Boyd 1 Michael Boyd 31 March 2014 ENC 1102 Professor Wolcott A career in Information Technology is becoming more appealing

to many. The journals and reports I have examined come from an array of organizations and individuals that are well known in the IT community. The articles included will be pertaining to the advancement of technology in K-12 education, research conducted on individuals and schools, and reports given on the changing of societys perception of the career. In order to see how the career is framed, and those that are involved and interested in it, we must see what is being changed in their education and how they are being introduced to the career. The lexis used in the whole IT community is quite vast, and can be categorized depending on the subfield within IT. Some of the lexis would include ACM; Association of Computing and Machinery, RAM; Random Access Memory, MOOCs; Massive Open Online Courses, CS; Computer Science, DSO; Database Structure Orientation, etc. I have framed the document to be appealing to those outside of the discourse community and to see what kind of research and opportunity lies within the career and schooling. Thus, being more descriptive instead of using discourse community specific lexis. The documents range from 2005 to 2014 because technology is extremely rapid in its progression. I used a document from 2005 because it gives an idea on when the need for IT majors really began to be seen, as well as it having very valuable research that is still valid today.

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The general outlook on IT is conceived in grades K-12 and has previously caused a lack of participants in the career. (Forssen, 2011; Harriger, 2011; Moskal, 2011; Fulton, 2013; Lawrence, 2013; McGettrick, 2014. This pre-conception of IT is caused by a number of things. Factors contributing to this shortage include the beliefs held by many pre-college women that they would be isolated in IT due to their gender, that they do not have strong enough mathematical or computing background to pursue an IT career, or that their socioeconomic challenges would prevent them from fully participating in this field. (Forssen 3) This false belief steers both men and women away from the field. But this is changing, as we investigate further in the research in my next questions.

The Association of Computing and Machinery has become the prime educator and library within the IT and CS community. (McGettrick, 2014; Robertson, 2012) The contribution of the library has set a baseline for articles and journals that are accessible by anyone interested in the subject matter. The ACM promotes computer science education at all levels and in all ways possible (McGettrick 4), and have approved a new publication on the CS 2013 report. Education is being facilitated by the new MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses that are to bring about radical change to educational processes. These new courses are opening yet another door for the career and the database is being expanded that much more within the ACM.

Boyd 3 The amount of women in the CS and IT workforce is starting to be seen much more, due to education and marketing performed by those conducting research on the demographics within the community. (Allen, 2011; Forssen, 2011; Hawk, 2012; Walstrom, 2012) Factors contributing to this shortage include the beliefs held by many pre-college women that they would be isolated in IT due to their gender, that they do not have a strong enough mathematical or computing background to pursue an IT career, or that their socioeconomic challenges would prevent them from fully participating in the field. (Allen 2) This was taken from an academic journal in 2007 and quoted by Allen, the author of the journal I reviewed. We are able to see that women do well in the field of IT and that the demographics have changed dramatically just within the last 7 years.

As technology progresses, efforts to further education in STEM classes in grades K-12 are growing rapidly. (Denning, 2014; Forssen, Anna, et al, 2011; Jones, 2011; Levin, 2011; McGettrick, 2014; Walstrom, 2012) The investigation for the need of high-quality professional development on how to use and incorporate technology into the curriculum necessary to transform pedagogical practice. (Denning 4) The need is for Developing and Scaling Innovative Learning Models to incorporate into technology-rich learning environments. (Forssen 5) The MOOCs as spoken about earlier are apart of the progression of pushing STEM classes on grades K-12 and open doors to many more individuals that are unable to leave their homes. This education push will greatly impact the Computing world and especially the progression of a career in the field.

