NSF Award recognizes IST's model of undergraduate education

University Park, Pa. -- Several of the hallmarks of Penn State's IST (information sciences and technology) program -- problem-based learning, self-directed learning environments and team-based projects sponsored by government and industry -- may become the basis for revitalizing undergraduate computing education at other universities.

The National Science Foundation will fund a multi-university research proposal, "Learning to Build Systems of Systems," that includes enhancing, documenting and codifying the IST model of undergraduate education for adoption and adaptation by others. The three-year, $705,000 grant will be split between the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology and the Georgia State University Robinson College of Business, where researchers are planning to adopt IST's AESOP -- Augmenting Education of Systems-of-Systems Professionals -- strategy.

In its call for proposals, NSF had indicated that it would approve only one or two Evaluation, Adoption and Extension (EAE) projects as part of its CISE Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computer Education (CPATH) program.

According to NSF, undergraduate computing education looks much as it did decades ago despite the ubiquity of information technologies. Consequently, colleges and universities are not adequately preparing students to build and support the complex, cross-organizational systems in use today throughout industry and government. These "systems of systems" require a new breed of IT professionals -- people who not only have technical knowledge but who also understand organizational work practices and can succeed in multi-disciplinary teams.

"IST's undergraduate curriculum has addressed those needs," said Sandeep Purao, IST associate professor and project lead at Penn State. "Our success is evident in both our high placement rate for graduates -- our graduating classes have averaged a 95-percent placement rate -- and in our increasing enrollments at a time when there is a nationwide downturn."

Determining whether IST's innovative AESOP approach can be replicated elsewhere is part of the project. Specific elements to be piloted at Georgia State University include adding problem-based learning to courses; building resources for guided exploration for courses; and developing a significant base of industrial and government projects for experiential learning.

As part of the evaluation phase, both groups will assess AESOP from two perspectives. Penn State will analyze the effectiveness of the learning outcomes. At Georgia State, the focus will be on how the program works with non-traditional students who are returning to school. In addition, about 60 percent of Georgia State students are women and 46 percent are minorities.

Finally, IST researchers want to extend the AESOP strategy to educate undergraduates about open-source platforms as this teaches students the abstraction skills needed for generalizing context-specific learning to other software platforms. Another challenge: While open-source platforms have the ability to promote mass-scale innovation, they also raise the issue of intellectual property sharing arrangements, Purao said.

Besides Purao, the IST team includes John Bagby, professor; Brian Cameron, professor of practice; and Steve Sawyer, associate professor. Purao and Cameron are part of IST's Enterprise Informatics and Integration (EI2) Center, one mission of which is to work with organizations to develop innovative, real-world curricular experiences. Lisa Lenze, director of learning initiatives at IST, and Hoi Suen, distinguished professor of educational psychology at Penn State, will lend support for evaluation.

Leading the team at Georgia State are faculty members Vijay Vaishnavi and Richard Welke. Industry partners include Accenture, Computer Aid, Lockheed Martin and the Association for Enterprise Integration.