Executive SummaryPeople living within an information culture possess different expectations and abilities with technology and digital systems because of their use of and exposure to technology. The first section of the paper reviews the situation of IT education and the need to address the shortage of professionals in the information-related professions. The shortage of IT professionals generates an attempt by educational institutions to develop programs that may or may not adequately address the shortage. Along with the shortage problem, concerns about information literacy are being raised among educators and professionals.To model a connection between information literacy levels and IT education, Bloom's educational objective taxonomy is presented. In conjunction with Bloom's taxonomy, the five-component representation of information systems is presented. If an awareness of information systems enables one to be more information literate and if being more information literate enables one to handle IT situations better, then a representation connecting information systems and information literacy would offer insights to IT education. These two representations, Bloom's Taxonomy and the five-component representation of information systems, are combined to develop a relationship between growth in competency through education and the field of information systems.The second section proposes an information literacy competency taxonomy, (ILC taxonomy). The ILC taxonomy expresses the relationship between growth in competency and understanding of information systems. Educational programs can be represented through the ILC taxonomy in terms of the degree of attention committed to the content characterized by each area of the ILC taxonomy.The third section suggests how different programs can be expressed through the ILC taxonomy. Ultimately, the ILC taxonomy provides a tool for identifying what skills and behaviors within a spectrum of information literacy competencies individuals should be expected to possess, given an educational program.

Serious games are technology with unrealized potential as an innovation for reasoning about complex systems. The technology is enticing to technologically-savvy individuals, but the acceptance of serious games into mainstream processes requires addressing several systemic issues spanning social, economic, behavioral, and technological aspects. First, deployment of gaming technology for critical processes needs to embrace statistical and scientific methods appropriate for valid, accurate, and verifiable simulation of such processes. Second, identifying the correct instance and application breadth for a serious game within an organization needs to be articulated and supported with research. Third, funding for serious-games initiatives will need to be won as the funding will displace monies previously allocated and championed for other projects. Last, the endeavor faces the problem of negative connotations about its appropriateness as a viable technology for mainstream processes rather than for entertainment and diversion. The chapter examines the chasm serious games must traverse by examining the issues and posing approaches to minimize their effect on the adoption of the technology. The histories of other technologies that faced similar hurdles are compared to the current state of serious games, offering a perspective on the hurdle’s resolution. In the future, the hurdles can be minimized as curricula are developed with the solutions to the issues incorporated in the content.

Dame; her industry experience includes shipyard project management and consulting for Off-High Vehicles projects for GE Transportation. AbstractThe Scholars of Excellence in Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS) program is a National Science Foundation sponsored scholarship granting program at Gannon University. Through the first seven years of scholarship granting (2009 -2015), SEECS helped 77 students pursue the goal of graduation from college with a STEM degree, specifically a degree in an engineering or computer science related field. This paper analyzes data from current and previous SEECS students confirming previously-published data pointing to "roadblock" courses which most often lead to GPA trouble (i.e. cumulative GPA less than 3.0), and investigates techniques which are or have been implemented to improve student academic success. Strong correlations have been noted between specific letter grade thresholds in identified courses and eventual separation from the SEECS program for low GPA. Intervention strategies for students who have stumbled in one or more roadblock courses, as well as generally-implemented practices conducted by the university and the SEECS program, are discussed. Consideration is given to intervention techniques presented in previously-published literature, with respect to feasibility for inclusion in an honors-type engineering program such as SEECS.A commonly-held perspective within the United States urges for an increased pool of qualified workers in the STEM fields. Aligned to the perception is the conviction that the number of STEM-major students in universities is far short of the projected demand for STEM workers. In response to this problem, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has created the program "Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM)" seeking to increase the number of domestic students in STEM fields by providing financial support to promising students who have limited financial means. The SEECS program, detailed in the next section, is one program sponsored by the NSF through the S-STEM grant program. S-STEM addresses one side of the problem: The number of STEM students is increased by providing lower-income students with the financial wherewithal to enter into STEM studies. The funding does not directly address another key problem of graduating STEM majors: attrition of matriculated students.Causes of attrition among STEM students have been the subject of numerous studies [1,2]. An excellent survey of those studies and their conclusions has been provided by Geisinger and Raman [1]. The paper reviewed 50 studies addressing reasons for student attrition, supplemented by 25 additional studies of methods attempted to improve retention. The major causes of attrition are reported to be (1) an unwelcoming academic climate, (2) conceptual difficulty with core courses, (3) lack of self-efficacy or self-confidence, (4) inadequate high school preparation, (5) insufficient interest or commitment to engineering or a change in career

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A theoretical framework Is presented that distinguishes among three knowledge sources that form the basis for generative performance. The three knowledge sources, termed conceptual, procedural, and utilizational competence, were implemented as a computational model that derives plans for counting procedures. In a previous analysis, Greeno, Riley, and Gelman (1984) developed a characterization of the conceptual competence (implicit understanding of general concepts and principles) associated with the skill of counting and related conceptual competence to various models of performance. In the current work all three knowledge sources are formalized in a computer program (COUNTPLAN) that generates planning nets of counting procedures. The sufficiency of COUNTPLAN's knowledge components is demonstrated through its capacity to generate new plans for counting in novel settings from a core of conceptual competence. The utility of COUNTPLAN to facilitate the distinction between hypotheses of competence and hypotheses of performance is discussed.