Computer Science at UHM and RadGrad

30 Sep 2021

Setting the Path to Graduation with RadGrad

There are many different courses listed in the ICS catalog for the University of Hawaii at Manoa. A Bachelor of Science in Computer Science is 51 credits (16 total courses). A Bachelor of Arts in Computer Sciences is also 51 credits (16/17 total courses), with 12 credits in an area of concentration (including a different discipline and/or elective ICS courses).In addition, there are BS in CS degrees with specific tracks (Data Science, Security Science). For Graduate Students, Master’s students must complete 31 credits (600+ w/up to 2 400-level courses). In short, all of these different degree offerings mean that the ICS department must offer courses for many groups of students with different interests. So, course offerings for upper-level (400+) are often staggered to fulfill the needs of the different student groups. RadGrad is an online tool that helps students keep track of their course completions, shows students what computer science-related extracurricular opportunities are available and helps inform the ICS faculty what courses are of interest to the largest number of current students.

What I’ve Learned Through RadGrad

Students that are accessing RadGrad for the first time are guided through four main areas: Interests, Careers, Courses and Opportunities. By completing my profile, I was able to narrow down my topics of interest to those most relevant to the careers I found most interesting. I was able to see how many other students were also interested in the same topics and careers. I was pleasantly suprised by the large list of extracurricular opportunities. This was my first time hearing about many of these opportunities and it was nice to see all of them listed in one easy-to-access space.

RadGrad: Suggested Areas of Improvement

Before I mention areas I think could be improved in RadGrad, I’d like to discuss the parts I found to be very well put together. The design of the RadGrad site is visually appealing and the tutorial for completing a basic profile was easy to understand. The descriptions for the different topics of interest, career choices, ICS catalog courses, and opportunities were also well written.

In its current state, I might refer to RadGrad periodically to check on current opportunities. But the following areas would need to be improved if I were to use it more frequently:

  1. Each course should have a tag associated with its frequency in offering (eg. every semester, fall/or spring only, every other year, not offered in the last 5* years). If a course is offered "every other year", it should also have an additional tag with the "year" in which it was last offered. (Note: 5 years is a placeholder. But courses that haven't been offered in a while should be flagged because either 1) they need to be offered soon or 2) removed from the schedule (so a student doesn't wait for it).
  2. There should be an additional "Sort By" in Courses so that students see only courses associated with their desired degree (eg. BS in Data Science, BS in Computer Science, Masters in Computer Science).
  3. As students are filling out the Planner, there should be an interactive tool or at least a pop-up document that shows the course requirements for a degree pathway (eg. BS in Data Science, BS in Computer Science, Masters in Computer Science). This will help students keep track of which courses they must complete so that they know how much time they have for elective/fun courses. Otherwise, they may take the "fun" courses first and forget that they need to complete other courses to graduate on time.
  4. The Opportunities should have a tag showing the dates available prior to the user clicking on "See Details." For example, ACM ICPC is offered in the Fall. So in addition to the tags "Algorithms" and "Application Development", it should have the tag "Fall semester".
  5. As students are filling out the Planner, the tags for "Spring semester" and "Fall semester" should appear along with the Opportunities, Courses, and Internships so the student does not add the activity to the wrong semester.

Conclusion

I think RadGrad has a lot of potential to become a useful tool for students. Especially during the pandemic, where access to academic counselors is limited. RadGrad is superior to the UH STAR system in helping students become aware of ICS specific related opportunities outside of their regular coursework. I’m excited to learn that RadGrad exists and look forward to seeing how RadGrad evolves while I am a student!