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:

1. Establish alternative methods for students to acquire and/or show basic proficiency in the use of information technology.

1. 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

2. Offering instruction in basic information technology through the use of a computer-based module that provides an assessment of student technology skills.
3. Providing greater access via changes in curricular requirements to appropriate computer courses that teach basic information technology skills and assess student-learning outcomes.
4. Implementing an evaluative process for students to demonstrate technology fluency and prior achievement of minimum competencies.
5. Instituting other methods as deemed appropriate by the University.

2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Provide students with access to an on-campus computer laboratory that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
5. 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.
6. 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