Panel:
The Center for Computing Education: Opportunities for IS Program Assessment
and Certification for Program Graduates

Herbert E. Longenecker, Jr.
HLongenecker@usouthal.edu.edu
School of Computer and Information Sciences
University of South Alabama
Mobile, Alabama 36608, USA

Lynn J. McKell
mckell@byu.edu
Marriott School, Brigham Young University
Provo, Utah 84604  USA

Bruce J. White
Bruce.White@quinnipiac.edu
Information Systems Management, Quinnipiac University
Hamden, CT 06518, USA

ABSTRACT
The Center for Computing Education (CCER) has been developed as a component of the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP) Education Foundation (EF) to provide assessment services based on the IS2002 Model Curriculum for Information Systems sponsored by the ACM, the AIS, and the AITP.  The assessment exam is based on the learning units of the model curriculum.  Approximately fifty universities have participated in this process to date.  Participating university programs have received detailed analysis of the performance of their students’ performance compared with the participating national sample for both exit level skills (job-entry level skills), as well as for performance on learning units of the curriculum.  Since institutions have mapped the learning units to their courses, the exam provides a basis for assessment of course performance compared with a national sample.  This data is useful for course assessment.  The same data when mapped either to ABET-CAC program objectives, or to individual university program objectives to a quantitative assessment of program effectiveness compared with a national standard.  Also, students passing the CCER exam become qualified for the Information Systems Analyst (ISA) Certification from the ICCP without further examination upon completing their degree requirements.
The panel will discuss progress in validation of the national examination, expansion of services, as well as opportunities for involvement in the operations and research efforts of the CCER.  The panel will review the relevance of this exam to program assessment and to the concept of learning assurance and of continuous program improvement.
Keywords: IS2002 curriculum, assessment, learning assurance, entry level skills, certification