Senate Bill 22-192, titled Opportunities for Credential Attainment called on the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) to work collaboratively with other state agencies, institutions of higher education (IHEs), employers and other stakeholders to build 10 stackable credential pathways across five high-value, high-demand industries between…

Due to the increasing demand for efficient, effective, and profitable applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various industries, there is an immense need for professionals with the right skills to meet this demand. As a result, several institutions have started to offer AI programs. Yet, there is a notable gap in academia: the absence of…

America's need for top talent in information technology and computer science is a longstanding problem. However, as the pace of technological change accelerates, the demand for skilled information technology and computer science workers is reaching critical levels while the supply of skilled workers remains well below the needs of the nation's…

Agile system development approaches, such as Scrum, have become popular with a wide spectrum of organizations from start-ups to government agencies. Recruiters and executives have been seeking graduates with Scrum competency beyond cursory familiarity. CIS programs responded with a variety of activities and exercises to address this need. This…

Rapid advancements and emergent technologies add an additional layer of complexity to preparing computer science and information technology higher education students for entering the post pandemic job market. Knowing and predicting employers' technical skill needs is essential for shaping curriculum development to address the emergent skill gap.…

The gap between education and employment is the harsh reality for countless graduates, particularly in rapidly transforming, highly technical fields like computer science and software development. The unemployment statistics are deceiving. College graduates may be finding employment, but that employment falls far short of the promise of higher…

Team projects are a way to expose students to conflicting project objectives, and "[t]here should be a strong real-world element...to ensure that the experience is realistic" [ACM/IEEE-CS 2015b]. Team projects provide an opportunity for students to put their education into practice and prepare them for their professional careers. The aim…

Team projects are a way to expose students to conflicting project objectives, and "[t]here should be a strong real-world element … to ensure that the experience is realistic" [ACM/IEEE-CS 2015b]. Team projects provide students an opportunity to put their education into practice and prepare them for their professional careers. The aim of…

Surveys of New England employers, college academic officers, and graduates find that many consider today's college graduates inadequately prepared for the world of work. In 2017, the New England Board of Higher Education convened the Commission on Higher Education & Employability, under the leadership of Rhode Island Governor Gina M. Raimondo.…

The cybersecurity curriculum has grown dramatically over the past decade: once it was just a couple of courses in a computer science graduate program. Today cybersecurity is introduced at the high school level, incorporated into undergraduate computer science and information systems programs, and has resulted in a variety of cybersecurity-specific…

Defining information systems has been a longstanding problem for the field. This paper suggests that, since it may not be possible to develop a universal definition, consideration should be given to a plurality of definitions aligned toward specific purposes. As an implementation of this approach it recommends the following shorter definition for…

This paper proposes a cross-faculty simulation model for authentic learning that bridges the gap between short group-based simulations within the classroom and longer individual placements in professional working contexts. Dissemination of the model is expected to widen the use of authentic learning approaches in higher education (HE). The model…

Teaching larger software engineering project courses at the end of a computing curriculum is a way for students to learn some aspects of real-world jobs in industry. Such courses, often referred to as capstone courses, are effective for learning how to apply the skills they have acquired in, for example, design, test, and configuration management.…

The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) state-level analysis provides policymakers, educators, state government officials, and others with details on the projections of STEM jobs through 2018. This report delivers a state-by-state snapshot of the demand for STEM jobs, including: (1) The number of forecast net new and…

In an ideal world, review and changes to computing curricula should be driven solely by academic concerns for the needs of students. The process should be informed by industry accreditation processes and international best practice (Hurst et al., 2001). However, Australian computing curricular review is often driven by the need for financial…