Evaluation of Conformity among Bachelor Curriculum in Information Science & Knowledge Studies and Undergraduates’ Essential Skills for Job Market in Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

Purpose: The main aim of this research was to evaluate the conformity of the bachelor's curriculum with the opinions of experts and the essential skills required by undergraduates for the job market, based on Bloom's taxonomy.
Method: This research is applied in terms of its purpose and employs the method of directional qualitative content analysis (deductive). The reason for choosing this method is to uncover hidden concepts within the behavioral goals of the course titles and to analyze them from both cognitive and knowledge dimensions. The model employed in the content analysis of the data for this research is the revised Bloom's taxonomy, developed by Anderson and Krathwohl. This analysis involved examining the content of behavioral goals in undergraduate course titles, job advertisements, and the perspectives of information science and knowledge experts, based on the categories outlined in this classification (including both main and subcategories). The population of this study consists of three groups, as follows: 1. The latest edition of the undergraduate syllabus for the field of Information Science and Knowledge Studies, approved on November 28, 2014, includes 61 courses divided into three categories: 30 compulsory specialized courses, 19 foundational courses, and 12 elective specialized courses. These courses are further organized into subject groups, which include English specialized texts, computer and technology basics, management, research and writing, organization, reference work, library and information science, internships, and other related courses. 2. Information science and knowledge science specialists, along with experts in the field of education, numbered
48 individuals. Based on a subject classification conducted on the undergraduate syllabus for this
field, a selection of professors was made for each subject group, taking into account their teaching
and research experience in these areas. 3. Recruitment advertisements published in newspapers, magazines, and websites over the past 10 years were collected and subjected to content analysis. Sampling in this study was conducted purposively, based on the expertise, educational background, and research experience of university professors across various subject areas. The tool used in this study was a checklist based on the revised Bloom's taxonomy by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001). This checklist took the form of a 19´11 matrix, with columns representing the types of knowledge, which included four main types and eleven subcategories. The rows encompassed six skills and nineteen subcategories. To analyze the data collected from the three population groups, codes derived from the revised Bloom's taxonomy were defined using MAXQDA 2020 software. After defining
the codes in the software, we entered files related to the undergraduate course in Information Science and Knowledge, organized into subject groups. This included data obtained from questionnaires distributed among specialists in the field, as well as information gathered from reviewing job advertisements that specified targeted skills. Subsequently, the data were coded, compared, and evaluated. To enhance the validity and reliability of the research data, a peer review method was employed. In this process, two members of the research team, both with expertise in this field, randomly reviewed 10% of the behavioral goals at three different stages. For verifiability, the researchers employed a diverse approach by involving more than two individuals in the study and utilizing multiple data sources. These sources included job market advertisements, expert opinions on the course, and a content analysis of the course materials.
Findings: The findings showed that the curriculum predominantly emphasized behavioral goals related to remembering and applying skills in the cognitive domain, as well as focusing on processes and practical knowledge in the knowledge domain. This alignment was consistent with the opinions of the experts. Furthermore, a limited number of 19 cognitive skills and 11 knowledge skills were emphasized among the research sample. There were discrepancies between the behavioral goals of the curriculum and the experts' perspectives, indicating that these goals were not aligned with the needs of the labor market.
Conclusion: If behavioral objectives in the curriculum are made practical and incorporate a workshop aspect, they can contribute to a greater harmony between education and employment. This alignment ensures that the needs of the labor market and academic education complement each other effectively.