These are the “standard syllabi” for each core undergraduate computer science course. It is not intended that these exactly match the syllabus for any specific offering, but provide documentation of the expected learning objectives, major topics, and grading breakdown that each course offering should meet.
Faculty who wish to change a course from the standard described here should contact the Computer Science Undergraduate Committee to change ensure that changes are consistent with the overall CMSC BS objective and are supported by other faculty who teach the course, and faculty who teach courses that use it as a prerequisite.
These standard syllabi are collected in partial support of the CMSC syllabus policy, as adopted January 18, 2012:
Policy: The CMSC undergraduate committee will collect and maintain one standard syllabus and one example syllabus for each regular CMSC undergraduate course. Syllabi will be posted online on the department web site where students and faculty can refer to them. Standard syllabi will list prerequisites, course description, course objectives, mapping of course objectives to program outcomes, required/suggested textbooks, and minimum topics covered at approximately the 1-week granularity. It will list acceptable variation in the number and nature of assignments and exams, and how this student work is weighted in the final grade. Each example syllabus will be a concrete sample from a recent offering of the course.
Changes to the standard syllabi will require undergraduate program director approval, in consultation with undergraduate committee members and faculty who regularly teach the course in question and courses that use it as a prerequisite.
All course offerings must be consistent with the approved standard syllabus. Every faculty member must submit their actual syllabus for each class to the undergraduate committee at least one week prior to the beginning of each semester. These syllabi will be reviewed for consistency and archived.