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The mobility of a career path within IT is vast and only growing as the field expands. (Stanton, 2005; Joseph, Damien, et al, 2012; Jones, 2011; Hawk, 2012) IT is a boundary less career and that mobility between companies, and career paths is quite diverse. To simplify things, IT can be categorized into two paths, a technical IT career or a managerial IT career. A career is defined as a sequence or combination of occupational positions held during the course of a lifetime. (Stanton 1) These two paths may not be the only ones though; The newly uncovered careers within IT draw attention to the heterogeneity of individuals in the IT workforce and imply that researchers should exercise care when selecting IT professionals for future research. (Stanton 3) Although, I agree with the fact that researchers should exercise care when selecting IT professionals for future research, but is the career path far enough along that they are able to recognize the traits needed for the career to stand out? The answer is yes, they do. Topics that must be covered are Linux and Fundamentals, Networking, Legal Regulations, Computer Forensics and Incident Response, Cryptography, Information Security Governance and Risk Management, Security Engineering, Information Systems Security, Penetration Testing, Soft Skills, Social Engineering, Current Events, and Ethics. (Hawk 2) The discussion of how many jobs are being created by the expansion of IT was not covered. There was statistical information and predictions based on the previous amount of IT jobs but nothing on how many are actually being created. Granted, to find the exact number of jobs are being created and is always changing, but to give those interested or possibly interested in the field I think this would be a

Boyd 5 vital and needed statistic to show the security in pursuing an education in IT or CS related degrees. Going beyond just the statistic of how many jobs are being created, the need for an education on the diverse paths of a technological degree is greatly needed. No research has been done or efforts have been made to produce a course that is introducing a student to a CS/IT/CE education. The class could possibly introduce what each path offers, what it takes to get on those paths, and the ending product of what it has to offer i.e. job security, financial fulfillment, ending position. The intro class would provide a set of projects on the basic level of each career path that would help in the decision process of what the student enjoys.

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Introduction to Computing ECS 1000 Text (s): "Intro to Computing" by Richard Smith Course goals The purpose if this course is to introduce you to the various branches of Computing and the degrees that UCF has to offer (Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Information Technology. We do this by bringing in various experts from the different fields to explain to you what they do and why they do it. Often times, many students do not know what career path they want to take but they know it involves computers. This course should help you solidify what you want to do and hopefully find your passion. Each student completing this course should: Understand how Computing contributes to society. Be able to describe what each field does and how it applies to computing Be aware of careers and what graduates have done from each major Introduction to the use of computers and applications software in solving engineering problems. Introduction to the concepts of computer design through the use of teams Be able to perform basic hardware diagnosis and understand each part of a working computer Be able to write a simple program in C language Projects Throughout the course there will be projects associated with the you are using. There will be, however, a FINAL project or engineering competition that you must participate in each semester.

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Topics Course Introduction Success in the College Classroom Computer Engineering CE Speaker AUTOCAD Overview Circuitry Introduction Computer Hardware RAM/Processor/Video Cards CE Application Computer Science Introduction Overview of Programming in C CS Speaker Success in CS Information Technology Introduction What makes an Application? OSX/Linux/Windows Overview IT Speaker Troubleshooting and Patience How to always improve whats great

Syllabus

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Works Cited
Barnes, Nancy Dupre. "Analyze This: The Big Demand for Big Data Professionals." Information Management February 2014: 34-37. Center on Education and the Workforce. "Career Clusters." Forecasting Demand for High School Through College Jobs 2008-2018 November 2011: 1-90. Guzdial, Mark and Judy Robertson. "Levels of Abstraction; Pre-Teens and Career Choices." Communications of the ACM December 2012: 12-13. Hawk, Stephen, et al. "The Information Technology Workforce: A Comparison of Critical Skills of Clients and Service Providers." Information Systems Management 2012: 2-12. Holth, Line, Abdullah Almasri and Lena Gonas. "Career patterns for IT engineering graduates." Economic and Industrial Democracy 2013: 519-535. Hood, Denice Ward, Stafford Hood and Dominica McBride. "Broadening Participation: Academic Careers Workshop for Underrepresented Groups." Communications of the ACM March 2013: 27-29. Joseph, Damien, et al. "The Career Paths Less (or More) Traveled: A Sequence Analysis of IT Career Histories, Mobility Patterns, and Career Success." MIS Quarterly June 2012: 427-452. Wyss, Vanessa L., Diane Heulskamp and Cathy J. Siebert. "Increasing middle school student interest in STEM careers with videos of scientists." International Journal of Environmental & Science Education October 2012: 501-522.