Even So With the Pieces Borrowed From Others: Dressing an IS program in IT clothing

This paper describes the background, the decision-making processes, and the curricular philosophy of a new four-year degree in the Computer Science & Information Systems department at Mount Royal University. The program created could be described as a hybrid between the Information Systems 2002 Model Curriculum and the Information Technology 2008 Curriculum Guidelines (IT2008). The approach described here may be of interest to other departments with existing IS programs that would like to take advantage of the strengths of the IT approach without abandoning some of the unique strengths of the IS curricula. The paper also argues that instead of trying to erect clear disciplinary boundaries around IT, we should instead think of IT as the computing discipline whose focus is the practical integration of the other computing disciplines.