A Concept Map Approach for Introduction to Computer Engineering Course Curriculum

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2010

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IEEE EDUCON Education Engineering 2010

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Computer Engineering
(1998)
The Atılım University Department of Computer Engineering was founded in 1998. The department curriculum is prepared in a way that meets the demands for knowledge and skills after graduation, and is subject to periodical reviews and updates in line with international standards. Our Department offers education in many fields of expertise, such as software development, hardware systems, data structures, computer networks, artificial intelligence, machine learning, image processing, natural language processing, object based design, information security, and cloud computing. The education offered by our department is based on practical approaches, with modern laboratories, projects and internship programs. The undergraduate program at our department was accredited in 2014 by the Association of Evaluation and Accreditation of Engineering Programs (MÜDEK) and was granted the label EUR-ACE, valid through Europe. In addition to the undergraduate program, our department offers thesis or non-thesis graduate degree programs (MS).
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Software Engineering
(2005)
Department of Software Engineering was founded in 2005 as the first department in Ankara in Software Engineering. The recent developments in current technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data, and Blockchains, have placed Software Engineering among the top professions of today, and the future. The academic and research activities in the department are pursued with qualified faculty at Undergraduate, Graduate and Doctorate Degree levels. Our University is one of the two universities offering a Doctorate-level program in this field. In addition to focusing on the basic phases of software (analysis, design, development, testing) and relevant methodologies in detail, our department offers education in various areas of expertise, such as Object-oriented Analysis and Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Software Quality Assurance, Software Requirement Engineering, Software Design and Architecture, Software Project Management, Software Testing and Model-Driven Software Development. The curriculum of our Department is catered to graduate individuals who are prepared to take part in any phase of software development of large-scale software in line with the requirements of the software sector. Department of Software Engineering is accredited by MÜDEK (Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Engineering Programs) until September 30th, 2021, and has been granted the EUR-ACE label that is valid in Europe. This label provides our graduates with a vital head-start to be admitted to graduate-level programs, and into working environments in European Union countries. The Big Data and Cloud Computing Laboratory, as well as MobiLab where mobile applications are developed, SimLAB, the simulation laboratory for Medical Computing, and software education laboratories of the department are equipped with various software tools and hardware to enable our students to use state-of-the-art software technologies. Our graduates are employed in software and R&D companies (Technoparks), national/international institutions developing or utilizing software technologies (such as banks, healthcare institutions, the Information Technologies departments of private and public institutions, telecommunication companies, TÜİK, SPK, BDDK, EPDK, RK, or universities), and research institutions such TÜBİTAK.

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Abstract

As in any discipline, in Computer Engineering, students start learning the basic concepts of the discipline in their first year through an Introduction to Computer Engineering course. The topics toughed in this course can be grouped into two. The first group includes simple concepts like binary numbering system, hard disk, memory, and I/O devices. In the second group, and introduction to the courses that they will take in the next semesters of the program which includes programming, networking, software engineering, artificial intelligence and database systems. The main objective of this course is to give an introduction about the general concepts of the field to the first year Computer Engineering students and prepare them to understand the connections between them for their future studies. However, students and instructors face with many problems in this course. First, because of the diversity of the concepts given in the course, it is very diffucult for the students to see the big picture of the Computer Engineering domain. Similarly, it is diffucult for the instructors to prepare the course content in an integrated manner at the students' level. Additionally, the perception of the theory and practice behind the hardware and software topics and their connections is not an easy task for the beginners. Moreover, the topics are mostly abstract topics, which do not allow application of any laboratory sessions. Students usually find this course diffucult to understand, which decreases their motivation about the department and success of the course. This study is established to propose a concept map approach to better visualize and discover all the connections between the concepts of Computer Engineering field which can be used in the curriculum of the programs and introductory courses of the field addressing the above problems. The proposed concept map helps to visualize the general picture of the field.

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computer engineering

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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14411/6449

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