Issues and Challenges in Teaching SE, IT, IS and EC

Abstract

Teaching and learning for the degrees of Software Engineering(SE), Computer Science(CS), Information Technology (IT), Information Systems (IS) and Electronic Commerce (EC), with recent trends in Business IT, Management of Information Systems (MIS) or Information Communication Technology (ICT) and so forth are often confused by staff and students. These new disciplines, which have emerged over the last 30 years, strongly overlap each other. New disciplines like IS and EC are not clearly defined and are often confused with other related fields such as CS, CE and SE. The lack of standard curriculum amongst Australian IT, IS and EC programmes adds further confusion to the CS and SE programmes. Professional bodies such as IEEE, ACM, AIS and the like have been developing model curricula as a guide for universities that wish to obtain accreditation for their CS, SE and IT/IS courses. They normally make up core topics and a list of electives that are guided by intended SE, CS, IT, IS and EC career tracks. The purpose of this study is to perform a comparative analysis of USA, UK and Australian academic programmes against the proposed curriculum structure. It is envisage that the result of this study will provide a baseline in guiding curriculum evaluation and revision for Australian and international universities' computing and IT related courses. Education in the computing/IT related areas are currently facing the global challenges of declining interest, low student enrolment and the increasing demand of computing/IT skilled workers in industry and commerce. The disappearance of CS, SE, IS into Science, IT or Electrical Engineering add confusion for prospective students and industry employers. The disciplines of SE, CS, IT, IS and EC, are now facing the increasing challenges in survival, and they need to be clearly re-defining themselves in order to survive into the 2020s. This paper describes the issues and challenges in teaching and learning these disciplines and identifies the possible causes and possible sustainable solution for ICT educators.