Education for a technology-based profession: softening the information systems curriculum

Authors:
Rodney Turner;Glenn Lowry
Affiliations:
Victoria University of Technology, Australia;United Arab Emirates University, UAE
Venue:
Current issues in IT education
Year:
2003

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Abstract

This chapter reports some further findings of an ongoing investigation into conceptual, academic, and "soft" skills that IS/IT practitioners regard as important in new graduates. There has long been agreement that the IS curriculum should be comprised of some combination of technical subjects and nontechnical business subjects, and that graduates also need "soft" business skills. There is far less agreement about what the mix between these should be and how best to prepare students in some areas, notably in the development of "soft" business skills. The research findings reported here present some evidence that traditional "business subjects" such as marketing, economics, or finance do not equate to the business skills that employers of IS graduates are seeking in new hires. The chapter concludes with a discussion of IS curriculum reform issues and strategies for reducing confusion, overcoming tradition and inertia, finding resources, and neutralizing vested interests.