ACM IT curricular guidance

After the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the IEEE Computer Society endorsed the recently completed Information Technology Curricula 2017 Curriculum Guidelines (IT2017) for Baccalaureate Degree Programs in Information Technology (IT) [1], the ACM Committee for Computing Education in Community Colleges (CCECC) at the direction of the ACM Education Board joined with the chair of the IT2017 task group to create corresponding guidance for two-year colleges offering IT transfer programs. In some countries, students can complete the first two years of a Bachelor's degree at a two-year school (which may be known as a community college, technical college, or junior college), and then transfer to a university to complete the remaining two years of their course of study [3]. The CCECC formed the IT Transfer Task Force (ITTTF), consisting of educators from both two-year colleges and four-year universities, to provide guidance for IT programs in such two-year schools. The guidance includes the competencies students should achieve during the first two years of an IT Bachelor's degree. The ITTTF is currently seeking public feedback from educators and IT industry representatives on an initial set of competencies to guide how the ITTTF should proceed to build IT Transfer Curriculum Guidelines. This poster will outline the initial selection of competencies to solicit feedback and input on the guidelines, including best practices for communication between two year IT Transfer programs and their four year university partners.

Grubb, W. N., & Gabriner, R. (2013). Basic Skills Education in Community Colleges: Inside and Outside of Classrooms. New York, NY: Routledge. 244 pp. $150.00 (hardback). ISBN 978-0-415-63474-8 $46.95 (paper). ISBN 978-0-415-63475-5 $46.95 (eBook). ISBN 978-0-203-09429-7.Basic Skills Education in Community Colleges: Inside and Outside of Classrooms by W. Norton Grubb with Robert Gabriner (2013) is a comprehensive, current, and creative examination of challenges students and educators face in bridging gap in skills common among entering college students. The authors' primary intent is to shed light on multitude of causes and effects of system most often referred to as developmental or remedial education in community colleges. While research reported in this book is specific to California system, both challenges and potential solutions can be generalized easily to community colleges in other parts of country.The authors are both education researchers from California universities. W. Norton Grubb is an Emeritus Professor and David Pierpont Gardner Chair in Higher Education at Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley. He has researched and written extensively on schooling and economics, secondary and higher education systems, and movement between systems. Robert Gabriner is Professor of Educational Leadership and Director of Educational Leadership Doctoral Program for Schools and Community Colleges at San Francisco State University. He has researched and written on success and systems leadership in higher education.The authors present a straightforward interpretation of problem of basic skills education referencing what they call the triangle of instruction. In this model, content/curriculum, student, and instructor anchor comers of a triangle mediated along sides by instructors' knowledge of content, knowledge of student, and their context inside framework of institution. Validating this model in practice allows authors to draw a set of related conclusions and recommendations for improving future education experiences for students struggling with college readiness.Basic Skills Education in Community Colleges utilizes active research at 20 California colleges, including observations in 169 classes and interviews with 323 educators. This research explores variety of needs of developmental students, quality of instruction, availability and quality of services like tutoring and counseling, alignment of course sequence, and instructional characteristics of institutions. Throughout, the triangle of instruction is applied as a framework for organizing findings and exploring contexts.The initial portion of book describes problem of basic skills education as authors see it from a classroom perspective. These issues include dominance of remedial pedagogy, innovations in Basic Skills Instruction, possibilities and limits of services, and a case study exploring problem of basic skills education in practice. The case study describes efforts one California community college undertook to address needs for help with basic skills. The school chose to implement changes to services branch of system by creating student success on each of their three campuses. These centers became focal point for several services designed to address most common needs. Services included peer tutoring (drop in and scheduled), ongoing and frequent faculty-led skill building workshops, structured learning groups on specific skill development, and directed learning activities led by peer tutors, supervised by faculty, and customized to fill specific gaps in skills needed for course progression. …

The relationship between the mission of community colleges and the increasing teacher shortage has become more transparent as many community colleges have implemented teacher education programs to address community needs, the shortage of qualified teachers, and the lack of diversity among teachers. As the community college's teacher education role has increased, many community colleges have responded by adding associate of arts degrees and certificate programs specific to teacher education to tackle the shortage of teachers and the lack of diversity among teachers in the nation's classrooms. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of one community college's pre-service teacher education program in transferring minority students to a university teacher education program and the likelihood of the students graduating with both bachelor's degrees and teacher certification. This longitudinal ex post facto causal-comparative mixed methods case study involved tracking a cohort of minority students over a 6-year period. Data were gathered from existing teacher education program records for native and transfer students at one community college and two four-year institutions. Unstructured interviews were conducted with administrators over the community college's program. For data analysis, ?2 and Phi Coefficients were conducted to compare the minority students' university transfer and graduation rates to native university students' transfer and graduation rates. Results of the study demonstrated that the minority students were graduating at an observably higher rate than both the native to university students and their respective ethnic peers who began college at two-year colleges at the national level. This study's findings might help community college teacher education programs to increase enrollments of minority students and to address the needs of surrounding communities. The findings contributed to the relatively scarce literature regarding minority teacher preparation in community colleges. The study's findings might also be useful to community colleges looking toward or already implementing similar pre-service teacher education programs. Overall, the results indicated that pre-service teacher education programs at the community college level can be effective at producing transfer students who successfully graduate from four-year teacher education programs.

