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Aim/Purpose This paper investigates the gaps between industry and academia perceptions of information technology fields, such as computer science, software engineering, and computer engineering, and it identifies areas of asymmetry between curricula and industry expectations. The study mainly focuses on the skills required of IT professionals (graduated students) and on how higher education institutes equip students for industry. Background Higher education institutes have several IT-related departments. However, it is not clear whether these departments have sufficient content to equip students with industry-related skills. Rapid advances mean that some curriculum topics are redundant before the end of a standard two- or four-year degree programs. Balancing the technical/non-technical skills and adjusting the curricula to better prepare the students for industry is a constant demand for higher education institutions. Several studies have demonstrated that a generic curriculum is inadequate to address current IT industry needs. Methodology The study involved a comprehensive survey of IT professionals and compa- nies using a Web-based questionnaire sent directly to individual companies, academics, and employers. 64 universities and 38 companies in 24 countries were represented by the 209 participants, of whom 99 were IT professionals, 72 academics, and 38 employers. Contribution This paper is intended to guide academics in preparing dynamic curricula that can be easily adapted to current industry trends and technological developments, with content directly relevant to student's careers. In addition, the results may identify the skills that students need to secure employment and the courses that will provide skills in line with current industry trends. Findings The results indicate a lack of emphasis on personal and non-technical skills in undergraduate education compared to general computer science, software development, and coding courses. Employers' and software experts' responses emphasize that soft skills should not be ignored, and that, of these, analytical thinking and teamwork are the two most requested. Rather than a theoretical emphasis, courses should include hands-on projects. Rapid developments and innovations in information technologies demand that spiral and waterfall models are replaced with emerging software development models, such as Agile and Scrum development. Recommendations for Practitioners A multidisciplinary approach should be taken to the teaching of soft skills, such as communication, ethics, leadership, and customer relations. Establishing multiple learning tracks in IT education would equip students with specialized knowledge and skills in IT. An effective communication channel should be established between students and industry. It is also important to reduce the distance between academics and students and to provide an interactive environment for technical discussions. Enterprise level computing and Framework use provide job market advantages. Recommendations for Researchers Researchers and department heads, particularly those involved in curriculum design and accreditation, could use the results of this exemplary study to identify key topics for attention. Impact on Society Changes of various degrees are required in the current curricula in many higher education institutions to better meet student needs. Societies and technology are dynamic in nature, and information technology-related curricula in higher education institutions should be equally dynamic. Future Research Since technology (especially information technology) transforms and advances itself so rapidly, this study should be replicated t to investigate how these changes affect the gap between revised curricula and current industry expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Victoria University will introduce a generic Science Degree in 2009. Students in the degree will share a common first year and then choose a specialization, for instance biotechnology, chemistry, computing, food science, or environmental science. This paper reflects on the need for the development of enabling information technology (IT) skills among first-year students in the Degree. Many students already use IT to communicate, collaborate, work, and learn. However, they need to learn how to use technology intelligently, creatively, and ethically to accomplish intellectual pursuits; in addition, they should develop these skills at the beginning of their course, so as to optimize their learning throughout their studies and maximize educational outcomes. How could these skills be developed in students of a generic science degree? Are IT skills generic, too? The paper discusses the growing need for the development of advanced IT skills in science students; it shows the disparity between current university practice and the expectations of the world at large; it examines the generic nature and transferability of advanced IT skills; and, it proposes explicit incorporation of these skills into the curriculum of a generic science degree, including suggestions for effective implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a critical look at the likely demise of Computer Science (CS) as a discipline, in the light of various mishaps that academics in Universities have met with due to trial and error. We trace the issues of the past and present and, identify the reasons why computer science as a discipline in many Universities has not moved with time -- in particular why it is not kept up with the pace required by the field. The loss of computer science is also well-reflected in the huge downturn in CS student enrolment across the Anglo-Saxon world. The paper also details some steps on how to change the ways and means of CS academics. We record that some of the arguments and recommendations presented in this paper can be controversial and may not necessarily relate to scenarios that exist in other countries. Further, some of the assertions made are without comprehensive statistical data, as we could not gather them, besides gathering anecdotal evidences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the idea of organization transformation appropriate to the advent of information technologies (IT). Specifically, we describe a traceable framework of transformation, which