TACE: A toolkit for analyzing concept evolution in computing curricula

Abstract

Effective teaching and learning requires to knowing whether some concepts are needed to grasping. Our investigation for ACM Computing Curricula from 1991 to 2013 shows that the numbers of concepts are increased by 5 times. That phenomenon makes learners harder to distinguish which concept is update or not. In this paper, we develop a solution to explore the body of knowledge of computing. The proposed toolkit uses a graph model to represent the disciplinary knowledge structure. The analytic results by TACE give us insight for the various subjects in computing discipline. Our findings show that 61.3% concepts in CC1991 are obsolete. In CC2001, the proportion of obsolete concepts drops to 11.5%, and in CS2008 it is 16.8%. The OS, IM, DS, AL's knowledge areas are more stable than CN, NC, GV, AR. The TACE's framework is highly modular, adaptive and extendible for analyzing other discipline's curricula.