Information technology research takes centerstage at virtual symposium

One looked into looked into how American Disabilities Act regulations are applied digitally, while the other examined the diversity and inclusivity of IT and business job descriptions posted online.

Two distinct research topics. Both rooted in information technology.

Bloomsburg University graduate students, Kyle Fromert and Frank Bucco, were among the featured co-authored research presentations at this spring’s 4th annual Technology Education Research Symposium (TERS) by PAECT. Both are pursuing master’s degrees and on track to be the first graduating cohort of BU’s newly minted Master of Science in Information Technology program that launched last fall.

“Today with a fast-paced technology-based society it’s critical for everyone to have access to webpage services,” said Fromert, a Penn State graduate and president of Black Swan Consulting Firm. “The importance can be observed especially during this COVID-19 pandemic. Where vital information and essential services are being delivered through a web application or mobile application.”

In his co-authored research — American Disabilities Act and Webpage Accessibility: Current Regulations and the Future of Webpage Accessibility — Fromert looked into the current regulations of the federal civil rights law and how they apply to webpages, mobile applications, kiosks, and other technology-based applications.

“ADA compliance is extremely important to ensure that those with disabilities have the ability to access vital information and for the ability to access essential services,” said Fromert, who’s research won Best of TERS for K-12, giving it advanced acceptance for the PETE&C 2021 Conference. “Throughout our research, we examined various ADA non-compliance cases and observed the court’s decisions. Furthermore, we looked into current and future trends of ADA webpage compliance.”

In his co-authored research — Importance of Global, Inclusive, and Culturally Sensitive Knowledge: Mining IT Job Advertisements — Bucco focused on looking at the diversity and inclusivity of IT and business job descriptions of various companies posted on BU’s. Handshake job board.

“As technology continues to boom and communication with people across the globe improves, it becomes more important to be aware of cultural differences and to be more sensitive to towards differences,” said Bucco ‘17, a BU graduate in information and technology management and junior business analyst for Freedom Mortgage. “We wanted to see the percentage of companies that were looking for and incorporating inclusion and diversity into their business models and what percentage were expecting diversity and inclusion in their potential hires.”

Additionally, he said they also wanted to look at how college students can be better prepared to handle a more diverse and inclusive workforce. Information technology played a pretty big role in their research methods, he added.

“Our data was pulled from Handshake, where various companies around the globe can post job openings for Bloomsburg students and alumni,” Bucco said. “We used several open source data mining tools to help drive our results and expand our focus in areas we didn’t think to use initially.”

Among the other topics covered at the symposium — held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic — included educational technology innovation, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and eLearning.

“My biggest takeaway was the amount of effort each presenter took to research and present their work,” Fromert said. “Especially during these trying times, it was nice to see all the presenters come together through a Zoom conference to present their hard work.”

Bucco was impressed with how diverse and impactful information technology can be for industries and how much potential it has to grow.

“The way we manage information has changed drastically over recent years, quickly becoming more efficient and secure,” Bucco said. “The more we heard from the various speakers, the more I came to the realization of just how important learning about information technology has become.”