Latin American perspectives to internationalize undergraduate information technology education

The computing education community expects modern curricular guidelines for information technology (IT) undergraduate degree programs by 2017. The authors of this work focus on eliciting and analyzing Latin American academic and industry perspectives on IT undergraduate education. The objective is to ensure that the IT curricular framework in the IT2017 report articulates the relationship between academic preparation and the work environment of IT graduates in light of current technological and educational trends in Latin America and elsewhere. Activities focus on soliciting and analyzing survey data collected from institutions and consortia in IT education and IT professional and educational societies in Latin America; these activities also include garnering the expertise of the authors. Findings show that IT degree programs are making progress in bridging the academic-industry gap, but more work remains

A Competency-based Approach toward Curricular Guidelines for Information Technology Education

The Association for Computing Machinery and the IEEE Computer Society have launched a new report titled, Curriculum Guidelines for Baccalaureate Degree Programs in Information Technology (IT2017). This paper discusses significant aspects of the IT2017 report and focuses on competency-driven learning rather than delivery of knowledge in information technology (IT) programs. It also highlights an IT curricular framework that meets the growing demands of a changing technological world in the next decade. Specifically, the paper outlines ways by which baccalaureate IT programs might implement the IT curricular framework and prepare students with knowledge, skills, and dispositions to equip graduates with competencies that matter in the workplace. The paper suggests that a focus on competencies allows academic departments to forge collaborations with employers and engage students in professional practice experiences. It also shows how professionals and educators might use the report in reviewing, updating, and creating baccalaureate IT degree programs worldwide

Collaborative multidisciplinary learning : quantity surveying students’ perspectives

The construction industry is highly fragmented and is known for its adversarial culture, culminating in poor quality projects not completed on time or within budget. The aim of this study is thus to guide the design of QS programme curricula in order to help students develop the requisite knowledge and skills to work more collaboratively in their multi-disciplinary future workplaces. A qualitative approach was considered appropriate as the authors were concerned with gathering an initial understanding of what students think of multi-disciplinary learning. The data collection method used was a questionnaire which was developed by the Behaviours4Collaboration (B4C) team. Knowledge gaps were still found across all the key areas where a future QS practitioner needs to be collaborative (either as a project contributor or as a project leader) despite the need for change instigated by the multi-disciplinary (BIM) education revolution. The study concludes that universities will need to be selective in teaching, and innovative in reorienting, QS education so that a collaborative BIM education can be effected in stages, increasing in complexity as the students’ technical knowledge grows. This will help students to build the competencies needed to make them future leaders. It will also support programme currency and delivery

Goal Congruence, Trust and Organisational Culture: Strengthening Knowledge Links

Collaboration between organizations benefits from knowledge links -- a form of strategic alliance that gives organizations access to the skills and capabilities of their partner and opportunity to create new capabilities together. Using the example of alliances between two universities and SAP AG, the market leader in Enterprise Software, the paper suggests some management practices to improve goal congruence, trust and alignment between different organizational cultures. For example, face-to-face interactions are critical for building a close relationship over time. A theoretical framework of the five phases of partnership development and the three challenges faced by knowledge link partnerships is proposed, along with implications for management, universities and research

An Interactive Zoo Guide: A Case Study of Collaborative Learning

Real Industry Projects and team work can have a great impact on student learning but providing these activities requires significant commitment from academics. It requires several years planning implementing to create a collaborative learning environment that mimics the real world ICT (Information and Communication Technology) industry workplace. In this project, staff from all the three faculties, namely the Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science, Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development, and Faculty of Business and Law in higher education work together to establish a detailed project management plan and to develop the unit guidelines for participating students. The proposed project brings together students from business, multimedia and computer science degrees studying their three project-based units within each faculty to work on a relatively large IT project with our industry partner, Melbourne Zoo. This paper presents one multimedia software project accomplished by one of the multi-discipline student project teams. The project was called 'Interactive ZooOz Guide' and developed on a GPS-enabled PDA device in 2007. The developed program allows its users to navigate through the Zoo via an interactive map and provides multimedia information of animals on hotspots at the 'Big Cats' section of the Zoo so that it enriches user experience at the Zoo. A recent development in zoo applications is also reviewed. This paper is also intended to encourage academia to break boundaries to enhance students' learning beyond classroom.Comment: 11 Page

