The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2006: §2542 Home Papers/Indices prev (§2534) Next (§2543)

Fri, Nov 3, 2:00 - 2:25, Normandy B Paper (refereed)

Recommended Citation: Woratschek, C R and T L Lenox. Defining CS, IS, and IT: Are We There Yet? In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2006, v 23 (Dallas): §2542. ISSN: 1542-7382. (A later version appears in Information Systems Education Journal 7(59). ISSN: 1545-679X.)

Defining CS, IS, and IT: Are We There Yet?

Refereed

23 pages

Charles R. Woratschek    [a1] [a2]
Department of Computer Information Systems
Robert Morris University    [u1] [u2]
Moon Township, Pennsylvania, USA    [c1] [c2]

Terri L. Lenox    [a1] [a2]
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Westminster College    [u1] [u2]
New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, USA    [c1] [c2]

It is an important, but difficult challenge to reconcile the various definitions of the Information Systems, or Information Technology, field. There have been several recent attempts to come to some agreement in the academic community, but no final definitions have been developed. Equally important is for employers to have some common understanding of the various skills they can expect from graduates of these programs. In order to investigate the currently held beliefs of prospective employers of CS, IS, and IT graduates, a survey was developed which asked about the courses, certifications, and software proficiencies s/he expected graduates in each of the respective disciplines to have completed. Additionally, the perspective employer was asked her/his opinion about the rigor of each of the three disciplines.

Keywords: curriculum, definitions, CS, CIS, IS, IT

Read this refereed paper in Adobe Portable Document (PDF) format. (23 pages, 1245 K bytes)
Preview this refereed paper in Plain Text (TXT) format. (53 K bytes)

CDpic
Comments and corrections to
webmaster@isedj.org