The Fisk Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Computational Thinking across the Curriculum, focuses on the infusion of Computational Thinking and Information Technology across the institution's curriculum over a five-year period (2020-2025). Computational thinking will be introduced to, reinforced among, and mastered by faculty members and students through professional development initiatives, including the creation of Community of Practice (CoP) Model, and student engagement programs designed to engage all in a transformative process of cooperative learning and targeting the University's general education program (known as "the CORE") —the foundation of the liberal arts tradition at Fisk—and incremental infusion of computational thinking and technology skills in advanced courses across all academic disciplines.
Problem formulation: Students will be able to formulate problem definitions suited for technology-assisted methods such as data analysis, abstract models and algorithmic thinking in exploring and finding solutions.
Data: Students will be able to collect data or identify relevant data sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and represent data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making.
Abstraction: Students will be able to break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.
Automation: Students will understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.
A Technology Literacy Course for all incoming students to be taken during one of the first two semesters on campus that establishes baseline competencies in computational thinking and applications for all undergraduate trainees.
Infusion of Computational Thinking and applications in clearly identified courses in the Core Curriculum and in each major.
Faculty Development in quantitative and computational skills necessary to infuse computational thinking and related applications into introductory and incrementally advancing courses in each major.
While present-day Fisk students stand to benefit from this infusion of computational thinking and technology literacy into their current courses of study, the class of 2024 will be the first cohort to complete the full QEP cycle and benefit from the program's enhanced learning experiences both within and outside of the classroom supported by faculty whose own professional development in quantitative and computational skills has been supported as part of this QEP initiative.