The affective dimension of pervasive themes in the information technology curriculum

ABSTRACT

The pervasive themes cited by the IT2005 Information Technology Model Curriculum are system integration, use of abstraction, user advocacy, information assurance, adaptability, professionalism and outstanding interpersonal skills. These are aspects of what we teach that pervade and tie together the IT discipline, aspects whose understanding identifies the IT professional. Pervasive themes can be characterized (Meyer,Land[14]) as transformative (change how students think), irreversible (once understood, are never forgotten), integrative (provide a framework for understanding previous concepts), boundin(serve as discipline boundaries in that understanding them identifies someone as a member of the discipline), troublesome (are difficult to teach and learn). This paper illustrates each of these characteristics using the IT pervasive themes and then proposes that an essential aspect of a pervasive theme is that it has an affective component. That is, in addition to cognitive elements (knowledge and intellectual skills), a pervasive theme includes educational objectives that treat values and attitudes. Just as cognitive objectives have a well-known hierarchy of cognitive difficulty, so also affective objectives have a (less well-known) hierarchy of increasing value commitment in which affective objectives can be placed and classified. This paper discusses the affective component in the IT2005 pervasive themes, how they are specified and classified, and how they are achieved using inculcation, role models, role playing, values clarification and analysis, and educational tasks that include natural affective consequences such as project development for real clients.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Information systems education

General Terms:
Management, Measurement, Standardization

Keywords:
ACM computing curricula, affective objectives, curricular design, curricular evaluation, information technology curriculum, model curricula, pervasive themes