TDNet Discover

The purpose of this qualitative document analysis study was to investigate the alignment between IT associate degree program curricula and workforce demands for North Carolina community college IT programs serving the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord MSA. Curriculum and workforce alignment was generally defined as the extent to which curriculum content reflected the technical and soft skills required by employers. The theory guiding this study integrated Finegold’s skills ecosystem theory and Vitale et al.’s simultaneous constructive alignment, analyzing curriculum design relative to industry needs. The research design employed qualitative document analysis. The primary research question was: To what extent did IT associate degree programs in North Carolina community colleges align with the technical competencies and soft skills requirements of entry-level positions in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord MSA? The setting was the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord MSA and the NCCCS institutions serving it. The sample included public documents, such as 79 common course descriptions from three regional community colleges and 83 entry-level IT job postings targeting the MSA. Data collection involved the systematic gathering of these documents. Thematic analysis in Atlas.ti employed inductive/deductive coding to identify alignment and gaps between curriculum and workforce documents. Findings indicated partial alignment; curricula covered foundational technical skills adequately for prevalent support roles but lagged significantly in emerging areas. A significant misalignment existed in soft skills, which were highly valued by employers but received minimal explicit curricular attention. Analysis using Bloom’s taxonomy revealed curricula emphasized lower-order cognitive skills more than the higher-order analysis and creation skills sought by employers.