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Session 2558

Defining the IT Curriculum: The Results of the Past 2½ Years Barry M. Lunt, Joseph J. Ekstrom, Edith A. Lawson, Reza Kamali, Jacob Miller, Sandra Gorka, Han Reichgelt, Brigham Young University/ Brigham Young University/ Rochester Institute of Technology/ Purdue University-Calumet/ Pennsylvania College of Technology/ Georgia Southern University

Abstract

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. Also in attendance were 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). Much foundational work began at this conference, and committees were formed to continue the work. This work has been ongoing since this first CITC conference, continuing 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 100 members and represents most 4-year IT programs and several 2-year IT programs in the United States. Because of the wide representation in SIGITE, it is felt that the outcome of these three main thrusts is 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.

Introduction and Historical Background

In the first week of December of 2001 representatives from 15 undergraduate information technology (IT) programs from colleges/universities across the country gathered together in Aspen Grove, Utah, to develop a community and begin to establish academic standards for this rapidly growing discipline. The first Conference on Information Technology Curriculum (CITC- 1) was also attended by representatives from two professional societies, the Association for Computing Machine (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE), and also the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET). This invitational conference was the culmination of an effort begun several months earlier by five of

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education

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Gorka, S., & Kamali, R., & Miller, J., & Reichgelt, H., & Lawson, E., & Lunt, B., & Ekstrom, J. (2004, June), Defining The It Curriculum: The Results Of The Past 2½ Years Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13972