Designing and Developing Quantum Information Science Education Programs and Courses

As the demand for a quantum-ready workforce grows, educators in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) face the challenge of aligning their programs and courses with rapidly evolving industry needs. Through a series of interviews with program directors and faculty across 15 different institutions, we identified the factors that educators are concerned with as they design and develop their various courses and programs. Grounded in a curriculum and program design framework, we conducted a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis, which revealed key factors about program context, curriculum development, collaboration, program data collection and evaluation, and connections across stakeholders in the quantum ecosystem that educators should consider when developing their QISE efforts. Applying a systematic approach to efforts of QISE curricula design and development can provide overarching perspectives that enable educators to have a better understanding of factors to consider as they align students’ academic preparation with the quantum workforce.