Updated: COS 126 to implement no P/D/F policy next fall

The computer science department will implement a no-pass/D/fail policy for COS 126, 217 and 226 beginning in fall 2013. This policy change follows a dramatic increase in the number of computer science concentrators and rising enrollment in introductory courses.

Over 55 percent of undergraduate students enroll in COS 126 during their undergraduate careers, according to Andrew Appel, computer science department chair. A total of 1,412 students enrolled in COS 126: General Computer Science, COS 217: Introduction to Programming Systems, and COS 226: Algorithms and Data Structures during the 2012-2013 academic year.

This spring semester, 382 students are enrolled in COS 126, bringing it close to the famously large ECO 100: Introduction to Microeconomics, in which 422 students are enrolled according to the Registrar’s website.

Appel explained that the computer science faculty made this decision “somewhat reluctantly” in an attempt to serve students in a manageable way, due to the strain that the large increase in student enrollment has placed on the department.

As of press time, only 99 students were enrolled in COS 126 for the fall 2013 semester. Registration is now open to the classes of 2014, 2015 and 2016. The Class of 2017 will not enroll in fall courses until September.

The new policy was decided at a joint faculty meeting in December, where all members of the teaching staff met to discuss methods of addressing the rise in enrollment. While the department has increased staffing and will continue to do so, other resource limitations, including the number of undergraduate and graduate student assistants and office space, forced the faculty to look to other means of addressing the high enrollments, Appel explained.

“It’s not a matter of just waving one magic wand that will solve the whole problem,” Appel said.

Computer science professor Robert Sedgewick, who contributed to the development and teaching of COS 126 and 226, explained that the computer science department has put offers out for four new professors and will be looking to hire more lecturers.

Other options to address rising enrollments included limiting enrollments, increasing precept sizes and reducing office hour availability, all of which “didn’t seem right,” Sedgewick explained.

Though decision was not controversial among faculty, Appel explained, faculty members discussing the options recognized both the pros and cons of implementing a no-P/D/F policy.

“The cons are that we really want to be open to everyone who wants to take computer science and we understand that some people aren’t sure about whether they’re going to be able to do it, so eliminating the P/D/F option certainly has some disadvantages,” Appel said.

While the policy is aimed at addressing rising enrollment rates, Sedgewick also explained that the rising number of students taking computer science courses P/D/F had become “a drain on the resources.”

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“Some staff members gave the opinion that they thought that there were some students who were abusing the P/D/F system and soaking up a lot of time,” Sedgewick said. “They would come and they would spend a lot of time at office hours and wouldn’t prepare otherwise, and so they wouldn’t really understand what’s going on.”

Additionally, Sedgewick explained that the P/D/F option went against the overarching goals of COS 126. While instructors of the course try to instill the idea that everyone can learn computer science, he said the P/D/F option spread a message of “well, maybe you can’t.”

“Personally, I’m happy to see it go,” Sedgewick said.

Sedgewick explained he thought that grades in the introductory courses would be higher overall, as more resources were concentrated on students who were taking the course under the grading option.

“The ones at the bottom of the curve are dragging everything down in terms of taking up the precept time,” Sedgewick said. “If you take out the students who aren't taking the course seriously, then other students should do better.”

Five years ago, the enrollment in COS 126 was almost exclusively engineers, who are not permitted to take the course under the P/D/F option, but an increasing number of students are recognizing the importance of computer science, Appel said. As more students enroll in the course as an elective, he explained that the number of students taking the classes P/D/F “will naturally go up.”

During the 2007-08 academic year, only 2 percent of students elected the P/D/F option for COS 126, 226 and 217, but during the 2012 calendar year about 14 percent of COS 126 and 7 percent of COS 226 students elected the P/D/F option.

Sedgewick noted that during the 2012-13 academic year, over 400 students completed the introductory computer science course sequence, qualifying them for entrance to the computer science department, and he said he did not expect this interest to diminish. The department has no interest in reducing the number of majors and, instead, would like to enlarge the teaching faculty, said Sedgewick.

Appel said that he expected the no-P/D/F policy to stay in place for a while as a method of addressing rising enrollments in the department’s introductory courses.

Konstantinos Koutras ’16 is currently enrolled in COS 126. Although he was initially aware of the option to P/D/F the course, he ultimately did not elect the P/D/F option and is now considering a concentration in computer science. Koutras also noted that several of his classmates considered the P/D/F option as they were enrolling in the course.

“I’m not sure I would have taken it if it were no-P/D/F, just because it is so intimidating for so many people who haven’t had previous exposure to computer science,” Koutras said. “But now I know I like it so much that I definitely want to take more classes in the department."

Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated the number of students enrolled in ECO 100 this semester. There are 422 students enrolled. The 'Prince' regrets the error.