accommodates the shift of information system (IS) support from automating to informating to knowledging. The paper intends to clarify the context of IT/IS-based organization transformation through the contextualization of IS support and its relation to organizational design. This is done by elaborating the design issue of IS support that help structure and facilitate knowledge interconnectivity, through the exposition of the social processes in which, in a specific organizational context, a particular group of people can conceptualize their world and hence the purposeful action they wish to undertake. That provides the basis for ascertaining what information support is needed by those who undertake that action. Only then does it become appropriate to ask how modern IT can help to provide that support. We conclude by reiterating the challenge of designing IS's as meaning attribution systems in which people select certain resources out of the mass potentially available and get them processed by means of IT, to make them meaningful in order to support their purposeful actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Failed Information Technology (IT) projects are common in organisations, as IT solutions often do not meet the expectations of business clients. Business experts often have a negative perception of the people working in the IT function. There seems to be a proverbial "chicken-and-egg situation": the relationship between business and IT suffers because IT projects fail to solve the real business need and, on the other hand, many IT projects fail because of existing interpersonal relationship problems between business- and IT employees. Research was done to identify categories of issues in the business-IT interface and rank them in order of significance. The term "fusion" is used in this paper, to refer to the process by which the elements of the IT function and the rest of the business work together to achieve a common goal. This paper reports on the categories of issues and draws a conclusion of what would constitute fusion in the business-IT interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This positioning paper focuses on the selection of software for educational purposes and how the selection process may encourage usage. Computer Aided Software or Systems Engineering (CASE) tools provided an appropriate e software example for this study. The paper also seeks to examine if the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) such as CASE can aid the students' understanding of systems analysis and design techniques. Entity relationship modelling has been used as the primary technique. Focus groups comprising postgraduate and undergraduate students were used as the main data collection instrument supported by a pre and post assessment test. The findings provided a clear indication of which CASE tool the participants found easiest to use and which tool they were interested in using. It was further found that some tools have unique properties that may assist the user in their understanding. This paper also provides a valuable platform for defining future research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of an engineer's time in the software industry is spent working with other programmers. Agile methods of software development like eXtreme Programming strongly rely upon practices like daily meetings and pair programming. Hence, the need to learn the skill of working collaboratively is of primary importance for software developers. During computing education, this may be particularly important for the stronger students as they may be the ones who least desire to work with other programmers. Further, programmers need to develop the ability to comprehend the programs developed by others and, also, to write programs that can be easily comprehended by other programmers. Increasing dependence on large amounts of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) makes this even more crucial. Until a decade ago, one weakness in the typical undergraduate experience was the failure to train students to work with other programmers -- in fact it was often considered a form of cheating. Over time, researchers have the need to find a way to allow students to work together within clearly defined boundaries that would be an acceptable practice. A traditional form of pair programming based on the driver-navigator model has been successful in many introductory computer science courses. Its success is noticeable in better performance in computer science assignments, increased team work in and outside class, enhanced learning, and decreased frustration (Cliburn, 2003; Domino, Collins, & Hevner, 2007; McDowell, Werner, Bullock, & Fernald, 2002; Nagappan et al., 2003;Sfetsos, Stamelos, Angelis, & Deligiannis, 2009; Thomas, Ratcliffe, & Robertson, 2003; VanDeGrift, 2004; Williams & Kessler, 2003; Williams, Yang, Wiebe, Ferzli, & Miller, 2002). However, pair programming has its weaknesses too (Bevan, Werner, & McDowell, 2002, Cliburn, 2003; VanDeGrift, 2004). Most of the experiments have the shortcoming of not having been able to create a convincing need for collaboration. Such a situation results in students sitting together, sharing a machine, but not actually collaborating with each other The objective of this paper is to propose a new framework for implementing pair programming in the classroom. Our model of collaborative pair programming is based on Dillenbourg's set of four conditions to set up an active collaborative context. We have transformed the traditional form of pair first work independently and then work on a combined task that brings together their individual tasks. The framework has been experimented within a real classroom environment for the course 'Introduction to Computer Programming' offered to first year engineering students. All the inexperienced programmers were allowed to form pairs, while all the experienced students worked as solo programmers. This was done primarily to compare the performance of experienced versus inexperienced programmers at the end of the course. This comparison helped identify if such an implementation of collaborative pair programming proved advantageous for students. The experiment was well monitored and regulated by four instructors and teaching assistants at any given time. Observations throughout the five months of the