Azad Ali

Dealing with Isolation Feelings in IS Doctoral Programs

This paper discusses the feeling of isolation among doctoral students; its’ origin and the effect it has on the decision of the students to leave doctoral programs. The paper explains the development of isolation feeling within four stages of completing the program. It explains how each stage contributes to increasing the feeling of isolation among the students and then suggests counter measures to this feeling. Last, the paper presents the experience of a particular university located in Western Pennsylvania; the doctoral program of Information Systems and Communications (DISC) at Robert Morris University (RMU) that has been able to graduate students at a rate that is substantially higher than the national average.

Dealing with Social Isolation to Minimize Doctoral Attrition – A Four Stage Framework

Introduction This paper builds on a previous study conducted by the same authors in order to complete and build a framework for dealing with feeling of social isolation at doctoral programs. In the previous study, Ali and Kohun (2006) established that social isolation is a major contributing factor to the decision of doctoral students to leave their programs prior to obtaining their degrees. The same study divided the completion phases of doctorate degree into four stages and identified common characteristics that potentially lead to increasing social isolation among the students. The study also identified certain characteristics that helped in dealing with isolation during doctoral studies. This paper takes our previous efforts a step further by establishing a framework for dealing with the feeling of social isolation in doctoral programs. The framework is intended to be used by faculty members and administrators in doctoral programs when contemplating redesigning or updating of their doctoral programs. Doctoral attrition has been the subject of numerous studies (Hawlery, 2003; Lewis, Ginsberg, Davies, & Smith, 2004; Lovitts, 2001; Lovitts & Nelson 2000). Most of these studies point to the difficulty and the problems associated with doctoral attrition. Such studies also indicate the severity of the consequences of doctoral attrition on the students and on the universities that offer these programs. These studies, however, received little attention from the doctoral programs themselves and as a result, the attrition problem remains unnoticed or marginalized (Lovitts, 2001). This paper emphasizes further the problem of attrition among doctoral students. It identifies four stages of doctoral completion and explains specific characteristics of each stage that may contribute to increasing social isolation among the doctoral students. It then suggests counter measures to social isolation for each stage. In this work, all such identified characteristics and counter measures are then combined into a framework that may help identify causes of social isolation and their remedies. Framework for This Study The purpose of this study is to develop a framework that will be used in dealing with isolation feelings at doctoral programs. The intended framework divides the completion phases of doctoral studies into four stages. Each stage has different characteristics and affects the students differently; thus, each stage is discussed separately. Two questions guide the discussion in this paper for each stage of completion: First, what characteristics in doctoral studies contribute to increasing social isolation among doctoral students? Second, what measures can be taken by doctoral programs in order to deal with and/or minimize the effect of social isolation among students? This paper intends to complete the following steps in order accomplish the task of developing the intended framework: 1- It begins by explaining about each of the topics of doctoral attrition and feeling of social isolation in general. It explains the causes of doctoral attrition and the factors that contribute to social isolation. 2- The topic of social isolation is discussed within four stages of the doctoral program. These four stages are not selected arbitrarily; instead this paper follows a previously established model that explains adjustment of graduate students to academic life (Beeler, 1991). Beelers model describes the adjustment phases of students to graduate studies through four stages. Thus, this paper explains this framework and how it could be applied to the doctorate program. 3- Similar to the Beelers model, this paper divides the completion phases of doctoral degrees into four stages. It relates the specific factors in each stage to increasing the feelings of social isolation among doctoral students that may eventually lead them to withdraw or drop-out from the program. 4- Following that, the discussion shifts to methods of dealing with isolation feelings. …

