Hueser, Nicholas (NHueser@tgsa.edu)
Mon, 3 May 1999 10:04:16 -0500
From: "Hueser, Nicholas" <NHueser@tgsa.edu> Subject: RE: IFETS-DISCUSS Digest - 29 Apr 1999 to 30 Apr 1999 Date: Mon, 3 May 1999 10:04:16 -0500
List address to send message to everyone: ifets-discuss@LISTSERV.READADP.COM
Details of current discussion: http://ifets.gmd.de/discuss.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a suggestion
Can we get off the grammar and spelling problems. None of us is getting
paid to participate. If grammar and spelling problems get in the way of
communicating your ideas then by all means care must be taken. However,
many of us are overworked and underpaid, becuase we are educators for the
love o learning. Under those conditions, a few mistakes in spelling are
understandable. I don't know who said it, but "if your not making a mistake
every day then your not trying hard enough.
Now on to the reason we are here. Here is a on view of IT education and
some emerging trends.
Dynamics of Change in University Education
Hana (1998) wrote about changes in higher education and developed a theory
of the changing face of university education with seven alteratives models
They are shown in table 6 (Hana, 1998, p. 68):
Table 6
Seven University Models by Hana (1998) with Three Additions for Completeness
University Model Discussion
1. Traditional university with extended campus Smaller satellite
campuses with adjunct faculty. Saint Mary's University of MN, Concordia
College, University of MN
2. Adult centered-universities for profit University of Phoenix,
Walden University, The Graduate School of America
3. Distance education/technology based Distance learning with
computer web based orientation for courses. The Graduate School of America,
University of Phoenix
4. Corporate university Courses arranged or contracted by an
organization designed to meet the training needs of their employees.
Thompson University, Anderson University
5. University/industry strategic alliances Traditional university
offering courses and degree programs at company owned facilities.
6 Competency based degree/certification universities Credit
awarded for competencies rather than for class attendance. European
tutorial model, Walden University, regents college.
7. Global multinational universities Primarily distance learning
degree granting institutions. Open University of London, Walden University
8. Two year community and technical colleges Exclude by Hanna
(1998) but added for completeness
9. Traditional university Excluded by Hanna but understood and
included here for completeness. Primarily residential universities serving
18 to 22 year old young adults. Saint John's University of MN, College of
Saint Benedicts
10. Life long learning university Not mentioned by Hanna (1998) but
included here for completeness. The graduate School of America, Devry
Institute, Microsoft Educational Services
Note: Adapted from "Higher education in an era of digital competition:
Emerging organizational models", D.E. Hanna, 1998, JALN 2 (20), 66-95.
Copyright By JALN.
For the purpose of this research these nine models have been consolidated
into three:
1. Traditional univeristies including residential universities
primarily intended for 18-20 year old young adults, traditional universities
with extended campuses, traditional universitiy's with adult learning
non-traditional campuses, and traditional universities offer services to
corporate universities.
2. Market driven univerisities (Mehic & Al-Soufi, 1999) including two
year colleges, universities, coprorate universities that offer traditional
subjects but also offering skill based product specific courses.
3. Life long learning universities offering traditional curriculum with
a combination of product specific courses and certificates, primarily
distance learning based which award degree credits for all courses whether
or not they intend to get a degree, and Global-multinational universities.
For the purpose of this research the univeristies will be limited to
two-year, four year, masters and PhD programs offering degrees in
Information Technology.
For the purpose of evaluation of curriculum Hanna (1998) defines a
traditional university as:
Traditional universities are concerned with measuring inputs
to the instructional process, such as the institution's mission, funding,
faculty experience, student quality, adequacy of facilities, and governing
structure ... taken together these inputs are effective indices for
organizational and indirectly measure anticipated student learning, more so
than single measures of student learning based on upon final examinations
that are common practice in European universities. Perhaps of greater
importance, they help to define the status of the degree awarded, and
therefore the value of the degree in the market place. (p. 69)
Table 7 shows the characteritics of this model:
Table 7
Characteristics of Hanna's Model of the Traditional University
Input Measured Characteristics
1. Philosophy Students come to campus for classes
2. Mission Defined by level of instruction - offering graduate level
programs often implies increased quality, as does student and faculty
selectivity
3. Funding Cost per FTE student
4. Curricula Stable and comprehensive
5. Instruction Face to face lecture, teacher centered. Clock hour
seat time using Carnegie units of credit.
6. Faculty Full-time, credentials, research, grants
7. Students Greater selectivity
8. Library Physical library with books
9. Learning Supplement to lecture, tiered high technology
10. Technology Lecture hall
11. Physical facility Bricks and mortar campus environment
12. Productivity Outcomes Student credit hours and degrees granted
13. Governance Board of trustees from corporate or political
domains
14. Accreditation Regional accreditation and program certification for
state licensed degrees.
Note: Adapted from "Higher education in an era of digital competition:
Emerging organizational models", D.E. Hanna, 1998, JALN 2 (20), 669-70).
Copyright By JALN.
Other observations made by Hanna (1998) include.
1. Adult learning is becoming a major economic force in the educational
market place. Traditional universities are forming non-traditional campus
environments. More than a third of traditional universities now offer
distance education programs, but only 40% of those are profitable.
2. Distance learning universities that are technology based is that the
school goes to the student through electonic means. Electronic means
include web based courses, menoting through electronic processes, CD-ROM,
electronic discussion forms, and virtual technologies including virtual lab
experiments and simulations of reality. These universities are an out
growth of the correspondance courses developed in the land grant college era
in order to service rural constituencies. Generally these universities tend
to have primarliy adjunct faculty often practitioners/scholars working in
the industry. Most programs are oriented toward the educational needs of
industry and tend to be market driven.