course and results from various examinations and feedback mechanisms showed that such a framework for collaborative pair programming enhanced problem solving skills, improved quality of work, and increased trust and teamwork. Final examination results for inexperienced programmers showed a marked increase in their performance when compared to results of experienced programmers. In conclusion, the new framework proved successful by helping inexperienced programmers perform at par with their experienced peers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With universities having difficulty attracting students to study information technology (IT), the scores needed for entry into IT degrees have dropped markedly. IT schools are thus having to cope by adjusting their introductory courses to ensure that students will still learn what is expected but without negatively impacting on pass rates. This paper considers short objective tests, designed by other researchers, to examine whether students who have passed an introductory course have achieved an understanding of fundamental concepts in programming. The Dehnadi test, which was originally designed to be taken before a programming course to predict who would be successful, proved to be useful in showing that many students who had passed an introductory programming course had little or no understanding of fundamental concepts. The test was useful if the number of correct responses was considered. Implications of students passing an introductory course but being unable to respond correctly on a multiple choice test of the most fundamental concepts of programming are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There exists a wealth of computing education literature devoted to interventions designed to overcome novices' difficulties in learning to write computer programs. However, various studies have shown that the majority of students at the end of a semester of instruction are still unable to write a simple computer program, despite the best efforts of their teachers (Lister et al., 2004; McCracken et al., 2001; Soloway, Bonar, & Ehrlich, 1983). In an effort to address this problem, a workshop titled Building Research in Australasian Computing Education (BRACE) was convened in 2004. BRACE brought together academics interested in learning and applying the techniques and methodologies of action research to the problem of poor student code-writing performance. At this workshop, and at those that followed, participants agreed to use end-of-semester assessments to try to pinpoint the key steps and difficulties beginners faced in learning introductory programming. Subsequently the group, which has come to be known as the BRACElet project, has continued to meet twice a year in an effort to better understanding of how students learn and grasp various programming concepts. Over the past five years, the BRACElet project has fostered a multi-institutional community of practice amongst academics who teach novice computer programming. For participants, the BRACElet project provides the benefits of external moderation, quality assurance, and benchmarking of examinations. At a BRACElet meeting, attendees decide upon a small common set of question types for use within their own local examinations; it is the subsequent analysis and discussion of locally collected data from various institutions that comprises the BRACElet project's iterative series of action research. By examining across institutions common difficulties students may have on various question types, such as reading, tracing, and coding, the BRACElet project attempts to build theory on how learners acquire programming knowledge. In 2008, academics from Victoria University joined the BRACElet group. After modifying our end of semester examination to contain the BRACElet core question types, the examination was run and data was collected across the cohort of 32 students. The analysis treated student performance on code writing questions as the dependent variable and looked at the relationship between code writing questions and non-code writing questions. Overall, our study found that the combination of tracing and explaining questions, more so than each skill independently correlates highly to code writing skills supporting the BRACElet notion of a hierarchical development of skills in learning to program. In 2008, academics from Victoria University joined the BRACElet group. After modifying our end of semester examination to contain the BRACElet core question types, the examination was run and data was collected across the cohort of 32 students. The analysis treated student performance on code writing questions as the dependent variable and looked at the relationship between code writing questions and non-code writing questions. Overall, our study found that the combination of tracing and explaining questions, more so than each skill independently correlates highly to code writing skills supporting the BRACElet notion of a hierarchical development of skills in learning to program. From Australasian beginnings, the BRACElet project has continued to attract new collaborators to become a large multi-national, multi-institutional research community that has published over 20 papers, with 28 academics as authors, from 20 tertiary institutions across 7 countries. By joining the BRACElet collective, we have been nurtured in making informed decisions about our own assessment practices and our local research has made a small contribution to the dialogue about understanding how novices learn to program. