Initiatives and Resources at NC State

Current Initiatives within the Information Technology Division

ITD's ability to move forward with its original IT Fluency goals has been hampered by state budget cuts. Despite the cuts, the unit has carried out a number of projects in an attempt to ascertain needs and better educate students about computing issues at NC State.

• Focus Groups conducted with First Year College students and New Student Orientation counselors
• Computing Essentials CD and Computing@NCState tabloid paper provided to all new students during Summer and Fall 2002
• Computing@NCState sessions for both freshmen and parents during New Student Orientation
• First Year College Computing Skills Self Assessment administered during New Student Orientation
• Computing Essentials training pilot project
• Keeping a Compact Plan request alive to develop a Basic Information Technology (BIT) Competency Project (See also May 2001 report)
• Presentation to the TLTR, held October 17, 2002, "Update and Exploration of IT Fluency Initiatives". Both meeting notes and presentation slides [PowerPoint] are available.
  

General Education Requirement on Computer Literacy

NC State's current General Education Requirement on computer literacy focuses on learning basic productivity applications. It does not include many current uses of IT and does not address the need to go beyond basic skill building to a broader understanding of IT.

Learning in a Technology-Rich Environment (LITRE)

In an effort to create a plan for what kind of learning environment NC State students should have in the future, the university has launched a team to develop the vision, goals and strategies for creating that educational environment. This team is charged with developing the Quality Enhancement Plan focused on "Learning in a Technology-Rich Environment" as part of NC State's SACS reaffirmation process.

An older joint pilot program among the College of Natural Resources, the Libraries and Computing Services, to introduce technology into the classroom.

Henry Schaffer has advocated that our current computer and information literacy general education requirements do not have "enough specificity as to what is required, nor sufficient breadth," for today's needs. He makes a strong case that we must not get a student's ability to "operate the consumer tools of IT" confused with the student's understanding of how they function and how to use them effectively. He has links to many of the same pages I highlight on the external resources page.

Donna Petherbridge has worked with the department of Adult and Community College Education in the College of Education to develop a core set of expectations their students need to be successful in the program. She has also developed a combination online and assignment-based testing process, part of which uses WebCT.

UPA has a number of standardized surveys it administers to freshmen, transfers, sophomores and graduating seniors. A summary of some of the results related to IT has been pulled together.

Content last modified December 11, 2002 by snm
Page last modified October 18, 2006 by cawalker