Efforts to Reverse the Trend of Enrollment Decline in Computer Science Programs

Introduction Since the turn of the century, there has been a barrage of reports and statistics that point to one fact regarding enrollment in technology related programs: there is a sharp decline of enrollment in computer related courses and programs. This trend is not limited to computer science programs, but extends to all technology centric programs. Computer science programs in particular are one of the hardest hit programs that faced this sharp decline in enrollment (Ali, 2009; Benokraitis, Bizot, Brown, & Martens, 2009; Dean, 2007; Zweben, 2009). Recent years have shown some progress regarding increasing enrollment in these technology programs, but a determination is yet to be made whether this slight upward trend represents a turn-around in enrollment or not (Markoff, 2009; Slonim, Scully & Mcallister, 2008). Among these programs that witnessed some recent increase in their enrollment is the computer science program (COSC) at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). This department made numerous adjustments to curriculum, programs and degrees offered. The problem of enrollment is being addressed at the supply side by reaching out to high school students, secondary education technology teachers, guidance counselors and by establishing affiliations with other institutions. All of these efforts were (and are) aimed at reversing the trends of enrollment decline in their program. The experiences of this program along with the steps they have taken to reverse the trend of enrollment decline are illustrated in this paper. The remainder of this paper is divided into five sections: The first section describes the low enrollment trends in computer science programs. It lists various statistics and employs charts that show this enrollment decline. The second section discusses possible reasons that led to this decline. The third section elaborates on steps that have been suggested to reverse this trend of enrollment decline among technology programs. The fourth section explains the steps and procedures that have been taken by the computer science program (COSC) at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) to reverse this trend. A summary and suggested future research is included at the end of this paper. Enrollment Decline--Numbers Different studies have been conducted and numerous statistics gathered to investigate this enrollment decline at the various Computer Science (CS) departments. All the studies and the statistics lead to one conclusion: There is a sharp decline in enrollment among computer science programs. The statistics differ by area of study, school and gender and sometimes categorize the numbers differently. However, despite these differences, the same statistics point to the grim reality of the enrollment decline among students enrolled in technology programs (Ali, 2009; Benokraitis et al., 2009; Dean, 2007; Vesgo, 2008; Zweben, 2009). But to give one set of numbers to describe enrollment may not explain the whole picture of enrollment decline as there are numerous factors that affect these numbers. Thus, this section presents the data and analysis of enrollment from different viewpoints. It first describes the peak enrollment time(s) as they are often referred to when explaining enrollment numbers. Then it analyzes different charts that show the number of admitted students and graduates from CS programs and among women in particular. Later, it highlights enrollment numbers in the COSC program at IUP and makes additional notation on the general trend. Peak Enrollment Time When presenting trend data, it is accustomed to provide comparison numbers in terms of a peak period. In other words, in order to see the comparative numbers of any trend, statisticians tend to list the highest value of a particular trend and show comparative numbers as they relate to the trend being exhibited. The trend of enrollment at CS programs may be better explained if they are compared to a similar peak (or highest) numbers. …

Teaching an Introductory Programming Language in a General Education Course.

A department of computer science (CS) has faced a peculiar situation regarding their selection of introductory programming course. This course is a required course for the students enrolled in the CS program and is a prerequisite to their other advanced programming courses. At the same time, the course can be considered a general education course and may be taken by students from other majors as well. Both student populations require the department to teach the course at different levels of depth. CS students need it be covered in more depth to prepare them for their upper level programming courses. At the same time, students from other majors who are taking it as part of their general education course will not be interested in this level of depth. Added to this is the fact that taking a first programming course is considered difficult to most students. Thus many factors are considered for the selection of a programming language for this course. After further experience and additional technological development, the department redesigned their course and curriculum in order to provide most effective solution to this dilemma. The experience of this department in reaching this solution along with the relevant literature reviews are discussed in this paper.

Analyzing Computer Programming Job Trend Using Web Data Mining

Today’s rapid changing and competitive environment requires educators to stay abreast of the job market in order to prepare their students for the jobs being demanded. This is more relevant about Information Technology (IT) jobs than others. However, to stay abreast of the market job demands require retrieving, sifting and analyzing large volume of data in order to understand the trends of the job market. Traditional methods of data collection and analysis are not sufficient for this kind of analysis due to the large volume of job data that is generated through the web and elsewhere. Luckily, the field of data mining has emerged to collect and sift through such large data volumes. However, even with data mining, appropriate data collection techniques and analysis need to be followed in order to correctly understand the trend. This paper illustrates our experience with employing mining techniques to understand the trend in IT Technology jobs. Data was collect using data mining techniques over a number of years from an online job agency. The data was then analyzed to reach a conclusion about the trends in the job market. Our experience in this regard along with literature review of the relevant topics is illustrated in this paper.