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Phenomenology and hermeneutics have long been promoted as sources of inspiration for better information system (IS) design. Practical approaches to applying these philosophical ideas have been awaited for just as long. This paper offers a review of one practitioner's experience in devising a theoretical and methodological 'toolkit' via which these disciplines' principles have been applied in actual IS design practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistence is the term used in computer science to describe a capability to store data structures in non-volatile storage such as a file system or a relational database (Wikipedia, 2003). There is a growing need to simplify the interactions among separate systems and to build complex software systems that are made out of components with well-defined services. At the base-level of such complex systems lies a persistence framework -- a set of classes tailored to save, retrieve, update and delete objects to and from their persistence stores, such as databases and flat files. This paper presents the design, and implementation of the transparent persistence framework called PersistF. Design patterns (Gamma, Helm, Johnson, & Vlissides, 1995) have been widely accepted in the software engineering community as the recommended approach to developing software. Part of the research effort of this work included the application of well-known design patterns in order to build the framework. We present how consistent application of design patterns allowed us to build a fully working persistence framework. In order to support development of modern complex applications, some recent application development environments for different programming languages are built in with some kind of persistence framework. To use these frameworks in target applications, the developer often must go through a steep learning curve as each framework is specific in some way, but namely in respect of configuring the framework's runtime engine with enough information about the domain application. This configuration is often time consuming and error prone. Most of the existing frameworks require complicated configuration steps that are imposed onto the developer. Our aim with this work was to present a framework that will not require such complicated configuration steps and would provide its service to the target application with virtually no configuration of the framework's handling of domain classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the need for and contents of a course in forensic Information Systems and Computer Science at UCT. In order to do this, the reader is introduced to computer crime and shown how the forensic process of identifying, preserving, recovering, analyzing, and documenting computer data supposedly used in crimes committed using computers is helping in investigating and solving these types of crime. An actual forensic approach known as the End-to-End Digital Investigation is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last twenty years has seen the development of demand for a new type of computing professional, which has resulted in the emergence of the academic discipline of Information Technology (IT). Numerous colleges and universities across the country and abroad have responded by developing programs without the advantage of an existing model for guidance. Efforts to define a model curriculum for IT began at the first Conference on Information Technology curriculum (CITC-1) in December 2001, which included representatives from 15 IT programs at four-year universities across the United States. Membership in SIGITE (Special Interest Group Information Technology Education) has grown to over 400 representing many of the four-year IT programs in the United States and abroad and some of the two-year IT programs in the United States. Continued development of the curriculum and subsequent funding by the Education Board of ACM enabled the completion of a first draft of the model curriculum for IT establishing program outcomes and a body of knowledge defining the discipline. This paper presents an overview of the process followed and the results achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a Finnish study of four different academic disciplines, Ylijoki (2000) found that in Computer Science there was a disparity between the conceptions held by undergraduate students and staff about their discipline; students viewed it as being far more pragmatic and results focused than did their instructors. Not surprisingly, here at our Australian university where the undergraduate Computer Science program emphasizes programming and problem solving skills, the authors had noticed a similar inconsistency between staff and student beliefs. This paper reports on an effort to realign these conceptions and broaden student experience using an assessment task. Centered on solutions to the popular 'Sudoku' puzzle (Sudoku, 2005), the task was designed and introduced into an Intelligent Systems course, a final year elective of a Computer Science degree. The goal was to expose students to some of the 'pure' rather than applied aspects of the Computer Science discipline (Becher & Trowler, 2001), by using assessment to encourage experimental learning (Kolb & Fry, 1975). The assessment specification instructed students to design and conduct several 'in silica' Computer Science experiments to solve and/or create Sudoku puzzles. Importantly, students were asked to keep a Research Diary documenting their thoughts, attempts, backtracking and progresses as they attempted the assignment. Most unique from a student's perspective was that 'failure' to solve the given problem by experimentation was a viable option; their efforts would be rewarded given they conducted themselves 'scientifically' in their attempt. The inclusion of a Research Diary as part of the assessment proved beneficial to both students and staff, particularly as the Diaries focused students on the doing, rather than on the results achieved. For staff, these journals allowed the privilege of seeing what students were thinking and doing as they engaged in the problem. An early analysis of Diary entries shows evidences of students 'thinking scientifically', that is, understanding and thinking about the problem before formalizing an approach to a solution. In addition, Diary entries also show evidences of students 'behaving scientifically' as they reported conducting experiments and analyzing their results, before concluding about their experiences. For students, regardless of whether they able to complete the task, the Research Diaries were valuable testaments to their efforts and experimentations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Providing adequate computing lab support for Management Information Systems (MIS) and Computer Science (CS) programs is a perennial challenge for most academic institutions in the US and abroad. Factors, such as lack of physical space, budgetary constraints, conflicting needs of different courses, and rapid obsolescence of computing technology, precipitate this challenge. While introductory computing