Are We There Yet?

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Autor/inn/en	Rice, George; Bowman, Michael
Titel	Are We There Yet?
Quelle	In: Journal of Information Technology Education, 6 (2007), S.227-240 (14 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1547-9714
Schlagwörter	Information Systems; Computers; Information Technology; Computer Science; Engineering; Statistical Analysis; Telecommunications; Technology Education; Internet; Children; Higher Education; Intellectual Disciplines; Comparative Analysis; Undergraduate Students; Computer Networks + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Digitalrechner; Informationstechnologie; Informatik; Maschinenbau; Statistische Analyse; Telekommunikationstechnik; Technisch-naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Child; Kind; Kinder; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Geisteswissenschaften; Computernetz; Computernetze; Kommunikationsnetz
Abstract	Children in the back seat on a long trip are not the only ones asking the question "Are we there yet?" At Murray State University (MSU) and other universities starting new programs, the question becomes one of validation of the program. In the late 90s, MSU, a midsize university, was entrusted with the responsibility of developing a program of distinction with financial support from special state funds. The objective of this program was to establish a high-quality, interdisciplinary technical and business, undergraduate and graduate curriculum in telecommunications system management. A review of literature concerning academic technology disciplines revealed that most authors agree there is a continuum of computing disciplines from purely technical programs such as Electrical Engineering (EE) to highly business oriented programs such as Management of Information Systems (MIS) with telecommunications falling somewhere within the continuum. As the MSU Telecommunications System Management (TSM) program was conceived to be an interdisciplinary program of business and technology, we have asked ourselves where it resides in this continuum. The focus of our review centered on where the TSM program would fit in the continuum in relation to computer science (CS), information systems (IS), and information technology (IT) programs, all of which are established academic disciplines from which the initial MSU curriculum was drawn. To articulate the unique value the TSM program must provide to its students in order to be recognized as a "program of distinction," MSU needs to know where the program is in relation to established academic disciplines. This paper examines the curriculum directions taken at MSU in the undergraduate Bachelor of Science (BS) and graduate Master of Science (MS) programs several years after its creation, in an extremely dynamic discipline, in order to understand what the TSM program is currently offering students. With this understanding, the TSM BS program was analyzed using the methodology published in the Journal of Information Technology Education Volume 3 article: An empirical comparison of baccalaureate programs in computing (Reichgelt, Lunt, Phelps, Salzinski, & Willis, 2004). Statistical analysis of the TSM program when compared simultaneously to typical computer science (CS), information systems (IS), and information technology (IT) programs indicates there is a significant difference in the program; however, when compared to each of these programs individually, the significant difference was not as strongly indicated. Using this research, a strong empirical argument can be made that the TSM program is different from CS, but empirical arguments that it is significantly different from the average IS or IT programs are not as strong. Therefore, MSU can not use this methodology to articulate its unique value in comparison to IS and IT. The new TSM program, like most new programs in non-established academic disciplines, can be thought of as distinct simply because it was designed to be different, the "old intangible argument". As the academic community does not have an accredited telecommunications model as in CS and IS (Association for Computing Machinery, 2005), nor an emerging one such as in IT (Hart, 2006), how does MSU articulate the value of its program to both students and potential employers using empirical data? Additionally, there is neither an established model such as the Computing Program Academic Model (CPAM) proposed by Anthony (2003), nor an accepted empirical methodology in place to provide MSU a foundation to make a tangible case for the program's value to students and industry. (Contains 6 figures and 8 tables.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Informing Science Institute. 131 Brookhill Court, Santa Rosa, CA 95409. Tel: 707-537-2211; Fax: 480-247-5724; Web site: http://JITE.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10