Adapting the IT2017 Curricula for Two Year Transfer Programs

As directed by the ACM Education Board, the ACM Committee for Computing Education in Community Colleges (CCECC) is finalizing its curricular guidance for associate-degree Information Technology (IT) programs, consisting of core IT learning outcomes with associated assessment metrics. The competency model, influenced by international perspectives, is available from www.capspace.org, and waits Ed Board approval in Q3 2014.

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.

Entrepreneurship is a novel course in the curriculum for students in the Information Technology (IT) degree program at La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia. In comparison to other IT-related courses, the Entrepreneurship course seeks to develop business management knowledge and skills; its learning design is thus different to that of other courses in the IT program. The concept of constructive alignment for curriculum renewal suggests that there are several components of good course design. In this paper, we use the principles of constructive alignment to analyze and redesign several components of the Entrepreneurship course. The focus is on reviewing and aligning the assessment tasks to ensure an effective evaluation and the achievement of student learning outcomes. Since assessment drives student learning, we describe the innovative assessment tasks that were implemented to enhance student learning, provide the rationale for the design of these tasks as supported by the current literature, and reflect on possible future improvements. The course redesign process and the constructive alignment and innovative assessment can be applied to other courses in the field, and more broadly to curriculum, teaching, and learning in higher education.

Recently Published Dissertations on Community and Junior Colleges

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 continuing worldwide demand for a diverse, competent, computing workforce has had a major impact on undergraduate information technology (IT) education. New degree programs in IT have been created and existing IT programs have been recreated. The enormity of the demand for IT graduates, as well as societal pressures, require such rebooted IT programs to attract a diverse student body. The panelists will describe their experiences and present different perspectives toward rebooting IT education to handle technological changes, to ensure competent graduates via program accreditation, and to address issues of diversity and inclusion.

ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Definition: The Association for Computing Machinery was founded in 1947 to act as a professional organization focused upon the advancement of information-technology skills. Overview The ACM acts as a professional organization within the technology industry. The society provides a range of services, including professional development courses, scholarly journals, conferences, sponsorship of special interest groups (SIGs), and sponsorship of public awareness activities that pertain to technology, and to scientific and educational activities. The conferences, peer-reviewed publications, and SIGs provide high-quality forums for the interchange of information in the area of information technology. ACM provides an electronic portal through which a large digital library of technology-related information may be accessed, including academic and professional journals, conference proceedings, and a repository of algorithms. Business value proposition The ACM provides a range of resources that can assist technology professionals in developing their skills. These include continuing education programs, a high-quality database of technology literature, professional conferences, and networking events. The peer-reviewed literature includes an extensive library of algorithms allowing technology professionals to use tested and proven algorithms rather than having to reinvent them. The ACM also provides ethical guidelines for its membership and monitors public policy issues in the area of technology and science. Access to the resources of the ACM provides an IT professional with a quick, effective, and efficient mechanism through which the continuously changing fields of computer science and information technologies can be monitored.

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 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.

One of the most widely recognized code of ethics in information technology (IT) is the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Code of Ethics. Adopted in 1992, the code covers many of the key ethical areas that are encountered in information technology practice. But this code has been lightly studied in the literature, including its recognition and its acceptance. Likewise, its effectiveness in influencing moral intent has not previously been established. This manuscript reviews selected key statements from the ACM Code of Ethics to determine the level of agreement with these statements. The surveyed group includes IT students, faculty, and staff. In general, agreement on all issues is found, though varying in degree. Next, the study analyzes the relationship between ACM code agreement and ethical intent. The relationships in nearly all cases are positive and significant. Finally, it examines the influence this code has among participants in a hypothetical hostile work situation. Specifically, it examines moral intent when a supervisor recommends an action directly contrary to the code. The difference between actions in a hostile situation versus no supervisor influence is found to be significant in some cases.

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.

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. …

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 use of Information Technology (IT) to drive organizational change has gained momentum in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and currently culminates in a vivid discussion on what many call “Digital Transformation”. It is not surprising then that practitioners seek guidance on how to manage such transformation. Professional bodies have addressed this need by issuing best practice standards for Program Management (PgM), but we know little about their value in managing programs in general and IT programs in particular. Academic research on IT PgM is still in its very infancy. Taking this as motivation, we have investigated the challenges that managers faced in five IT programs that encountered problems. Our analysis reveals a set of management issues and shortcomings including, among others, a lack of architectural overview, difficulties in dealing with scope changes, stakeholder interest, diverse business groups and cultures, as well as a lack of internal PgM competences and unclear management responsibilities. In this paper, based on our findings, we present a first checklist for managing IT programs across their life cycle. Though still tentative and not necessarily comprehensive, we were able to confirm that our checklist provides relevant guidance for managing IT programs in practice.

At the request of and funded by the US National Science Foundation, the ACM Committee for Computing Education at Community Colleges (www.acmccecc.org) conducted the Strategic Summit on the Computing Education Challenges at Community Colleges. The Report of Findings from the Summit will provide the impetus for future grant proposals to available funding sources. The objective is to share the Report of Findings, including those elements that are most relevant to faculty at four-year colleges and universities. The presenters will facilitate a discussion on an individual basis with computer science educators on topics from the report centered on the major challenges and associated opportunities. Attendees should come away from the session with ideas for crafting future funding proposals.