Duderstadt (1997) discussed the future of universities from the
changes caused by the shift from the industrial age to the knowledge. He
said "we have entered an age of knowledge in which educated people have
become strategic commodities (sic) essential to our secrity, prosperity, and
social well being. ... knowledge knows no boundaries . It is generated and
shared whenever educated and creative people come together. ... the more it
is used, the more it multipies" (p. 79).
Deuderstadt (1997) offers three views of the higher education mission:
1. "Teaching, researching, and service" typifies the dominant industrial
age view of the modern university" (p. 79).
2. "Creating, preserving, integrating, transmitting and applying
knowledge" the moedern knowledge store approach to universities offering
adult programs (p. 79).
3. "Knowledge server, providing knowledge services ... in whatever form
needed by contemporary society" an information technology view of the
university (p. 79).
The modern industrial age view of the the university is as a fortress
serving largely 18-22 year olds a residential college experience. While
many univeristies offer graduate education beyond a a four year degree
these students are more or less segregated from the undergraduate life of
the univeristy. Duderstadt (1997) says that tradional universities are
coming under increasing competitive pressure from the contempory schools
offering employment oriented education serving primarily adults in their
life long learning needs.
A universities core competance is in designing curriculum for a large
variety topics, but hey have not been as affective in packaging these
programs to target the mass audience which will be needed in the nowlede
age. One likely view of the future is most manufacturing and production
will be located off shore. In order to compete and to provide the education
needed for participation by the 50% of the US population that do not go on
to college from high school. To attract these learners, many of them
adults, universities are going to need to offer education in non-traditional
hours, using highly visual learning systems which can grab the attention of
a new kind of learner. This new learner has grown up in the information age
with polished video and highly stimulating visual production formats. These
visual, aural, and kinsethetic leaners will not tolerate the "sage on the
stage" lecture method common in existing universities. They also want their
educational program to be more career oriented by providing them industry
useful skills that they can put into practice immediately in order to
continue their education (Duderstadt, 1997, p. 83).
Duderstadt (1997) defines life long learning as "requiring both a
willingness to learn on the part of our citizens and a committment to
provide opportunities for this life long learning by our institutions".
They do this through a "seemless web" of continous learning at all levels
from first year students to PhD learning following the scholar/practitioner
of practiioner/scholar approach to graduatation. This paradigm will require
a new form of faculty who actively work in the field, but have the
educational background to mentor doctoral learners. This new faculty will
largely be part-time adjunct in nature than full-time reser/scholars
predominating at most traditional learners (p. 86-87).
Dr. Ambuj Goyal, vice president of systems and software IBM research,
discusses the changes in global technology. The IBM research group is
preparing an interdisciplinary cross industry study of future changes of
technology and its affect on the global society. One important change is
the move to a true networked economy. This change will cause business
winners and losers. He said the "business model life cycle is for more
important the product life cycle" (np). This has important implications on
the educational process. The traditional university will have to adopt new
business models where creating customer relationships are critical to
success of the university. The eight important considerations for
university business process reform are:
1. Is enough highly specialized training being provided?
2. Is too much highly specialized training being provided?
3. Is the university teaching how to learn for a lifetime?
4. Is the university asking learners to read the right materials?
5. Is the university teaching how to how to work in teams effectively?
6. Is the university teaching technical communications to communicate not
to sell, and are internships effective in developing learner portfolios of
work?
7. Is the university creating world aware scholars?
8 Is the affect of change on the university being adequately addressed?
Summary
There are several common themes reflected in the literature on IT education.
1. The shortage of university trained IT professionals in industry with
current technology skills in areas involving new and emerging technologies
including object oriented technologies,dBMS systems including knowledge and
data wharehouses, Client Server technologies, Intranet and Internet
technologies, Business knowledge, Product specific skills, and
communications and interpersonal skills.
2. Programming skills will still be needed, but many procedural languages
will be declining in importance in favor of object oriented design
techniques including Java, C++, Rational Rose, HTML and its varients, and
objected oriented DBMS systems.
3. Telecommunications and networking are increasingly important because of
the fast changing global nature of the business economy. Product specific
skills in network operating systems, switch and router configuration and
fiber optics.
4. IT education has evolved into a continuous learning mode because of the
short term life cycle of IT techniques attributed to the rapidly changing
technology.
5. University IT education programs still need to provide domain knowledge,
critical thing skills training, analytical processes, scientific inquiry
methods and practices, and interpersonal and communications knowledge,
abilties and skills.
6. While there is a current and projected IT graduate shortage there
remains 60% - 70% of the IT work force that does not have IT educational
backgrounds. These people need a way to re-skill themselves. Those with
undergraduate degrees in the liberal arts, engineering, and education will
need to have access to graduate education in IT skills, knowledge and
abilities.
7. Business functional skills in finance, accounting, marketing,
orgainzation dynamics, and product and project management skills are
essential to the effective deployment of IT systems.
8. Social science nowledge in psychology, public affairs, economics, human
resources, and sociology will be helpful in equiping technical staff in
working effectivly in a structure organization.
9. Finally an understanding of global business and cultural issues will be
essential in the long term career needs of the IT professional.
---------------------------------------------------------
Forum website: http://ifets.gmd.de/
Forum's contact person: kinshuk@ieee.org
Info on Join/Leave List: http://ifets.gmd.de/maillist.html
---------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Mon 03 May 1999 - 17:21:39 MET DST