For those of you who have waiting on the edge of your seats for the past one year, three months, and two days (as of today) since my course The Digital Past went to our General Education Committee for approval, there may be a sign of progress. After what the official communique describes as “a long, deliberative, and consultative process,” the Committee has at last approved new guidelines and student learning outcomes for our campus-wide undergraduate informational technology requirements.
Here is what the new requirements say:
Information Technology
Almost no area of academic, professional, or personal life is untouched by the information technology revolution. Success in college and beyond requires computer and information literacies that are flexible enough to change with a changing IT environment and adaptable to new problems and tasks.
The purpose of the information technology requirement is to ensure that students achieve an essential understanding of information technology infrastructure encompassing systems and devices; learn to make the most of the Web and other network resources; protect their digital data and devices; take advantage of latest technologies; and become more sophisticated technology users and consumers.
Courses meeting the “IT only†requirement must address learning outcomes 1 and 2, and one additional outcome. Courses meeting “IT with Ethics component†must address outcomes 1, 2, 3, and 5. Courses meeting the only IT Ethics component must address outcomes 3 and 5.
1. Students will be able to use technology to locate, access, evaluate, and use information, and appropriately cite resources from digital/electronic media.
2. Students will understand the core IT concepts in a range of current and emerging technologies and learn to apply appropriate technologies to a range of tasks.
3. Students will understand many of the key ethical, legal and social issues related to information technology and how to interpret and comply with ethical principles, laws, regulations, and institutional policies.
4. Students will demonstrate the ability to communicate, create, and collaborate effectively using state-of-the-art information technologies in multiple modalities.
5. Students will understand the essential issues related to information security, how to take precautions and use techniques and tools to defend against computer crimes.
Now we’ll have to see if my course proposal is approved as written, or if I’ll have to rewrite the thing (along with my colleagues in the department who helped write it originally) to comply with the newly adopted requirements…