TY - GEN
T1 - Students and employers don’t see eye to eye
T2 - the case of information systems, information technology and engineering
AU - Lin-Stephens, Serene
AU - Smith, Stephen
AU - Richards, Debbie
AU - Pang, Vincent
AU - Uesi, John
AU - Athanasou, James
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - 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.
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.
KW - Career information literacy
KW - Employability
KW - IS education/training
KW - STEM education
KW - Transformative learning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85069177505&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference proceeding contribution
T3 - Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS)
BT - Proceedings of the 21th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2017)
PB - Association for Information Systems
CY - Atlanta, Ga.
ER -