Faculty-led Inquiry into Reflective and Scholarly Teaching (FIRST)
Date of this Version
2021
Document Type
Portfolio
Abstract
CSCE 155E is the flagship Computer Science I course in the School of Computing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A high-enrollment course with multiple sections in multiple delivery modes, this course serves as an introduction to problem solving using computers. This course is the first computing course for Computer Science and Computer Engineering majors and is a service course for a variety of other (mostly engineering) majors. The course was redesigned in fall 2018 with the goal of making it more scalable and improving rigor, student outcomes, and the learning experience. Though it has been a slow process, the course has evolved over the last four years to meet these goals and has shown recent success in improving student outcomes (in particular in reducing DFW rates). This document provides a comprehensive review of the course through the University of Nebraska{Lincoln's Faculty-led Inquiry into Reflective and Scholarly Teaching (FIRST) program (formerly known as the Peer Review of Teaching Project). We detail the course's structure, resources, assessment, redesign, and evolution over the last four years and provide a substantial analysis of its improved outcomes.