courses can be adequately supported through general labs, advanced computing courses typically require dedicated labs. Normally, however, even a dedicated lab must simultaneously support multiple courses with diverse support requirements. Consequently, in designing dedicated computing labs, versatility and flexibility of the lab must be the prime consideration. Drawing on the insights gained from developing a dedicated lab, the authors present a model for developing a versatile, flexible lab to support computer network courses. The proposed model entails a modular design approach which offers ease of management, configuration and upgrading of the lab by decoupling the lab functions into layers. The layered design divides the lab into four management layers: (1) wiring layer, (2) networking layer, (3) server systems layer, and (4) support procedures layer. Each layer offers a versatile and configurable design and serves as a foundation for the next higher layer. Wiring layer minimizes the wire configuration efforts and enhances wiring flexibility by utilizing patch panels at the computer desks and the racks housing networking devices, and sufficient underground wiring between desks and racks. The underground wiring allows for network, telephone and serial cable connections as needed. Network layer builds LANs, subnets and internets with minimal configuration effort through a careful arrangement of network hubs, switches, routers, and firewalls. The network layer distinguishes between permanent networks needed in the lab, called pre-configured networks, and the networks that are assembled and disassembled by the students, called configurable networks. The network address allocation schemes for different types of network experiments are also discussed. Server systems layer covers two categories of servers: pre-configured servers and configurable servers. Pre-configured servers, such as DNS and file servers, are production servers that support network experiments. Configurable servers are hardware platforms that can be configured as needed according to experimental needs. The last layer, procedural layer, provides policies, guidelines and operational procedures that are needed for proper utilization of the lab space and the equipment. The paper also illustrates the application of the proposed model through the design and configuration of the computing lab for network courses underlying this case study. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The third year systems development group project forms an essential part of the Information Systems major at the University of Cape Town. The field of Information Technology / Information Systems requires the maintenance or development of large information systems which often involves complex tasks. As effective teams are at the core of high performance organizations exposure to teamwork is important in the preparation of students for the real world environment. To ensure high quality products and limit high failure rates of projects, teams should be carefully selected. This paper explores existing team selection approaches and discusses the mechanisms put in place in the systems development group project with the emphasis on self-selected teams as a sound base for team formation. It further reports on the incorporation of the criteria defining effectiveness and effective teams into the course to prepare individual members for the rigours of industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computers, digitalization and the Internet have transformed modern society. Commerce, education, communication and socialization will never be the same. Surprisingly, many universities do not require a computing course in the core curriculum. Critical information technology (IT) competencies are often taken for granted, to the detriment of students who lack computing and Internet skills. This paper describes an initiative undertaken by a computer science and information systems department to assess and remediate IT skills needed by all university students, regardless of major. The project is evolving along several dimensions: identification of discipline-independent IT competencies, assessment of IT skills among current and incoming students, and curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roles of variables, which describe stereotypic usages of variables, can be exploited to facilitate teaching introductory programming. This paper describes the evaluation of visual metaphors for roles used in a role-based program animator. The evaluation is based on several criteria: properties of the images, metaphor recognition and grading, and effects on learning. The study demonstrates that as a whole the role metaphors facilitate learning. The results also identify ideas for further elaboration of the individual metaphors. Furthermore, the study suggests that the evaluation of animated metaphors may require special measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer science is becoming increasingly important in our society. Meta skills, such as problem solving and logical and algorithmic thinking, are emphasized in every field, not only in the natural sciences. Still, largely due to gaps in tuition, common misunderstandings exist about the true nature of computer science. These are especially problematic for high school students, who need to have a realistic view of what studying computer science would be like in order to make advised decisions about their future careers. The principal objective of Finnish high schools is to prepare young students for further studies and life in general; it can therefore be seen as something of a paradox that these schools are not obliged to provide their students with tuition in computer science. In this paper we describe the project DASK (DAtakunskap i SKolan, Computer Science in Schools), which aims at introducing computer science to Swedish-speaking high school students by providing university level computer science courses on the web. The purpose is to give a realistic view of computer sciecomputence, at the same time removing any potential misunderstandings about its true nature. The DASK-curriculum includes web-based versions of the five basic courses taught at the university with no trade-offs in either contents or difficulty level. The main focus is on student activity, emphasizing the importance of