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An International Examination of Non-Technical Skills and Professional Dispositions in Computing - Identifying the Present Day Academia-Industry Gap
Victoria Univ Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand..
Newman Univ, Birmingham, England..
Berea Coll, Berea, KY USA..
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Mathematics and Computer Science, Department of Information Technology, Computing Education Research. Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Mathematics and Computer Science, Department of Information Technology, Division Vi3. MINT. (UpCERG)ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8854-1420
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2024 (English)In: 2024 WORKING GROUP REPORTS ON INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY IN COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION, ITICSE WGR 2024, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2024, p. 124-174Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Computing graduates are frequently reported by members of industry to lack in professional dispositions and/or non-technical skills (often referred to as "soft skills"). In this work, we conduct a gap analysis of the alignment between academic preparation and industry expectations through a three-pronged study. First, a literature review explored the academic perspective of how fostering professional dispositions and non-technical skills occurs in tertiary computing education. Second, a literature review identifying industry's expectations of those dispositions and skills for entry-level computing professionals. Finally, a mixed-methods approach, combining a survey and structured interviews of computing industry professionals to identify their opinions on the relative importance of those skills and dispositions. In each of these prongs, we additionally consider whether and how Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) may have been approached and/or incorporated. Our work uncovers a number of gaps. Several skills and dispositions, such as leadership, ethics, and inventiveness, are overrepresented in the academic literature compared to industry's expectations, while others such as lifelong learning and professionalism are under-emphasised. Furthermore, some terms such as 'ethics' and 'professionalism' are defined differently by various stakeholder groups, leading to a gap between academic training and industry expectations. Finally, several skills and dispositions, such as collaboration, teamwork, communication, and leadership show evidence of exposure in academia, but require more scaffolded instruction to meet industry expectations. We also found a dearth of coverage in the literature and a lack of focus in industry for DEIA considerations.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2024. p. 124-174
Keywords [en]
Professional Dispositions, Non-Technical Skills, Industry Expectations, Professionalism, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility, DEIA, EDI, E&I
National Category
Software Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-555417DOI: 10.1145/3689187.3709610ISI: 001447740200005Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85219518165ISBN: 979-8-4007-1208-1 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-555417DiVA, id: diva2:1954815
Conference
29th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE), JUL 08-10, 2024, Univ Milano, Milan, ITALY
Available from: 2025-04-28 Created: 2025-04-28 Last updated: 2026-01-09Bibliographically approved

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Alshaigy, Bedour

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Citation style
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