Preparing the new information technology professional in Virginia

Abstract

Current demands for graduates of Information Technology (IT) programs require that they possess deep technical skills, multidisciplinary awareness, and the ability to deliver the value of technical skills to customers and clients. In order to produce this kind of IT professional, secondary and post-secondary educational institutions must embrace this vision. Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF DUE 0202482), the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) Institute of Excellence for Information Technology (IE-IT) is spearheading the realization of this vision in an Advanced Technological Education (ATE) project titled: Creating Pathways for New IT Professionals. The project is piloting the creation of a Consortium for IT Education in Virginia in order to upgrade and align IT curricula, to provide clear, well-defined pathways in IT education from grades 9 - 16, to incorporate value-delivery skills into secondary and post-secondary IT curricula, to institute updated articulation agreements in IT among secondary and post-secondary educational institutions, and to provide professional development training to secondary and post-secondary IT instructors. This work is incorporating advice and input from the IT industry, from existing pilot projects, and from the work of other ATE projects. The project is impacting the IT programs, faculty, and students in secondary schools as well as two- and four-year colleges in Virginia through the project's statewide Consortium for IT Education, through support for online communications and collaboration, and through professional development training and workshops. Students graduating from IT education programs with curricula that are better aligned with those of higher levels of IT education and that have better, regularly updated dual enrollment and articulation agreements will benefit academically because more of them will be admitted to four-year programs. Moreover, advancing and upgrading IT education programs statewide will benefit the careers of their students making them better prepared to join the IT workforce upon graduation.