Frostburg State University
Policy on Student
Information Technology Fluency
Today's students must be prepared
to enter a world of rapidly changing technology. Frostburg
State University recognizes the need for students to develop
and demonstrate proficiency in the use of information
technology, (e.g., an established understanding of the
potential uses of computers, the ability to manipulate
standard application software, and comprehension of the
Internet as a tool for research and knowledge acquisition).
The University also recognizes that students often need to
acquire more specialized competencies within their academic
majors if they are to successfully pursue academic goals and
career interests after graduation. It is the policy of
Frostburg State University that all students develop and
demonstrate fluency in information technology. To help
ensure that students meet this standard, the University
will take the actions listed below:
Establish alternative methods for students to
acquire and/or show basic proficiency in the use of
information technology.
- Identifying student activities that will illustrate
technology proficiency. Students' completion of these
activities will result in individually owned and maintained
products that will communicate their accomplishments.
Examples include but are not limited to:
- Student electronic career portfolios
- Online publishing of appropriate academic work
- Personal Web pages
- Offering instruction in basic information technology
through the use of a computer-based module that provides
an assessment of student technology skills.
- Providing greater access via changes in curricular
requirements to appropriate computer courses that teach
basic information technology skills and assess
student-learning outcomes.
- Implementing an evaluative process for students
to demonstrate technology fluency and prior achievement
of minimum competencies.
- Instituting other methods as deemed appropriate by
the University.
- Provide students with a level of information
technology training that meets the fluency standards
of their respective disciplines and which successfully
prepares them to enter the marketplace in their chosen
majors and/or career choices. Academic programs will
report in the Periodic Program Review how they meet
the information technology needs of their students.
The Periodic Program Review must also contain detailed
information on measures currently in place to assess
student technology fluency in program-based competencies.
- Require that all proposals for new academic
programs address specifically how the program intends
to ensure that its graduates will have the appropriate
competencies for technology fluency.
- Provide students
with access to an on-campus computer laboratory that
is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Continue to update and revise the University's
technology planning document, Strategic Directions
in Information Technology, which identifies and
prioritizes the technology needs of the university
community and establishes appropriate goals and
implementation strategies.
- Develop and institute appropriate administrative
procedures to ensure that students have met the
information technology standard established by
the University.
Office of the Provost
August 2002