A Collaborative Framework for a Cross-Institutional Assessment to Shape Future IT Professionals

Abstract

There is a need for Information Technology (IT) students to develop an awareness of current IT business practice and the role of IT plays in the broader society, together with an appreciation of some of the ethical dilemmas, security challenges, and threats to privacy that the application of IT can raise. In fact, an understanding of these concepts is underlined by professional bodies through their accreditation requirements for university IT programs. Yet, students have limited professional experience and may have difficulty in relating to the challenges posed by the use of IT in the wider community; therefore it is incumbent on undergraduate programs to provide learning experiences that foster students’ professional growth in these areas.