Problem-based learning: enhancing students learning of building information modelling

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an innovative collaborative process underpinned by digital technologies introduced to improve project performance in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. Growth in industry demands has necessitated BIM inclusion into the Higher Education (HE) curricula as both a pedagogic and practical objective to prepare and develop aspiring Built Environment (BE) professionals with the required competence for contemporary practice. However, comprehension of BIM concepts and developing the skill set required for its application can be overwhelming for students and crucial to mitigating this challenge is the adoption of appropriate learner-centred strategies. Problem-based Learning (PBL) is becoming a widespread strategy to address such concern. This paper evaluates the impact of PBL strategy on students accelerated learning of BIM based on a case study of an undergraduate BIM module. Findings from the study show PBL benefits on students’ knowledge acquisition (cognitive and affective) of BIM concept and development of transferable skills (academic and disciplinary) equipping them with capabilities to become BIM competent and workplace ready for the AEC industry

Lessons learned in effective community-university-industry collaboration models for smart and connected communities research

In 2017, the Boston University Hariri Institute for Computing and the Initiative on Cities co-hosted two workshops on “Effective Community-University-Industry Collaboration Models for Smart and Connected Communities Research,” with the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF). These efforts brought together over one hundred principal investigators and research directors from universities across the country, as well as city officials, community partners, NSF program managers and other federal agency representatives, MetroLab Network representatives and industry experts. The focus was on transdisciplinary “smart city” projects that bring technical fields such as engineering and computer science together with social scientists and community stakeholders to tackle community-sourced problems. Presentations, panel discussions, working sessions and participant white papers surfaced operational models as well as barriers and levers to enabling effective research partnerships. To capture the perspectives and beliefs of all participants, in addition to the presenters, attendees were asked to synthesize lessons on each panel topic. This white paper summarizes the opportunities and recommendations that emerged from these sessions, and provides guidance to communities and researchers interested in engaging in these types of partnerships as well as universities and funders that endeavor to nurture them. It draws on the collective wisdom of the assembled participants and the authors. While many of the examples noted are drawn from medium and large cities, the lessons may still be applicable to communities of various sizes.National Science Foundatio

TOWARDS ENHANCED E-COLLABORATION IN ACADEMIA A HOLISTIC MODEL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF E-COLLABORATION SOFTWARE

Henriksson, Aron. Neculau, Andrei. 2008. Towards Enhanced E-collaboration in Academia. A Holistic Model for Development E-collaboration Software. The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. Information and Communication Technology.E-collaboration is an inherently complex activity that encompasses many factors that supplement the pivotal technical elements. This paper investigates the various aspects of e-collaboration from an academic viewpoint, and reiterates the call for a holistic approach towards e-collaboration research and development. Moreover, the use of collaboration tools by IT students is surveyed, which substantiates the belief that e-collaboration needs to be further promoted in academia. We present a conceptual model that hopefully can provide some guidance for further research on e-collaboration and development of e-collaboration suites.E-collaboration, Academia, Requirements, Boundaries, Holistic

PLM in design and engineering education: International perspectives

Technological advances in the last decade have influenced changes in the design and engineering industries on a global scale. Lean and collaborative product development are approaches increasingly adopted by the industry and seen as the core of product lifecycle management. These trends have created the need for new skilled professionals, and universities should adapt their curricula in response. There is an increased need for academia to work with industry in order to meet these challenges. This article reports on the Parametric Technology Corporation Academic Research Symposium held in April 2011. The topics were centred around understanding the essence of product lifecycle management and its impact on design and engineering education. Furthermore, examples of implementing product lifecycle management and collaborative practices in higher education were presented from the United States and France. This article concludes with a discussion of the recommendations made at the symposium for the future development and support of key skills across university curricula