| Purpose of the Study. This study was designed to determine whether there were significant differences in the perceptions of academic and industry experts and practitioners regarding the information systems curriculum elements of the IS '97 Model Curriculum and Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Systems and additional curriculum elements contributed by an expert panel in a Delphi Process. The participants' perceptions of information systems curriculum content were analyzed according to: (1) age; (2) whether participants worked in industry or academia; (3) number of years of full-time experience working or teaching in the field of information systems; (4) gender designations: male and female; (5) the highest educational level attained: high school diploma or GED, bachelor's, master's, or doctorate; (6) Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP) professional information systems certification status (Certified Computing Professional and Associate Computing Professional): certified, non-certified; (7) the field of the highest earned degree: information systems or a field unrelated to information systems; and (8) whether respondents attained their highest degree through a college of business and management, math and science, or other field. An additional concern was the development of a list of information systems curriculum elements to refine the existing curriculum model.;Procedure. An initial list of one hundred seventy-one scope and expectation curriculum elements were developed from eleven courses detailed in Appendix 8: Course Specifications And Learning Units in the IS '97 Model Curriculum and Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Systems. The Delphi technique was used to refine and validate this list. The resulting list of curriculum elements was distributed in questionnaire form to eight hundred information systems professionals from academia and industry who were asked to rate the importance of each curriculum element. Responses were analyzed using variance and t tests, stepwise regression, and simultaneous regression analysis.;Findings. Of all of the variables tested, only one was significant in predicting the ratings of information systems curriculum elements by academic and industry practitioners in the field of information systems. The major field of the highest degree earned was the significant predictor of the rating of information systems curriculum elements by academic and industry practitioners. Age, employment in academia or industry, number of years employed teaching or working in the information systems field, gender, highest educational level attained, Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP) professional information systems certification status, and the college in which one earned a degree were not significant predictors of rating for information systems curriculum elements. Further, the Delphi Process and resulting survey validated that the IS '97 Model Curriculum and Guidelines for Undergaduate Degree Programs in Information Systems was the product of consensus between academic and industry contributors as claimed. |
