times to choose from increasing the likelihood of success. This is also a problem that can be solved by #1.

What are three ways that the UH ICS program could improve?

The UH ICS program is quite diverse from the CENG perspective, but there are definitely things that could be improved.

  • Advertised available internship opportunities - There are a lot of internship opportunities and advisers are wonderful at advertising these, but the market is very competitive in nature and most advertised internships are prestigious. In needing higher GPA, other internships, or past experience in the field to get considered for prestigious projects and internship offers, I think the advertised opportunities should also consider accessible job opportunities. I hear too often that people struggle to compete and become very discouraged and although there is the job fair and various options out there, it would be nice to see easier to access ways to gain experience.
  • ICS, CENG merge - If ICS and CENG were to merge, the paths would allow professors to teach more sections and specializations. People could take technical that are relevant to what they want to learn and classes wouldn't be so sparse and/or held inconvenient times. There is still a difference in the curriculum, but it's just a thought.
  • Task intensive, no self study - As a personal problem, with heavy task loads, I haven't had time to figure out what I want to do. Practice makes perfect, but one interest I've had over the course of my past two semesters is database work including SQL. My work load has severely pushed back any self study that I've wanted to pursue. It always could just be a lack of motivation.

Three things that could improve the UH ICS program:

1) More options in what type of courses were available and specialties would be helpful in testing the waters and possibly figuring out what you're interested in.  While the courses do a reasonable job at letting you dabble in multiple things, sometimes they can fall to the wayside if there's not enough time to cover each of them fully.

2) Being able to get help outside of class seems a little difficult with the amount of Tutors available from what I understand.  When the subject is a mixed bag and not everything is necessarily associated with the other, having more available with more specialized assistance would likely help more people get the assistance they need.

3) Though I understand the necessity for having higher end computers to make sure your computer can handle the work load of multiple programs, I do think it's a difficulty having to reach a pay wall in these classes. Not only do you have to pay for classes, but also any reading materials as well as a computer if your current system isn't up to the task.  Though to be fair I'm not sure exactly how to solve this problem outside of having classroom computers.  Not that this would be a particularly cheap option either.

1. More internship and interview practice in curriculum

2. More focused classes that have practical job skills, i.e (network admin skills)

3. More on campus resources

1. Sharing more core classes with CENG. As a CENG major I found it useful to have the choice to take some ICS classes as the equivalent of an EE course, it would be nice to have more of these choices.

2. It can be costly to get an ideal laptop for the coursework, classroom laptops would help.

3. Coursework can be very time-consuming. 

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