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An Information Technology Program for a Small Liberal Arts College: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Loren K. Rhodes Michael L. Frandsen, Dennis L. Johnson,

Donna S. Weimer, David J. FuscoJuniata College, Huntingdon, PA

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Juniata College 4 year liberal arts college, central

Pennsylvania 1300 students, mostly residential Program of Emphasis (major)

students encouraged to design own POE often interdisciplinary programs, double

majors 50-60% individualize their POE’s 2 advisors approve

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Juniata College Regionally known for sciences: pre-

medicine, biology and chemistry Education Computer Science since 1980 1998 an alumni couple gave multi-

million dollar endowment for an IT program

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Donor’s Vision for IT scholarship: leveraging communication

and problem solving skills with IT courses internship: engage industry experience leadership: management skills entrepreneurship: build a technology

product and successfully market it interdisciplinary: a collaboration among

existing departments

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Design Process Pre-existing programs:

Mathematics/Computer Science (Nat. Sci.) Accounting/Business/Economics (Soc. Sci.) English/Communications (Humanities)

IT program was developed from on-campus committee from these departments

External Advisory board was established

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Departmental Cooperation

Information Technology

ComputerScience

Math

Business

Accounting

Economics

Communication

English

TheatreArts

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Advisory Board Development of the program Internship placements, on-site projects,

equipment Membership (<20)

alumni, big and local business, government AT&T, Nortel, Lucent, Microsoft,

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Datatel, Eclipsys, Penn State IST, Fairfax County VA

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Curriculum Goals CS fundamentals, software

development, database, network Communication skills, oral

presentation and technical writing Business fundamentals, management,

entrepreneurship Experiential - student teams working

on industry projects for 3 semesters + internships

Change management

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IT courses Principles of IT

First course Web based, using WebCT or Angel

Business, Communication and CS courses

Innovations for Industry capstone sequence Three semesters, junior and senior years Team projects

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Computer Science CS 1 and CS 2 Software Design (Engineering) Networking Web Design Discrete Structures

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Business and Communication The Management Process Behavior Analysis of Organizations Business Strategies Art of Public Speaking Professional Presentations Technical Writing Indiv@metaverse.com

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Indiv@metaverse.com Challenge students with the past,

present, future analysis of technology’s impact on society 1892--Can we predict new technologies? 1940--Can we anticipate their

consequences? 2000--What is progress? 2100--How do we prepare for change?

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Innovations for Industry(I-4-I) The hallmark of our program A required, three semester

experiential learning opportunity Places teams of students in

organizations to identify and understand problems, and recommend and apply IT solutions

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I-4-I Goals To provide students with real-world

experience in the needed technical, business and communications skills to function as members of an IT project team

To provide service to partnering organizations

To obtain real-world feedback for students and faculty

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I-4-I Process Combination of classroom, on

campus, and in the field activities Emphasis on project management,

flexibility, communication, team work, and problem solving

Teams of 3-4 students Faculty sponsor for each team Evaluation by client, faculty, peers

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I-4-I Organization Three courses IT 300, IT 380, IT 480 All meet together Exception is IT 300

Focus on project management 5-Phase Project

Management…,Weiss/Wysocki Case studies

Teams are a cross section of the 3 levels

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I-4-I Technologies Project

management Networking Web Development Handheld OS ASP Use cases XP

Database/SQL Java C++ Visual Basic XML Linux

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I-4-I Student Comments "Maybe I learned more [in this class]

than I learned in all the [other] classes I have taken.”

"I don’t know how to describe to you how much I have learned in the last semester through words. My actions speak for themselves. I have grown because of this course and I feel that I will continue to grow in the semesters to come."

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I-4-I Client Comments "I do think that this was a great learning

experience demonstrating the dynamic environment that they will have to operate in…. They reacted extremely well to these changes…. Based on the barriers they faced, they exceeded our expectations.”

"I wanted to let you know your database has been tested and is now up and running …. You did a great job on meeting our requirements for the ASP. The people who have been through the training so far have been impressed. Thanks for the great work."

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Areas of Concentration Students choose three courses in

various areas of application Digital Media Entrepreneurial Studies Communication Media Computer Science Business Individualized

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Integration of IT campus wide The application of IT naturally

integrates into other disciplines Criminal Justice Biology (Bioinformatics) Environmental Science Education Psychology Political Science

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Staffing All current and planned IT faculty

are joint appointments 2 Business / IT 2 Computer Science / IT Communication / IT 2 Environmental Science / IT Network Services Director / IT

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Facilities Faculty representing 3+ departments Teaching/Learning Technology Center Computer/Network Services Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership

Currently scattered across campus In 2004 all IT-related departments will

be housed in one facility

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Summary Interdisciplinary Experiential Teamwork, project management Access to technologies Educational technology http://

departments.juniata.edu/it