2022 EDSIG Proceedings: Abstract Presentation

Distinguishing Education from Training:
Dispositions as First-Class Citizens of the IS Curriculum

Jeffry S. Babb
West Texas A & M University

David J. Yates
Bentley University

Leslie J. Waguespack
Bentley University

Whilst 15, 10, and 7 years in the making, the year 2020 witnessed a compelling confluence in elements that shape and influence thinking on the Information Systems undergraduate curriculum. In 2020, the IEEE/ACM Computing Curricula 2020 report, the ACM/AIS/ISCAP 2020 Undergraduate Model Curriculum, and the A2020 ASCB Standards for Business Accreditation were all released. Each refers more prominently to dispositive aspects of the knowledge, skills, and capabilities that a curriculum is used to shape, hone, and prepare graduates. Both the CC2020 and IS2020 reports specifically recommend a competency-based curriculum in which dispositions are both a relatively new addition as well as an addition that may be fraught as the consideration and/or adoption process proceeds. New curricular guidelines, model curricula, and accreditation standards provide an occasion for assessment and reflection such that foundational assumptions may be reviewed. The competency model challenges Information Systems curriculum design in two key aspects that are the subject of this paper. First, the dispositive dimension pervades key challenges in the discipline as well as key points of focus in the literature on Information Systems pedagogy in curriculum. Second, the CC2020/IS2020 competency model provides an opportunity to explore both interconnections and granularity that are far more informative than course containers, course descriptions, and topics. This granularity promises to create greater transparency that benefits all stakeholders. We promote the broad uptake of the competency model and advocate for the model as a unit of expression, comparison, and exchange to bring clarity and understanding in the Information Systems curriculum development process.