To better understand how individuals, groups, and organizations can use information systems more effectively, a research approach closer to the level of social interchange is required. A multiple-level, sustainable, information-technology (IT) learning framework, rooted in patterns of practice and constructed by participatory action research, offers an alternative methodology for investigating sustainable strategies of IT learning. The framework evolved from concrete instances of IT learning across organizational case studies. A patterns-based analysis of the ethnographic data enabled the examination of informal IT learning in community contexts and the identification of IT interventions more likely to produce successful learning outcomes.

Screening assessments in vocational colleges are a strategic innovation in educational evaluation, designed to identify the cognitive and technical readiness of students entering program-specific courses. In Malaysia, the Information Technology (IT) program within Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) plays a pivotal role in equipping students with programming, computational thinking (CT), and digital skills essential for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) and the digital economy. However, cognitive screening assessments tailored to IT programs in vocational colleges remain underexplored, leading to inconsistencies in student intake quality and misalignment between curriculum expectations and industry demands. This study employs a SWOT analysis framework to examine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of integrating screening assessments for programming and CT in vocational IT education. Data were collected through a literature review from major databases including Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, focusing on empirical studies in programming and CT. Findings highlight several strengths: improved problem-solving abilities, industry relevance, and enhanced employability for graduates. Weaknesses include limited institutional resources, insufficient teacher training, and uneven student readiness. Opportunities emerge through government initiatives, educational technologies, and industry collaborations, while threats stem from rapid technological change and persistent digital divides. The study underscores the need for program-specific screening tools that ensure equitable access, enhance employability, and align vocational IT programs with evolving industry standards, thereby supporting Malaysia’s digital transformation and competitiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether community college instructors are using more innovative teaching methods in their classrooms than are their counterparts in the universities. The paper is based on a nationwide survey of social science community college, liberal arts college, and university instructors. The survey was conducted during the spring of 1976 and questioned instructors concerning the types of teaching methods that they used. The results of the survey demonstrated that there were few statistical differences in the use of innovative methods between these instructors. The paper explores organizational theory in an effort to explain the demonstrated lack of innovation in teaching methods.

Management of large and complex Information Technology (IT) programs, involving a combination of several Software development projects along with non IT projects which form part of an organizational program is an enormous challenge. It becomes increasingly difficult, given the numerous stakeholders, dimensions and aspects it has to deal with, which includes changing business environments, project types, business domains and technology. Programs are generally planned and delivered through the industry standard frameworks like Managing Successful Programs (MSP®) of the Her Majesty's Office of Government and Commerce OGC of UK or Program Management Professional (PgMP) of the Project Management Institute PMI. These industry standard program management frameworks provide program governance structures that are hierarchical. The organization structure of such a system or program often leads to inadequacies in the roles and responsibilities which are defined and also added on an ad hoc basis. The mechanistic approach to the structure of a large programs leads to inadequacies leading to a struggle dealing with large programs. Therefore designing the Program management functions requires understanding the aspects of its operations, structure, governance, processes and competencies. It is a complex interface between several aspects. A metaphor like a Viable System Model (VSM) will help us identify a structure which will make management of the programs viable and manageable. This paper presents a design for an organization structure to manage large programs from the perspective of the cybernetic theory of organization structure, namely the Viable System Model. The design includes inputs of a survey conducted across a cross section of IT program managers from various business domains namely insurance, telecom and healthcare. It ensures roles are defined to handle program related responsibilities in a coherent way.

The buildings in which people work, live, and spend their leisure time are increasingly embedded with sophisticated information technology (IT). This article describes the approach of Metropolitan Community College (MCC) in Omaha, Nebraska of the United States to provide an occupational context to some of their IT coursework by organizing IT instruction around the context of building automation systems (BAS). This contextualization allows IT students not only to study IT as a standalone discipline but also to study its integrated use within a specific occupational context. The article also describes MCC’s focused curriculum design efforts funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program. These efforts toward BAS-contextualization of the IT curriculum have become a catalyst for systematic contextualization of IT instruction at MCC and support the institution’s broader efforts to become a national model in IT instruction and interdisciplinary engagement within the United States. The research-based approach, activities, and outcomes of this project are all described here, as well as the lessons learned by one community college seeking to make their IT program increasingly relevant to their students and the IT workforce of today.

