Assessing it Critical Skills and Revising the Mis Curriculum

Abstract

Much research has been conducted on the critical skills required of MIS graduates and on the content of MIS curricula to provide those skills. Researchers have identified the need to continually re-assess critical skills and curricula due to the rapidly changing nature of Information Technology (IT). Recent research has created a linkage between what is taught in the curriculum and which skills should be included there. This paper extends recent linkage work by addressing some noted limitations and areas for future research. This is accomplished by including MIS faculty in the curriculum mapping process, significantly expanding the number of companies from which IT professionals assess the skills, including many small companies, and responses from a more diverse group of IT job functions. Finally, a revised curriculum is specified. These findings enable some generalizations across separate geographic regions within the U.S.

• curriculum development
• MIS critical skills
• IT professionals
• MIS faculty
• curriculum mapping