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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. UH should have a computer lab with necessary software for Computer Engineering and ICS students to utilize.

2. There should be more frequent workshops that teach skills and concepts not usually taught in courses. Series of workshops that build upon one skill. 

3. Internship as part of the curriculum which help students gain professional experience in their field.

I am a Computer Engineer and ICS 314 is my first ICS class. Three bad things about being ICS/CE:

  • Having to spend a lot of time programming and juggling the work load of other classes.
  • (As CE) EE/CE professors having dated knowledge.
  • Getting stuck debugging late at night without anyone to get help/advice from.

1. I do wish there were more courses that satisfied the UH general education requirements.  I personally would like a history of computers class, though I know it isn't as long of a historical time period as say the development of the Middle East.

2. I also agree with Reyn that the language requirement is something to point out.  As I understand it, engineering majors do not have the same language requirement, mainly because of the course load.  However, in my perspective, ICS is just as challenging as engineering, and the language requirement should be if anything equal across the board.

3. I believe we should have peer office hours where those more experienced and have taken say the lower level classes are available to help underclassmen.

1. Coming from the Computer Engineering department, I do wish certain ICS courses were offered more consistently for students who express interests in the classes, similarly to how it is done in our department where certain courses are offered at least once every two semesters. 

2. The language requirement in the ICS program was what initially dissuaded me from pursuing the major, ultimately leading to my choice of majoring in Computer Engineering. 

3. From what I know of the ICS program, there aren't any large major projects that are available that can give you a scope similar to that of working in the industry, compared to the EE/CE departments that require you to do a major project or research every year as a requirement to graduate. 

1) Need more ICS courses that have the requirements of Oral Communication and Ethical Issues. Students might interest to ICS classes that have Oral or Ethical. Because taking one of those classes can meet both the focus requirement and ICS requirement, and also it is a great opportunity to learn how is the focus requirement can be relative to ICS classes.

2) Class registration is tense, especially ICS 311 and ICS 314. I transferred from KCC last semester, but I didn't get register the main ICS 300 courses. These 300 courses are prerequisites for other high-level classes. If those classes don't take as early as possible, other classes might be delaying or having difficulty learning other high-level ICS classes.

3) ICS courses need more time to study than other courses. Some assignments in the ICS courses need to spend more time to do, and other courses might have less time to study. 

1.Little to no warning about course requirement changes

2.Too many required courses only offered at night

3.Not enough room in required classes

Since this 314 class is my first ICS class at UH  I don't have a lot to go on for this yet but...

1. Lower financial barriers (i.e. laptop requirements for 314). I had to go out and buy a new laptop which may not be possible for many students.

2. More class availability (more sections for certain classes). I'm playing catchup as far as school goes since I haven't been in college for three years and I was unable to register for 311 concurrently with 314. This course enrollment was necessary for me to not be held a semester back and there simply weren't enough sections for me to register.

3. More lax credit transfers- I've been to 4 colleges and have had to take discrete math 3 different times because every time I transferred each college thought that only their discrete math class was the one and only qualified one.

1. Class availability. It can be difficult for double major students or even those minoring in another field to graduate when they want if their schedule has to revolve around one ICS class every semester with only 1 or 2 time slots.

2. There should be more projects in the earlier classes of the degree. Learning how to work on a project with new people is an excellent skill to have. The projects don't have to be strictly graded or even completed in my opinion. The experience is important and could even fulfill a WI requirement if done a certain way. 

1. The workload required to master the concepts and theories is heavy in itself. The focus requirements (eth, oral, wi, Hap) needed to achieve a BS seems unnecessarily cumbersome given the lack of available ICS related courses. A forgiveness of unrelated focus requirements or designating ics courses with certain focus may ease the burden of extra courses; ie. computer ethics could have an ethics focus with it. 

2. The scheduling of necessary ics courses is dependent on 2 obstacles: semester availability and prerequisite requirement. Some 400 level courses conflict with availability and prereqs which doesn't allow for an overall efficient graduation objective. A broader availability of courses would greatly ease the strain on scheduling. 

3. ICS space is a great place to retreat and find fellowship with other programmers, but could really use an upgrade with an area to focus on group collaboration of assignments. The 2 pockets in the corner are too small for more than 2 people and main area is more for socializing than work. 

Three bad things about being an ICS student:

1. The foreign language requirement.  Four semesters of a language seems excessive for something that for something that seems to have very little relation to my major.

2. Class times and availability.  There are not many options when it comes to some ICS classes.  Sometimes there is only one option for a class and that class starts late at night.

3. A lack of focus requirement classes.

1. Students should be required to take sophomore and junior projects.

2. ICS Department should help students gain professional experience by offering internships.

3. ICS coursework is time consuming.

1. Some classes aren't as fleshed out or as well directed as others, but I think time could help flesh this problem out.

2. The rush to get into some of the pre-requisite classes like 311 and 314 can be kind of rough, they fill up pretty quickly. 

3. Sometimes it feels like students are left to figure stuff all on their own. While it could help students be more self-reliant, I sometimes come across situations where my classmates and I aren't on the same page when it comes to certain concepts.

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