The IT Workforce Challenge: Adoption of IT Careers by Minority Groups - Issues and Recommendations

America faces an internal challenge to its position as a global leader in information technology. This challenge is real, and it impacts the core of this country’s historical greatness – the preparedness of the national workforce. Simultaneously, the 21 century worker is facing a dynamic environment where technology and workforce diversity are key drivers for organizational change. The skilled workforce of the future must identify and evaluate opportunities and risks, leverage knowledge competencies, and effectively integrate information in a manner that creates value for their organizations. This study examined whether re-designing business curricula to incorporate culturally relevant business cases would be effective in increasing the number of underrepresented groups in the IT workforce. We used five undergraduate courses at a Historically Black University to examine students' technology awareness, technology integration capabilities, and attitudes towards IT career opportunities. Overall, the findings indicate positive changes in students' technology integration skills. Additionally, students' technology awareness increased, but changes in their attitudes towards IT careers were not significant.