Structure of the Body of Knowledge

A.2 Structure of the Body of Knowledge

The CE body of knowledge has a three-level hierarchical structure. The highest level of the hierarchy is the knowledge area, which represents a particular disciplinary subfield, not a course. The knowledge areas are broken down into smaller divisions called knowledge units (KUs), which represent individual themes within an area. We then describe each knowledge unit by a set of learning outcomes, which represent the lowest level of the hierarchy. Knowledge units comprise solely of learning outcomes. Knowledge areas also contain an “area scope” that describes the context of the particular knowledge area.

A.2.1 Core and supplementary components

For this CE2016 document, the goal is to keep the required component of the body of knowledge as small as possible to allow programs in computer engineering to be as flexible as possible. To implement this principle, we made a distinction among the KUs by identifying those that are core or essential units to the curriculum compared to those that are supplementary or extra units. Core components are skills that anyone obtaining a four-year degree in the field should acquire. Supplementary components are skills that reflect expectations for advanced work according to the needs of a program.

The steering committee has found it helpful to emphasize the following points.

• The core components refer to the knowledge and skills students in all degree programs in computer engineering should achieve. Several learning outcomes that are important in the education of many students are not included as core and appeared as supplementary.

• The core components do not constitute a complete curriculum. • Core knowledge units do not imply exposure within a set of introductory courses early in the four-year

curriculum. While many of the knowledge and skills defined as core are indeed introductory, students can achieve other core KUs only after they have developed significant background in their studies.

A.2.2 Assessing the time required to cover a unit

The CE2016 steering committee has chosen to express time in hours, specifically in core hours. This corresponds to the in-class time required to present the material on a topic in a traditional lecture-oriented format. Hence, we define one “core hour” or one lecture hour as one 50-minute period.

To dispel any potential confusion, however, it is important to underscore the following observations about the use of lecture hours as a measure.

• This report does not seek to endorse the lecture format. The time specifications serve as a comparative

metric, in the sense that five core hours will presumably take approximately five times as much time or effort to address than one core hour, independent of the teaching style.

• The hours specified do not include time spent outside of class such as instructor preparation time or the

time students spend outside of class. Usually, the amount of out-of-class work is approximately three times the in-class time.

• The hours listed for a knowledge unit represent a minimum level of coverage. Instructors may find that

delivery of material to the level of depth that they wish to incorporate will take much longer than this.

A.2.3 Tags for KAs and KUs

We identify a knowledge area with a tag such as CE-NWK representing the “Computer Networks” knowledge area for computer engineering. We identify each knowledge unit by adding a numeric suffix to the area identification; as an example, CE-NWK-2 is the second knowledge unit for the knowledge area of computer networks. Supplementary knowledge units have only elective learning outcomes and they do not contain any recommended core hours.