Issues and Challenges in Selecting Content for Web Design Courses

This paper discusses the pedagogical considerations and the steps that have been taken by faculty members within a technology program to update their web design courses. T he department of T echnology Support and T raining (T ST ) ‐ Eberly College of Business and Information Technology (ECOBIT) at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) has been updating their courses in response to technological changes and market demand. This study outlines the processes that were followed and the pedagogical considerations that have been taken into account when updating two of the T ST’s web design courses. T he paper explains first the challenges that web design educators face when selecting content for their cou rses. T he paper then outlines how these difficulties were addressed when designing the courses a t the T ST program. Ke ywords : Web design course content; Web design curriculum, Courses in web design, Pedagogy of web design course, Content of web design co urses

The Coordination between Faculty and Technical Support Staff in Updating Computer Technology Courses - A Case Example

Faculty teaching computer courses go through repeated updates of their classes in order to keep their programs current. The updates may include more than changing textbooks or adding a new volume. Instead, the changes may require the installation of new software, hardware, troubleshooting and solving complicated technology related problems. The faculty requesting these changes may need the expertise of technical staff in updating these technology courses and in solving emerging problems. In such cases, coordination and collaboration between the faculty and technical staff will be necessary in order to assure course updates. This paper reports on the collaboration between a faculty and technical staff at Eberly College of Business and Information Technology (ECOBIT) – Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). Both faculty and technical staff have been working cooperatively at different levels to address course and programmatic changes for their computer curriculum. The details of this cooperation between the faculty and the technical staff are explained in this paper.

Adding a New Language to VB .NET Globalization-Making the Case for the Kurdish Language

Starting with the introduction of Visual Studio .NET (VS .NET) application developers can write programs that may be used for different languages listed in VB .NET globalization. However, this globalization list is incomplete and is missing many languages. Among the languages that are missing from VB globalization is the Kurdish language. This paper makes a case for adding the Kurdish language to the list used in VB .NET globalization. The paper starts by explaining about VB .NET globalization, the Kurdish language and then makes a case for adding the Kurdish language. Making the case is based on factors considered in including languages and also on the features of the Kurdish language. A summary and suggested future work is included at the end.

Preparing for Academic Ranking Reports in the Kurdistan Regional Government Higher Education

This paper explains the development of a system of academic ranking across the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) colleges and universities. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHE) at KRG has embarked on a project to develop a system for ranking the universities under their jurisdiction. The MHE wanted their ranking system to be modeled on other established university ranking systems. They studied other systems of academic rankings, considered the factors that goes into them systems and tried to create a similar system of providing data in order to issue such ranking reports. However, dissimilarities between the established academic system and that of the KRG necessitated modifying to the ranking system in order to provide a reliable and relevant ranking report. This study explains the steps involved in establishing a system for ranking academic performance of Kurdistan universities. It begins by reviewing literature about the established systems of academic ranking, and the factors that are included in their ranking systems. It then details the factors that typically considered into completing such ranking system and how the MHE attempted to modify some of them in order to produce a reliable ranking system of higher education in Kurdistan universities.

A Debate over the Teaching of a Legacy Programming Language in an Information Technology (IT) Program

This paper presents a debate between two faculty members regarding the teaching of the legacy programming course (COBOL) in a Computer Science (CS) program. Among the two faculty members, one calls for the continuation of teaching this language and the other calls for replacing it with another modern language. Although CS programs are notorious for continuous updates (and hence debates over the updates) of their courses, but the teaching of COBOL programming language has sparked many debates that have been on-going for years. Each side of the debate provides evidences that support their position. This study, although, provides a debate over the same topic but it is different from ongoing debates because it balances the views expressed by both sides of the debates. This in turn shows the difficulty encountered by various departments when making a decision about COBOL. We are presenting in the paper a thorough literature review regarding both sides of views. We are also incorporating in this debate the lessons we learned from our long experience in this field. Thus, we will present our conclusion and recommendation in this paper based on the literature review and on our experience in this field. Our goal from writing this paper is two faceted: first, to present opinions about each side of the position regarding the teaching of COBOL, and, second, to reach a consensus regarding the continuation of teaching this programming language (or for this matter replacing it with another language).