Dealing with disparate audiences in computer science courses using a project group within a traditional class

摘要

A frequent problem in advanced computer science courses is having students enrolled in a single class whose backgrounds range from upper division students with significant work experience to sophomores who have completed only a few computer science courses. This paper proposes a solution to this problem by combining a research project for those advanced students within a traditional course for the remaining enrollees. Although the specific course dealt with in this instance is data communications, it is believed that the model proposed is transportable to other advanced courses in computer science which have students with varied backgrounds.