Designing a Portfolio-Oriented Curriculum using Problem Based Learning

With an ever-growing demand on teaching resources, and with student numbers on the increase, can we develop a curriculum that is appealing and engaging to the student? In this paper we present our experience of creating a new undergraduate CS programme which focuses on problem-based learning and formative assessment. We outline our curriculum design process from the initial stages to implementation. The new curriculum has a reduced emphasis on summative assessment and introduces the use of programming portfolios so students can graduate with concrete samples of their technical and reflective work to show employers. We also present results from a survey conducted with two cohorts of first year undergraduate students. The results illustrate the trends and differences between student perceptions of their skills. We then discuss how we have designed the new curriculum to incorporate student feedback and address concerns. This academic year rolled out the new curriculum to our Stage 1 students, and are working on the new Stage 2 and 3 implementation. Results discussed in this paper include: some tips for best practice when undertaking a whole curriculum change and a discussion of the mistakes we made and lessons learned. We also detail aspects of our new design and how we support students and allow them to build on their previous experiences.