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Recommended Citation: Smoak, W T and K C Dittman. A Survey of Assessment Mechanisms for Continuous Process Improvement of IT Curriculums. In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2001, v 18 (Cincinnati): §13a.

A Survey of Assessment Mechanisms for Continuous Process Improvement of IT Curriculums

Refereed

William Todd Smoak    [a1] [a2]
Dept. of Computer Information Systems and Technology
Purdue University    [u1] [u2]
West Lafayette, Indiana, USA    [c1] [c2]

Kevin C. Dittman    [a1] [a2]
Dept. of Computer Information Systems and Technology
Purdue University    [u1] [u2]
West Lafayette, Indiana, USA    [c1] [c2]

A repeating trend within the Information Technology (IT) community is that every year a new technology approach or technique comes to the forefront. That may be a new programming language or a new method for developing information systems. At any rate, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to stay abreast of these technologies and approaches as they emerge in the workplace. An even more difficult challenge is to find and retain qualified people to teach these new state-of-the-art concepts and technologies. The foundation skills required for IT professionals have and will probably be the same for many years. These include skills such as math, problem solving, logic and interpersonal communications, but within IT there is also another skill set that is more dynamic. These are the demanded technology skills that seem to change every few years. Because of this phenomenon, it is important that the topics being taught by IT instructors be flexible and adaptable to current as well as future needs. Institutions of Higher Learning need to consistently re-evaluate their curriculum and assess whether the material being taught is in the best interest of the students as well as the IT industry. In other words they should resist preparing students to use specific technologies and instead prepare them to use any technology, which may assist the students in solving IT related problems. Institutions must be careful not to be swayed by the market demands of providing "training", rather prepare the students for a "lifetime of learning" and continuous career growth through education. This paper outlines in detail possible approaches and methods for tracking course relevancy information.

Keywords: curriculum quality assessment, evaluation techniques, continuous improvement, course content

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