Engineering Education for IT Professional in Hong Kong Speaker: - PDF document

Draft HKIE, IT Division Annual Conference and Dinner 2009 24 April 2009 Engineering Education for IT Professional in Hong Kong Speaker: Prof. W.C. Siu Chair Professor, Hong Kong Polytechnic University http://www.eie.polyu.edu.hk/~wcsiu/mypage.htm WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 1 Scope of this presentation: “ Engineering Education for I T Professional in Hong Kong” IT here refers to a more global meaning, which means Computer Science Computing Information Engineering Computer Engineering Information Systems for industrial and Commercial Applications Engineering here refers to modern engineering concepts with conventional fields, such as Chartered Engineers in UK/ Europe Professional Engineers in North America in areas, such as EE, ME, CSE, Industrial Eng., etc. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 2 1

Draft Scope of discussion: “ Engineering Education for I T Professional in Hong Kong” Objectives of this talk include: i) to give a discussion on how would the education of an IT professional (such as those from computer science courses) be considered as engineering oriented, or be recognized to satisfy the educational requirement to become a professional/ chartered engineer ii) to arouse the interest of the audience on its requirements, to have feedbacks and further discussions, since the “standard and requirements” are owned by the academic/ professional peers. Output- Based Teaching and Learning : This topic is purposely left out, since this is a big topic which has to be discussed separately. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 3 1. Basic Tools : A computer/software engineer must be able to make use of basic tools for their daily work, such as computer graphics tools, database, mathematical tools and word processing. There is no fixed boundary of the scope of the training, but these must be a consistent set of tools and the topics must be acceptable by professional peers forming the basis for him/her to practise as an engineer. After going through this very basic training the student should be able to perform computer system installation, simple networking connection , information retrieval, information exchange via internet, presentation using computer tools, simple web page design, search engines, … etc. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 4 2

Draft 2. Design Sufficient design elements should be defined clearly in most subjects at senior levels, and examples should be available upon request (to be reflected in examination papers, etc.) Furthermore, subjects/topics related to modeling and design of computer-based systems are recommended since they can be used to demonstrate comprehension of the tradeoff involved in design choices. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 5 2. Design (con ’ t) For example, the outcome of such a training is to equip the student to be able i) to design a database system to be able to input data, retrieve information, plot graphs, vet papers … for conference organization management /or shop purchasing… ii) to design and implement a fast search algorithm to look for a matched string of structure within a database… iii) to design a software iii) to design a simple microcontroller system, with appropriate ROM, RAM, bus structure and connection … EPLD simulation iv) to design a fast motion estimation algorithm for video coding with the minimum amount of bits or with the best quality under a certain constraint. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 6 3

Draft 3. Software Engineering and Project Management This element is indispensable in a computer science programme. The stress is not so much on the theoretical side of software engineering, but more on the understanding and application of good practices and tools, in areas including the . design and integration of large software, . software modeling and analysis, . verification and validation, . quality assurance, . software maintenance, . documentation and safety, . software and project management, etc. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 7 4. Society and Engineers A subject should be offered related to “Society and Engineers”, contents of which include professionalism, work as a registered engineer or chartered engineer role of responsibilities, ethics, security, including computer security safety environmental protection, and it related issues legal aspects, etc. *It should be a Compulsory subject, or the university should ensure each student to acquire such knowledge/ideas before his/her graduation. *It can be learnt from various parts of some General studies. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 8 4

Draft 5 . Mathematics Sufficient mathematics contents should be included in a computer science programme. The actual contents and percentage of mathematics are left to course designers. It is recommended that 16% be used as a reference, and significant deviation is not expected. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 9 6. Modernization Computer science programmes should be sufficiently modern;contemporary subjects/topics such as web programming, UML (unified modeling language), object- oriented design and programming, information security, search engine, information retrieval, modern networking, bioinformatics, etc. should be included whenever they are appropriate. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 10 5

Draft 7. Language/Communication Skills Computer science/information programmes should emphasize oral and written communication skills training as graduates from these courses normally need to spend much time to make presentations and read/write manuals, reports or instructions for the purpose of communication with other people or in a teamwork environment . (It is good if this kind of training could be absorbed, as far as possible, as part of their training in CS subjects.) WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 11 8 . Project Work A Final year projects or capstone projects are indispensable in a computer science/information programme to be recognized by the HKIE - honours project. Further points: (i) Both individual or group projects are recommended. (ii) Each student must be independently assessed. (iii) This is an integration of knowledge, showing that the student be able to become an engineer in the future,.., etc. (iii) Each project must have a certain depth of understanding /extrapolation of knowledge, in terms of design, realization, analysis,.. or evaluation. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 12 6

Draft 9. Consistency in Course Design The HKIE should not be overly prescriptive in curriculum design, but courses must be designed with a consistent, systematic and comprehensive philosophy. Course leaders must prepare to defend their course structures and design methodology during accreditation exercises. (During the accreditation, we would expect to see most, if not all, staff members teaching the programme. This is (i) to facilitate information exchange among peers and (ii) to understand the implementation of the policies, etc.) WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 13 10. Examples of “Core Contents” in a Computer Science Programme Computer Science covers a broad discipline. The actual contents of a programme are left to course designers. A list of possible core contents is available for the sake of reference. It is expected that many of these items be included in a computer science programme seeking for accreditation. WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 14 7

Draft Further Points: 1. The exercise should be formally done, because we are professionals. Furthermore, it is governed by various international agreements signed, or to be signed, for international recognition, and mutual recognition. 2. Ownership: The Accreditation exercise is belong to professional and academic peers in Hong Kong (with some overseas colleagues) . Your opinions form and control the quality. 3. Indirectly, this exercise should be able to help you, in the department, to push colleagues in your unit to review, to rectify, to modernize and to improve your work/programms, and to have inputs from industrialists or international experts, etc. Return WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 15 END WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 16 8

Draft Appendix: Possible CS subject contents DS. Discrete Structures DS1 . Functions, relations and sets DS2 . Basic logic DS3 . Proof techniques DS4 . Basics of counting DS5 . Graphs and trees DS6 . Discrete probability PF. Program m ing Fundam entals PF1 . Fundam ental program m ing constructs PF2 . Algorithm s and problem -solving PF3 . Fundam ental data structures PF4 . Recursion PF5 . Event-driven program m ing WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 17 Appendix: Possible CS subject contents AL Algorithm s and Com plexity AL1 . Basic algorithm ic analysis AL2 . Algorithm ic strategies AL3 . Fundam ental com puting algorithm s AL4 . Distributed algorithm s AL5 . Basic com putability AR. Architecture and Organization AR1 . Digital logic and digital system s AR2 . Machine level representation of data AR3 . Assem bly level m achine organization AR4 . Mem ory system organization and architecture AR5 . I nterfacing and com m unication AR6 . Functional organization DS. Discrete Structures WCS/ WCSiu_HKIE_IT_AnnualConf/ 24April2009 18 9