ACM Special Interest Group on Information Technology Education

IT Model Curriculum

IT2008 Model Curriculum

Read the full ACM IT2008 Model Curriculum (PDF, 457K).

The leading driver for the start of SIGITE was work on the IT Model Curriculum. After several drafts, a large team of SIGITE members completed its work and had the four-year model IT curriculum approved and published by ACM. IT 2008: The Computing Curricula Information Technology Volume can be downloaded above, or read in full online at the ACM site, or by reading a summary here.

Overview

The academic discipline of Information Technology can well be characterized as the most integrative of the computing disciplines. One implication of this characteristic is that a graduate of an IT program should be the first one to take responsibility to resolve a computing need, no matter the source or description of the problem, and no matter the solution that is eventually adopted. The depth of IT lies in its breadth: an IT graduate needs to be broad enough to recognize any computing need and know something about possible solutions. The IT graduate would be the one to select, create or assist to create, apply, integrate, and administer the solution within the application context.

Pillars of IT

The above diagram depicts the academic discipline of Information Technology. The pillars of IT include programming, networking, human-computer interaction, databases, and web systems, built on a foundation of knowledge of the fundamentals of IT. Overarching the entire foundation and pillars are information assurance and security, and professionalism. While this figure does not depict all aspects of the IT discipline, it does help to describe the relation of the key components.

ACM Computing Disciplines

The IT discipline is one of the five computing disciplines identified by the ACM. To read more about how IT Curriculum fits into the other computing disciplines,

ACM Computing Curricula 2005

This ACM report provides an overview of the five different kinds of undergraduate degree programs in computing that are currently available.

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Bryan Goda

United States Military Academy, Deputy Head, Dept of EE&CS

SIGITE has allowed me to meet educators in the IT community. Because of SIGITE, I was able to start an IT program from scratch and get it accredited in a 4 year span because of wealth of knowledge of its members and their willingness to help. It is also a great venue for my IT faculty to publish and present their accomplishments.

Dr. Amber Settle

Associate Professor, DePaul University

This past weekend I attended and presented at the SIGITE Conference located in Midland, Michigan. It was the second weekend in a row that I was going to be gone, and all of that in the middle of the quarter, so I wasn’t as enthusiastic going into it as I normally am about conferences. As it turns out it was the best conference experience I’ve had in a long time!

The sessions at the conference are scheduled so that each talk has a 45-minute slot, with 30 minutes for the presentation and 15 minutes for questions. In most of the sessions I attended, including my own, the questions were in fact intermixed with the presentation. And what a difference it makes to have more time and a more interactive environment. I got excellent feedback on my work and was able to provide a lot more background information than was on my slides because of the questions. The questions themselves were also terrific. I was impressed by the insight that the audience members had into the work. I also got good questions and offers for collaborations after the talk, but it was the interactive presentations that really had me hooked.

On top of that, I met friendly, intelligent, and insightful people during the breaks, meals, and the reception. I had some of the best conference conversations ever, and I’m hoping that I’ll get a chance to stay in touch with the people I met. So overall, I highly recommend SIGITE as a conference. Next year it will be at West Point in New York, and they’ve promised private tours of things that even tourists don’t get to see. That combined with the lively and friendly experience make it don’t miss opportunity.

Dr. Yan Bai

Assistant Professor Institute of Technology University of Washington Tacoma

I attended SIGITE’10 held in midland, MI. I really enjoy every session I attended! The conference presenters at SIGITE’10 provide valuable information about the IT program, curricula, courses, and accreditation. Everything about IT education! In particular, I appreciate the opportunity to network IT educators from around the US, and learn many new ideas for laboratories, and other elements of teaching and pedagogy, at all levels of IT instruction in the areas of cyber security and information networking. I’m certainly looking forward to SIGITE’11.

Ryan Kazmerik

Undergraduate Student Mount Royal University, Calgary

I am really glad that my paper was accepted and I was able to present at SIGITE 2010 as it gave me a peak into the process of IT education. Often students sometimes think that courses topics and curriculum are picked out of a hat, but the topic I chose exposed me to the same tough problems that the IT community has been dealing with for years.

Lani Fraizer

Synergies in Sync | iWE Project Pepperdine University

SIGITE’s growing community of ACM faculty, alumni and students provided me with a strong resource of experts and enthusiasts who champion IT education. What I loved most about SIGITE is that the community and its officers are welcoming and keen on both national, as well as global issues regarding IT education.

Dr. Glenn Wilson

Associate Research Professor of Technology Director, Information and Innovation University of Maine

Having been a long-time member of ACM, I was curious about SIGITE, so I attended the conference in Midland, Michigan this fall. It was a wonderful experience in three aspects. First, and foremost, the quality of presentations and the professional camaraderie among presenters and members was excellent. Secondly, the keynote speaker, CIO of Dow Chemical, was exceptionally informative, particularly as regards the way Dow recruits and situates its IT new-hires. And finally, I felt quite welcome and quickly accepted as new member of SIGITE, and look forward to becoming more involved in this dynamic and high-quality SIG.

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SIGITE is the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Information Technology Education. Our members include information technology faculty (teachers and researchers), students, and industry professionals.

With over 400 members worldwide, SIGITE drives the creation and dissemination of the computing discipline of information technology. The organization has created a model undergraduate curriculum and helped create accreditation guidelines for IT programs, and is now defining and promoting IT research.