In the realm of Information Technology (IT) education, On-the-Job Training (OJT) plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. This study examines the OJT course within a distinguished private higher education institution offering a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) program. The investigation evaluates the current state of the OJT course, aiming to uncover its strengths and weaknesses. By analyzing the interplay between academia and practical training, the study identifies areas for improvement and offers strategies to enhance the efficacy of the OJT program. The research not only addresses the immediate educational needs of IT students but also contributes to delivering an industry-relevant learning experience. Through a quantitative correlational design, data was gathered from Revalida grades and intern performance evaluations. The results reveal correlations between academic performance and competency levels, highlighting areas for improvement in communication and presentation skills. The study concludes that while the OJT program effectively prepares IT professionals, targeted interventions can further enhance its effectiveness. Recommendations include curriculum revamps for industry relevance, fostering future-proof IT professionals, and building collaborative ecosystems for success.

Recently Published Dissertations on Community and Junior Colleges

A partnership of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, other university campuses, and state and community colleges has launched a new kind of undergraduate program in information technology (IT). Project EXCITE (enabling x-commonwealth information technology education) is creating a flexible, integrative and innovative curriculum that crosses traditional academic boundaries to provide (1) fluency and motivation for students to employ IT effectively for broad social benefit; (2) syllabi and content suited to adaptation and reuse; and (3) new instructional technologies and delivery modes. This report describes efforts to organize the curriculum, encourage new pedagogy, develop multimedia modules, and incorporate assessment throughout the IT program.

The article presents a report of the 1971-1972 Committee on the Junior (Community) College Curriculum of the American Accounting Association (AAA) which provided recommendations to improve cooperation between community colleges and junior colleges. Students generally do not decide to major in accounting until their freshman or sophomore year in college. The number of students who transfer from community colleges to complete the baccalaureate degree with a major in accounting is steadily increasing. Two-year colleges are growing so rapidly that some day they may provide most of the introductory accounting education. The AAA should sponsor workshops, seminars, and/or courses that would acquaint community college teachers with innovative teaching methods as well as the significant concepts developed in recent years. The AAA should step up efforts to attract community college teachers to the regional and national meetings.

Developing curriculum guidelines for high quality, rigorous degree programs in Information Technology (IT) requires broad engagement of international perspectives and critical input from the industry sector and computing professional societies. As the computing field rapidly evolves, ACM and IEEE Computer Society have partnered to regularly update curriculum reports, including curriculum guidelines for baccalaureate IT programs, also known as the IT2017 report. Released in December 2017, the report provides the framework for revising the ABET IT program criteria used to accredit undergraduate IT programs. The panelists will describe different perspectives and rationales for the proposed revisions, will address potential obstacles in formulating theses revisions, and will solicit feedback for both the impact and possible improvements for these revisions.

The main responsibility of Information Technology (IT) in business is to acquire, implement and maintain technology investments, which belonged within the Information Systems. In order to achieve successful IT planning and implementation, shared knowledge becomes an important enabler of the alignment of business and IT objectives. This research evaluates how cross-functional competence in business and IT people provides the basis for effective partnership to develop. The objective is to conceptually define and empirically measure the variables of IT competence in business managers and of business competence in IT professionals, and test the measurements for validity and reliability. A Simple Percentage Method, chi-square tests, Tables and weighted average were used to get clear picture of analysis with results showing how both IT knowledge and IT experience are instrumental in defining IT competence of business people. The results of these showed that IT service delivery dimensions, IT system dimensions (quality, delivery, trustworthy and management) and IT core characteristics have statistical significant influence on effective IT competences among IT business people and IT cognitive dimensions which included knowledge, skills and experience.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a vital role in preparing the country’s future workforce by equipping students with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed, from enrollment to employment. This study analysed the employment outcomes of Sorsogon State University graduates from Batch 2021, focusing on trends in employment and unemployment rates by academic program, gender, and employment sector. A quantitative descriptive research design was utilized. Data were collected through an online survey of 824 graduates in the Engineering, Technology, Business and Management, Education, Information Technology (IT), and Agriculture and Fisheries programs. The study revealed that the majority of university graduates from Batch 2021 are employed, but the employment outcomes vary across academic programs. The graduates of the Technology, Business and Management, and Engineering programs had higher employment rates, whereas the graduates of the IT, Education, Agriculture, and Fisheries programs had higher unemployment rates. The gender-based trends showed that the male graduates of the Engineering and Technology programs had higher employment rates, whereas the female graduates of the Business and Management, Education, and Agriculture and Fisheries programs had better employment rates. Most graduates are employed in the private sector, with Engineering and Technology graduates leading in private sector jobs. Self-employment is more common among IT, business and management, and education graduates. There is a need to strengthen partnerships with local businesses, government agencies, and international companies to create more job opportunities for programs with lower employment rates, particularly in IT, Education, Agriculture and Fisheries. Future research may be conducted to provide deeper insights into the factors influencing the employment outcomes of graduates.