continuous work throughout the courses. We have formulated the ActiWe (Active on the Web) principle, a main guideline applied when designing, developing and giving the courses. Instructors at the university are responsible for the courses in most ways (acting as the course lecturer, maintaining the material, checking assignments, giving feedback etc.), but each high school has a contact teacher who supports the students locally. DASK was initiated in 2002, and has been popular from the very beginning; feedback from both students and teachers has been positive. In a recently conducted survey (January 2005), many of the teachers stated that their schools would not be able to provide any computer science-related courses on their own, thus indicating a definite need for the DASK-courses. In addition, the high number of participants registering for the first course each year implies that there is a genuine interest for computer science among high school students. Our experience shows that the greatest challenges for both students and university instructors are time-related: in most schools, the DASK-courses are not given time in the schedule and are thus not part of the actual tuition; this leads to already stressful periods becoming even more burdensome for the students. Giving the DASK-courses has also proved to be time-consuming for the university instructors; much time and effort has to be invested in maintaining the material, but particularly in giving individual feedback for assignments to all students on a weekly basis. A future challenge is thus to improve the time management of both students and instructors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have suggested that up to 50% of the effort in development of information systems is devoted to user interface development (Douglas, Tremaine, Leventhal, Wills, & Manaris, 2002; Myers & Rosson, 1992). Yet little study has been performed on the inclusion of important interface and human-computer interaction topics into a current information technology related curriculum. Particularly the IS (Information Systems) discipline has shown little interest in identifying and clarifying those topics and techniques that should be included in its curriculum. This paper reviews the literature in all areas of computing and information systems and sciences to determine importance of human-computer interaction and define interface topics that are generally regarded as most important for technology students. A review of classic, pedagogical and current HCI (human-computer interaction) literature is performed in this work. Within the broad category of HCI two major subcategories emerge - People and Process. Within these subcategories, twelve specific topic areas are identified. The topics are Interface Requirements, Interface and GUI (Graphical User Interface) Design, Interface Analysis, Assessment and Evaluation, Design Psychology, Human Behavior and Abilities, Implementation, Collaboration, Communications, and Teamwork, Costs/Benefits, Testing, Prototyping, and Disability. Each of these areas is vitally important to the future system designer. This study next reviews specific hands-on assignments to explore the topics identified. The computer science curriculum as proposed by the "Joint IEEE Computer Society/ACM Task Force" includes many of these important areas. The Information Systems Model curriculum only makes passing reference to HCI and Interface Design. The author currently teaches a junior level course in Organization and Design of Information Systems: User and System Principles. For the most part, this is a course in interface design and human-computer interaction. The author has incorporated the twelve key concepts in both lecture materials as well as specific hands-on activities. The activities include HCI Gone Wild which challenges the students to prepare a fanciful, out-of-the-box interface to a common product or application. Sound exercise considers new uses and inclusion of an underutilized human sense. Expert elicitation explores the challenges of requirements analysis. User interface forces students to develop prototypes with disability issues in mind. Evaluation requires development of high level assessment, testing and communication skills so essential in interface design. The positive student evaluations of both the exercises and the course suggest that the materials and assignments are stimulating high interest and appreciation for the complexities of designing with the user in mind. Further course improvements that will be incorporated as a result of multiple semester feedback include more focus on subtleties of new technologies such as wireless, portals, and web services as well as inclusion of game design to even more actively engage students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching future knowledge engineers, the necessary skills for designing and implementing intelligent software solutions required by business, industry and research today, is a very tall order. These skills are not easily taught in traditional undergraduate computer science lectures; nor are the practical experiences easily reinforced in laboratory sessions. In an attempt to address this issue, a software development project, designed to take students through a complete process of knowledge engineering, was introduced in an undergraduate Intelligent Systems subject. In this project, students were required to act as domain experts, knowledge engineers, programmers, end users and project manager in the production of a game-playing expert system. The paper describes the project, its objectives and development, as well as some of the benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to define IT curriculum and accreditation standards began at the first Conference on Information Technology Curriculum (CITC-1) in December 2001, which included representatives from 15 Information Technology (IT) programs at four-year schools in the United States, and representatives from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Since this conference, this work has been ongoing at CITC-2 (April 2002), CITC-3 (September 2002), and CITC-4 (October 2003), and through committee work which has progressed between these conferences. The three main thrusts of this work have been to define standards for accreditation of IT programs, to define a model curriculum