Laura I. Spears

Employers' Perspectives on New Information Technology Technicians' Employability in North Florida.

Purpose In response to recent calls for research relating to employers’ perceptions of the workplace readiness of new graduates in a variety of fields, the purpose of this paper is to report North Florida employers’ perceptions of information technology (IT) program graduates’ workplace readiness. These findings are relevant to stakeholders in growing technology regions. Design/methodology/approach Researchers conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with IT employers in North Florida. Data were deductively coded with codes derived from national standards. Interviewee verbatim was also inductively coded by theme. Findings While employers valued a blend of technical and general skills and hands-on experience, they also sought new professionals who possessed fundamental understandings of business and computer programming to tailor their problem-solving skills to the specific company environment. Research limitations/implications This research represents a limited number of employer viewpoints in one representative community. Practical implications Ongoing industry input into curricula and expanded experiential opportunities may ensure that graduates are prepared to address current and future IT developments. Because the region under study was typical of many regions with growing technology sectors, these findings may inform partnerships, curriculum, and program design. Originality/value Given the rapid growth and constant advances of the IT sector, institutions with IT degree programs are challenged to ensure that their curricula are current and meeting the needs of employers. This study’s findings may offer timely insight into elements of workforce preparedness.

Assessing alignment between information technology educational opportunities, professional requirements, and industry demands

Information technology (IT) and computing are growing fields, offering far more job opportunities than applicants. Yet, little data are available to indicate how course content, employer needs, and additional learning opportunities work together the prepare graduates to enter the IT workforce. To understand the extent to which learners were prepared to for these highly technical careers, we used text analysis to examine the extent to which course syllabi, job postings, internship postings, and industry certifications from information technology preparation programs at state college and two universities commonly reflected national IT curriculum knowledge areas. Integrated data suggested that while the two-year and four-year programs imparted key technical skills, to qualify employers sought applied, or “soft,” skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and written and verbal communication. These soft skills were more difficult to detect as learning outcomes, but the determination of the extent to which the examined programs foster these skills presents a fertile area for subsequent research.

Work-integrated learning (WIL) in information technology: An exploration of employability skills gained from internships

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze 86 information technology (IT) internship postings to discern the extent to which the intended outcomes matched professional standards for four-year IT programs. Design/methodology/approach The researchers text mined specified skills from 86 internship postings and compared them to the competencies outlined in the ACM/IEEE Body of Knowledge. Findings Results indicated that students can expect to gain experience and exposure to both technical and general competencies. Though research and policy relating to technical fields have emphasized professional competencies such as teamwork, communication, and professionalism, this analysis suggested that the internship postings greatly emphasized technical skills at the expense of general competencies. Research limitations/implications The most frequently occurring competencies suggest future research opportunities for considering contextual factors of internship sites. The researchers conclude with implications for using text mining as a tool for comparing internship intent vs outcomes as well as suggestions for policies, standards, and curricula worthy of further exploration. Originality/value Employers, educators, and professionals agree that internships offer a promising means to link course content and practical workplace skills, especially in technical fields like IT. However, less clear are the ingredients of effective IT internships.

Investigating the Research Practices of Agriculture Scholars: Findings From the University of Florida

ABSTRACT The University of Florida (UF) George A. Smathers Libraries is one of 19 institutions that participated in an Ithaka S+R Research Support Services investigation of agricultural sciences. The authors conducted a qualitative analysis of research support services based on one-on-one semistructured interviews with 15 faculty of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in 2016. A number of core themes emerged from the analysis of research practices in the local study at UF. Core themes included finding appropriate literature, data management issues and tools, repositories for sharing research products, and research dissemination. This report summarizes a subset of these results, focusing on themes related to academic library services that support agricultural scholars research needs.

Studying the Night Shift: A Multi-method Analysis of Overnight Academic Library Users

Abstract Objective – This paper reports on a study which assessed the preferences and behaviors of overnight library users at a major state university. The findings were used to guide the design and improvement of overnight library resources and services, and the selection of a future overnight library site. Methods – A multi-method design used descriptive and correlational statistics to analyze data produced by a multi-sample survey of overnight library users. These statistical methods included rankings, percentages, and multiple regression. Results – Results showed a strong consistency across statistical methods and samples. Overnight library users consistently prioritized facilities like power outlets for electronic devices, and group and quiet study spaces, and placed far less emphasis on assistance from library staff. Conclusions – By employing more advanced statistical and sampling procedures than had been found in previous research, this paper strengthens the validity of findings on overnight user preferences and behaviors. The multi-method research design can also serve to guide future work in this area.

Assessing Information Technology Educational Pathways that Support Deployment and Use of Rural Broadband

This action-based National Science Foundation-funded research project is prompted by the growth of broadband in industries in rural communities in which over 40% of households lack broadband capability. Through the multi-method pursuit of five rural community-focused need and barrier-focused research questions, the researchers are investigating the role of Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways in meeting the needs of rural employers and new technical professionals in rural communities in Northwest Florida. This research will lend important insight into the challenges to, in accordance with the iConference 2014 theme, “breaking down the walls” to sustainable broadband-supported economic development.

A Failure to Connect: The Elusive Relationship between Broadband Access and Children’s Information Seeking in American Academic Research

Originality/value Despite national imperatives for ubiquitous broadband and a tradition of information seeking research in library and information science (LIS) and other disciplines, a lack of academic research about how broadband affects children’s information seeking persists.