National Science Foundation project on Advanced Technological Education in Information Technology

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) project # DUE-9950029 is aimed to help increase the pool of qualified information technology (IT) teachers and workers in the USA. It addresses the severe national and statewide shortage of teachers and instructors in the IT area. While the growth in employment of all occupations in the USA IT industry between 1996-2006 is projected at 88.25%, the growth of college/university IT and computer science (CS) faculty is only projected at 18.3%. These findings motivated faculty of several USA educational institutions such as Bradley University and Midstate College (both, in Peoria, IL), Georgia Tech Regional Engineering Program (GREP) at Georgia Institute of Technology (Savannah, GA), College of Applied Science at University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (both, in Cincinnati, OH) to propose the NSF ATE project back in 1998 and complete it by 2003. This paper reviews project goals, project faculty development methods, evaluation of innovative courses and teaching technology and corresponding project team´s findings.