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Sat, Nov 6, 4:30 - 4:55, Commodore Perry Paper (refereed)

Recommended Citation: Kaplan, R M. Clarifying Computing Study Choices for the Student. In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2004, v 21 (Newport): §3435. ISSN: 1542-7382. (A later version appears in Information Systems Education Journal 7(8). ISSN: 1545-679X.)

Clarifying Computing Study Choices for the Student

Refereed

7 pages

Randy M. Kaplan    [a1] [a2]
College of Information Science and Technology
Drexel University    [u1] [u2]
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA    [c1] [c2]

Our discipline and profession faces a tremendous challenge. On the one hand we find that fewer students are enrolling in our programs over the last several years. Part of this trend can be attributed to the dot com failures of the late '90s and part can be attributed to the media's current infatuation with outsourcing of technical jobs. On the other hand the number of courses of study that are available as choices to high school students in the computing professions has grown from a single choice (computer science) to seven or eight different courses of study. Most laypersons understand a career in computing to be "computer science." If you are in "computer science" there is a general belief that the primary job duty will be programming. Programming is not viewed as a very positive career choice due to the current perceived outsourcing trends. For that reason it behooves us to explain to prospective students what their study and career choices can be in computing in a way that attracts students to our profession. This paper defines the problem in terms of its characteristics and describes one approach to providing high school students a model for understanding the choices they have today in computing.

Keywords: computer science, information systems, digital media, computer engineering, software engineering, management information systems, program selection

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