Information Technology Career Ladder Clayton College State University

Information Technology Career Ladder Clayton College & State University Larry Booth, IT Department Head Larry. Booth@Mail. Clayton. edu Copyright Larry Booth, 2003. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Problems & Opportunities u Rapidly evolving IT industry u Industry concerns with academic programs n Tenure, Theory vs Skill Standards u Shortage of IT faculty u Knowledge Workers need to stay current u Job Changers need retraining u All students have laptop computers

Design Challenges u Put folks into the workforce quickly u Address needs of both Knowledge Workers and Job Changers u Economically feasible implementation u Curriculum designed to keep pace n n Courses evolve Professional Development time for Faculty

The Time Was Right u Georgia n n moves from Quarter to Semester 1997 A time for curriculum review Fall 1998, first semester at CCSU u Information n 1998, CCSU deploys laptops to all students u Campus n n Technology Project (ITP) Infrastructure Changes No more computer labs Wired classrooms become the standard

Industry Developed Skill Standards u Northwest n n Center for Emerging Technologies Funded by NSF grant Developed IT Skill Standards Document u NWCET now called National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies

Skill Standards for INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY http: //smartskills. nwcet. org/public. Home. asp

Proposal to the Board of Regents u Phase n n out two existing programs Computer Information Systems (COIS) Data Processing u Create a New College within the University u Create a Department of Information Technology within the New College u Offer a variety of Degrees in Information Technology

Foundations vs Foundations Courses cover theory of IT u Students are required to take the Foundations u Content relatively stable and evolves slowly u Prefixed: ITFN u Skills Courses provide hands-on experience u Students choose appropriate skills u Content evolves to keep pace with industry u Prefixed: ITSK u

Information Technology Career Ladder An Overview Mouse over here for animation.

Department of Information Technology College of Info & Math Sciences u The Department of Information Technology offers the Information Technology Career Ladder n A program that prepares graduates to enter the Information Technology field at three levels.

The IT Department’s Three-tier Curriculum u Certificate of Information Technology (CIT) u Associate of Applied Science in Information Technology (AASIT) u Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT)

Department of Information Technology ORGANIZATION u Department Head u Full-time IT faculty: 10 Assistant Professors u Part-time faculty share their work experience u Undergrad Instructional & Lab Assistants u An Advisory Board composed of employers, business representatives and technology experts from the field

Department of Information Technology u Key design principles that set the IT Curriculum apart from more traditional computer science and information degrees: n n n Competency based curriculum Laddered plan of progression (Gen. Ed. Spread over 4 years) Certificate with HOPE grant available for most applicants Flexible and adaptable program content Sustained collaborative relationships with corporate & public sectors Experiential, team-centered approach complements course-based learning

Department of Information Technology STRENGTHS u Teaching teams for faculty u Student teaming in courses u Portfolio development & Internships u Very positive feedback from employers & internship supervisors u Faculty on Annual Contracts n Summers used for Curriculum Revisions and Professional Development

Program Growth

Program Demographics

The Future u The New College has been renamed: “College of Information & Math Sciences” u CIMS now has two Departments n n u. A Information Technology Mathematics Computer Science Department will soon be added and we look forward to new degrees in Math and Computer Science.