As proposed here, a semester cohort program in informatics is a single-semester package of upper division courses relating to a particular topic in the application of information technology. The program brings together students from two or more disciplines related to the topic to study together in an integrated interdisciplinary environment for a single semester. A cohort size of 40 students may be contemplated, representing a 20 FTE load for the semester.
Semester cohort programs are proposed as a mechanism to provide interdisciplinary experience to much larger numbers of students than take advantage of traditional opportunities in the form of joint majors and other interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary programs. (See Appendix A for an analysis of existing participation). In encouraging participation, semester cohort programs have three distinct advantages over other forms of interdisciplinary program. First, they require only a single semester of commitment rather than the long term commitment of a full degree program. Second, they offer extreme simplicity of course registration and planning. Whereas interdisciplinary programs often present difficult issues with respect to prerequisites, course availability, scheduling and so on, a semester cohort program may be offered as a complete package with a single all-or-none registration. Thirdly, semester cohort programs can be designed to be integrated as components of existing degree programs, allowing students to retain the advantages of widely recognized majors while enjoying the benefits of interdisciplinary opportunities.
Semester cohort programs are also proposed as one mechanism by which SFU can integrate operations over several campuses. Computing and engineering students primarily associated with the Burnaby Mountain campus will find it unattractive to travel to other campuses for the occasional course. Spending an entire semester of study at the Harbour Centre, Surrey or Great Northern Way campus is likely to be much more practical and perhaps attractive. Semester cohort programs may thus allow each campus to develop distinctive facilities and/or programming that is nevertheless available to all SFU students regardless of home campus.
Registration in semester cohort programs may be conducted through an application process completed well in advance of normal course registration. Unsuccessful applicants would then be free to make alternative plans for the semester, with successful applicants being removed from the competition for regular course spaces. It is also conceivable that an application process be conducted one or more full semesters in advance.
Special prerequisite rules for semester cohort programs should be designed to accommodate the different backgrounds of students from the two or three disciplines involved. Students should also be able to make a prerequisite waiver request as part of the application, listing alternative preparation that might be accepted in place of the formal prerequisite and/or undertakings to address prerequisites in some other way.
Normally, all students accepted into a semester cohort program will take the full set of courses for the cohort. Students who have previously completed at most one of the courses in the program may be allowed take that course on an audit basis, at the discretion of the admission committee.
Normally, all spaces in the course offerings comprising a semester cohort program are reserved for students in the cohort. However, some spaces that go unfilled may be released to the normal course registration system.
With the availability of new funding under the DTO (computing and engineering science), Surrey, and possibly other envelopes, semester cohort programs may be planned on the basis of meeting requirements to take additional FTEs in targetted program areas.
Models for funding semester cohort programs may be derived from existing models for funding DTO programs and non-DTO programs. These models are based on total support available from the provincial grant plus tuition. For students in DTO programs, this funding is approximately $15,000 per FTE, while students in non-DTO programs are funded at approximately $10,000 per FTE. For incremental growth of DTO programs, total funding has been distributed with 40% of funding held in the centre for infrastructure and other central costs, and 60% of funding ($9000 per FTE student) provided to Faculties in proportion to the weighted FTE course work taken by incremental DTO students.
Semester cohort offerings could be planned on the basis of equal numbers of DTO and non-DTO students in the cohorts. A blended funding figure of $12,500 per FTE would then be applicable. Planning on a cohort size of 40 students taking 15 credits (full-time), the total funding available would be $250,000. Subtracting the 40% holdback for central support, $150,000 is available for distribution to the participating units.
To provide an incentive for location of semester cohort programs at Surrey or Great Northern Way, and to account for less central support at those locations, it is suggested that the central holdback be reduced to 20%. Thus, $200,000 could potentially be made available to the participating units for 40-student cohorts at either of these locations. This amounts to approximately $40,000 per 3-credit course.
It is conceivable that a semester cohort program may be successful simply on the basis that it provides a convenient package of courses in an interesting topic area. Trial offerings may be instituted on this basis.
However, it is also reasonable to consider formal recognition of such programs. One model is through a designated specialty within an existing major program. For example, the Multimedia Specialist program in the Computing Science major might be modified to use a Semester in Multimedia as the primary upper division requirement in concert with a normal major program. As currently structured, course scheduling and availability difficulties have disappointed many students interested in the Multimedia Specialist program; a semester in Multimedia may be just the ticket to turn this around.
Another form of recognition is to award a Certificate upon completion of a cohort semester program. The normal 30 credit standard for a certificate matches well with 15 upper division credits from the cohort semester together with 15 lower division credits in prerequisite courses.
One possible mechanism for developing semester cohort programs is to invite interested groups of faculty members to get together to develop and submit cohort program proposals. The success of a semester cohort program will likely hinge partly on the extent to which the course instructors are able to jointly provide teamwork and cross-course integration opportunities. Given proposals from interested and motivated faculty members, it should be relatively easy to choose those that offer the greatest likelihood of success.
Joint programs have not proven successful in providing interdisciplinary experience to large numbers of students graduating in information technology. The following table summarizes the formal interdisciplinary experience of 2001-2 graduates in computing, engineering and related joint programs.
| Program Type | Program | 2001-2 Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Full Programs | CMPT Majors/Honors | 151 |
| ENSC | 36 | |
| Joint Programs | Joint BUS/CMPT BSc | 13 |
| Joint BUS/CMPT BBA | 4 | |
| MACM Joint Honors | 5 | |
| MSSC Major | 8 | |
| Cognitive Science Major | 4 | |
| Supplementary Programs (CS Major/Honors) | Multimedia Specialist | 2 |
| History Major | 1 | |
| Philosophy Major | 1 | |
| Math Minor | 12 | |
| Business Minor | 13 | |
| Chemistry Minor | 1 | |
| Economics Minor | 1 | |
| History Minor | 1 | |
| Supplementary Programs(ENSC) | Computing Minor | 1 |
| English Minor | 1 | |
| Kinesiology Minor | 1 |
The table lists 221 graduates including 187 graduates in the mainstream computing and engineering programs. All joint programs together accounted for just 34 graduates. However, 35 students in the mainstream computing and engineering programs supplemented their studies with a major or minor in another discipline.
Altogether, 69 students or slightly more than 30% graduated with some formal interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary work. However, 56 of these primarily involved business and/or mathematics (or CS/ES). Only tiny numbers of students undertook formal interdisiciplinary or multidisciplinary work in other areas.