Education at the seams: preparing students to stitch systems together; curriculum and issues for 4-year IT programs

As we have implemented our Information Technology program, several issues have arisen as to sequencing of core concepts. There is general consensus that 5 key areas of IT in 2002 are: Programming, Networking, Web Systems, Databases, and Human Computer Interfacing. Initially we thought of IT as a "breadth" rather than "depth" coverage of topics from Computer Engineering and Computer Science with some ideas from other disciplines. However, we have come to understand that IT students require depth, but not depth on how to implement technology components. IT students require deep knowledge of the interfaces between technologies. This has significant implications for IT curriculum. Students require a working knowledge of the technologies that are to be integrated, plus deep understanding of the interactions between the technologies involved. This deep understanding of the intricacies of integration should be a major focus of IT as a discipline. Initially, IT students need a broad introduction to computer and communication technologies followed by in-depth treatment of their interactions. This paper reflects our current thinking on how one presents the core concepts in such a way as to prepare students to stitch systems together with manageable and deployable seams.