Students and employers don’t see eye to eye: the case of information systems, information technology and engineering

Serene Lin-Stephens; Stephen Smith; Debbie Richards; Vincent Pang; John Uesi; James Athanasou

Students and employers don’t see eye to eye

the case of information systems, information technology and engineering

Serene Lin-Stephens, Stephen Smith, Debbie Richards, Vincent Pang, John Uesi, James Athanasou

Department of Computing

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Despite mounting pressure on universities to produce quality work-ready STEM graduates, the relationship between discipline-based learning and employability is poorly understood. Applying the Career Information Literacy Learning Framework, we address this gap in a study on STEM students and employers/industry stakeholders. This paper reports findings from a subset of STEM disciplines: Information Systems, Information Technology and Engineering. Student data were collected from capstone units from the STEM faculty in an Australian university. A parallel STEM employer study was conducted concurrently. Four learning approaches and career development learning components across three levels of information literacy were examined. The study found this student cohort’s (N=160) emphases on and views of career development consistent with their peers within the same STEM faculty (N=492). However, their focuses differ significantly from STEM employers (N=62). Students focus on discipline-specific knowledge while employers value transformative capabilities most. The finding presents implications for STEM workforce preparation.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 21th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2017)
Place of Publication	Atlanta, Ga.
Publisher	Association for Information Systems
Number of pages	14
Publication status	Published - 2017
Event	21st Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems: Societal Transformation Through IS/IT, PACIS 2017 - Langkawi, Malaysia Duration: 16 Jul 2017 → 20 Jul 2017

Publication series

Name	Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS)
ISSN (Electronic)	2689-6354

Conference

Conference	21st Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems: Societal Transformation Through IS/IT, PACIS 2017
Country	Malaysia
City	Langkawi
Period	16/07/17 → 20/07/17

Keywords

Career information literacy
Employability
IS education/training
STEM education
Transformative learning

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Lin-Stephens, S., Smith, S., Richards, D., Pang, V., Uesi, J., & Athanasou, J. (2017). Students and employers don’t see eye to eye: the case of information systems, information technology and engineering. In Proceedings of the 21th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2017) [120] (Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS)). Atlanta, Ga.: Association for Information Systems.

Lin-Stephens, Serene ; Smith, Stephen ; Richards, Debbie ; Pang, Vincent ; Uesi, John ; Athanasou, James. / Students and employers don’t see eye to eye : the case of information systems, information technology and engineering. Proceedings of the 21th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2017). Atlanta, Ga. : Association for Information Systems, 2017. (Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS)).

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abstract = "Despite mounting pressure on universities to produce quality work-ready STEM graduates, the relationship between discipline-based learning and employability is poorly understood. Applying the Career Information Literacy Learning Framework, we address this gap in a study on STEM students and employers/industry stakeholders. This paper reports findings from a subset of STEM disciplines: Information Systems, Information Technology and Engineering. Student data were collected from capstone units from the STEM faculty in an Australian university. A parallel STEM employer study was conducted concurrently. Four learning approaches and career development learning components across three levels of information literacy were examined. The study found this student cohort’s (N=160) emphases on and views of career development consistent with their peers within the same STEM faculty (N=492). However, their focuses differ significantly from STEM employers (N=62). Students focus on discipline-specific knowledge while employers value transformative capabilities most. The finding presents implications for STEM workforce preparation.",

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Lin-Stephens, S, Smith, S , Richards, D, Pang, V, Uesi, J & Athanasou, J 2017, Students and employers don’t see eye to eye: the case of information systems, information technology and engineering. in Proceedings of the 21th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2017)., 120, Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), Association for Information Systems, Atlanta, Ga., 21st Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems: Societal Transformation Through IS/IT, PACIS 2017, Langkawi, Malaysia, 16/07/17.

Students and employers don’t see eye to eye : the case of information systems, information technology and engineering. / Lin-Stephens, Serene; Smith, Stephen ; Richards, Debbie; Pang, Vincent; Uesi, John; Athanasou, James.

Proceedings of the 21th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2017). Atlanta, Ga. : Association for Information Systems, 2017. 120 (Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS)).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference proceeding contribution

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AB - Despite mounting pressure on universities to produce quality work-ready STEM graduates, the relationship between discipline-based learning and employability is poorly understood. Applying the Career Information Literacy Learning Framework, we address this gap in a study on STEM students and employers/industry stakeholders. This paper reports findings from a subset of STEM disciplines: Information Systems, Information Technology and Engineering. Student data were collected from capstone units from the STEM faculty in an Australian university. A parallel STEM employer study was conducted concurrently. Four learning approaches and career development learning components across three levels of information literacy were examined. The study found this student cohort’s (N=160) emphases on and views of career development consistent with their peers within the same STEM faculty (N=492). However, their focuses differ significantly from STEM employers (N=62). Students focus on discipline-specific knowledge while employers value transformative capabilities most. The finding presents implications for STEM workforce preparation.

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Lin-Stephens S, Smith S , Richards D, Pang V, Uesi J, Athanasou J. Students and employers don’t see eye to eye: the case of information systems, information technology and engineering. In Proceedings of the 21th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2017). Atlanta, Ga.: Association for Information Systems. 2017. 120. (Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS)).