for IT programs, and to distinguish IT programs from the most closely-related academic programs, such as Information Systems and Computer Science. Membership in SIGITE (Special Interest Group on Information Technology Education) of the ACM is now over 300 members and represents most 4-year IT programs and several 2-year IT programs in the United States; the outcome of these three main thrusts should therefore be of wide interest to all those in related programs or at institutions considering forming a similar program. This paper gives some of the details of the results of the work on these three thrusts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IS professional is a person endowed with certain professional skills and attributes usually formally obtained through an education process. The IS professional may also have formal skills in peripheral, non technical areas that may too be obtained through a formal education process. This is typical now in the education of IS students who are aspiring IS professional. In addition they come with a range of soft skills that may be attitudinal and influenced by life and work experiences. This paper suggests that these skills, attributes and work environment do not sit in isolation from each other, but interact in an as yet unmeasured way. How this happens with students studying towards an IS qualification is discussed here and a structural model is developed to explain the interactions. The value of this research is that a picture is presented that shows the interactions between these important elements in a quantitative way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To succeed in the global marketplace, companies must reposition themselves to tap the sources of sustainable growth. After failing to connect information technology investments with business performance, successful senior managers today know that 'effective use of information' does not equal merely a new IT solution. Instead, business performance can only be improved with an excellence at using information proactively, sensing and processing information appropriately, and deploying IT for management support. The knowledge workers, on whom every company depends since the success depends on how fast they utilize proper information, should be the focus of information use in organizations. The paper presents three information capabilities that form information orientation, a high-level idea of senior managers, which embraces expectations of the business community regarding business-information systems professionals. Based on that presentation, a framework of topics for MScIS/MBA educational programs is developed. Findings can serve as a guideline when building, revising and endorsing contemporary and relevant curricula for mentioned programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The career paths of students are influenced and shaped by the subject choices that are made in the final years of secondary schooling. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study that identified the key factors influencing the decision of rural / regional Australian students to choose or not choose to study Information Processing and Technology. The findings revealed that career oriented, extrinsic factors play an important role in motivating the selection of I.P.T. at school and, by implication, information technology at university. There are few apparent gender differences but there is limited evidence to suggest that males may be more influenced by extrinsic motivators and females by intrinsic motivators. Although the factors used in the study were initially identified largely via informal processes, they all appear to influence the decision to take I.P.T. The focus on career-related factors and the instrumentality of taking I.P.T. could explain the drop-off in students taking the subject. This has potentially significant implications as regards the future supply of good information technology professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how a set of 'mandated' generic graduate attributes were incorporated, by a retrofit, into an IS undergraduate degree program. The current challenge is to implement these attributes completely by matching them to course objectives, by explicitly including and assessing them, and by refining teaching and learning strategies to be cognisant of them. Other considerations identified are the extent to which these attributes actually suit the needs of IT/business graduates (including those contemplating postgraduate study), employers of IS graduates, and professional bodies. Attributes not addressed in the generic set are also considered as are attributes students possess prior to beginning degree studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of increased accountability in assessing student learning outcomes, greater emphasis has been focused on factors that influence student learning. In this paper we examine the impact of instructional methods and information technology on student learning styles, all critical factors affecting student learning. A research framework that suggests the relationship of instructional processes and information technology to learning styles is proposed. Using the framework, pre-and post-tests based on the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Styles Scales were used to assess changes in student learning styles over the course of a semester in three college-level courses. Through specific instructional intervention coupled with collaborative projects and the use of course-management software, the results of the assessments showed a significant increase in students' Collaborative, Participant, and Independent learning styles over the course of the semester. Implications for practice and additional research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationships between jazz and the development of information systems. Similarities are drawn between music in general and information systems development methodologies and jazz is taken as a specific focus. The idea of music as an information system in its own right is outlined. As systems development methodologies move from formal approaches towards more ad hoc forms, the lessons that can be learned from jazz, such as improvisation and shared meaning, may become increasingly useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]