Building Information Technology Fluency into a Liberal Arts Core
Information technology is no longer just a specialty for technical majors; proficiency is required of
college graduates in multiple fields. Unfortunately, the core curricula at many liberal arts colleges lack a
comprehensive approach to information technology. Our proposal grows out of work done at Calvin College
in revising the entire core curriculum. Its products, web-based modules and templates used within a hub-andspokes curricular model, will benefit not only Calvin, but also other liberal arts colleges across the nation.
I.
The Need
This proposal addresses two main problems. (1) College graduates must be more than simply literate
about information technology; in today’s world, they must be fluent. At the same time that computer
requirements for all jobs are increasing dramatically, employers often find that graduates lack the necessary
skills. While most state institutions of higher education have implemented information technology courses,
liberal arts colleges have been less quick to do so. When they do exist, these courses have been “skills”
courses at best. But the National Research Council Study by the Committee on Information Technology
Literacy advocates “fluency” rather than “literacy” (to denote a higher level of comprehension). This deeper
understanding is critical. Without it, students may be able to use today’s technology, but will not understand
tomorrow’s. Students need a comprehensive approach to information technology that stresses understanding
of fundamental concepts and critical evaluation of appropriate technology use. Using Bloom’s taxonomy,
students who only learn “skills” are at the knowledge level, while effective use of computers today requires
comprehension, application, and evaluation as well.
(2) This proposal also addresses the inconsistent exposure to information technology across different
majors and programs. Students in technical majors typically receive training, but students in other majors
often receive little. Unfortunately, students in these other disciplines are not as motivated to learn in this
area, partly due to lack of competent role models. But even students who have well-developed skills with
certain software packages typically do not have a conceptual framework for information technology, and it
can be difficult to motivate students who perceive that they “already know it all.”
1
A “Fluency with Information Technology” Course Anchored in the Core Curriculum
Our proposal centers on developing an innovative information technology course as a strategic part of
a liberal arts core curriculum to be taken by all first year students. It will form a “hub” with “spokes” that
fan out through other core courses that address technology explicitly, courses that use information
technology as part of the educational process, and courses in the disciplinary majors. Thus, a small
Disciplinary
Majors
Information
Disciplinary
Technology
Majors
Information
Technology
Liberal Arts
Core Course
Fluency with
Information
Technology
Information
Technology Liberal Arts
Core Course
(First-Year
Core Course)
Disciplinary
Majors
Information
Technology
Liberal Arts
Core Course
Web Text,
Modules,
Templates
Information
Technology
Information
Technology
Figure 1: Hub and Spokes Curricular Model
foundational course taken early in the college career is a stepping stone for further learning about
information technology in a practical setting.
This first-year course will combine several pedagogical approaches, summarized in Table 1 below.
Half of the course hours will be in the form of mass plenary sessions, led by faculty who are both experts in
their fields and excellent teachers. The other half will be breakout sessions, with students working closely
with faculty from a variety of disciplines in a computer laboratory setting, connecting theoretical concepts to
hands-on activities (a history professor might show students how to use an Internet database to look up
government documents; a music professor might demonstrate computer input/output by composing a short
musical score in class). Outside of class, students will work through web-based tutorials to learn basic
computer skills, as well as human-led tutorials on research in a library (both physical and digital). The webbased tutorials will be hyper-linked to a central feature of the course: a web-based textbook. This dynamic
text will be updated annually to reflect changes in information technology, while maintaining a foundation of
basic concepts that apply more generally. The web-text, using dynamic, interactive web-pages, will allow
advanced students to explore the thread of an idea more completely, while still covering a minimal set for all
students. A paper-based version containing a CD-ROM of the complete text will also be available as a
companion volume for students without appropriate Internet connectivity.
2
Plenary Session
(Introduction)
Definition of Computer
Networks
Changing Nature of
Information
Modeling reality with
Computers
Moral and ethical
considerations
Critical evaluation of
technology
Breakout section
(Critical Evaluation)
Tutorials (skills)
CIT
Basic Operating Systems
Spreadsheets
Word processing
Introduction
Problem-solving
Algorithmic thinking
Universal appliance
Information systems
Databases
Implications
Locating resources,
Information organization,
Search strategies
Multimedia literacy
Library
Internet: Email,
listservs, web navigation
Web search
Library databases
Scanning, digitizing,
graphics, sound, video
Case studies,
Discipline-specific
implications
Psychological implications
Digital Library
resources
Web publication
Presentation software
Table 1. “Fluency in Information Technology” Course Components
The course resulting from this project has several unique features: multiple pedagogical approaches,
multidisciplinary teaching, and comprehensive structure. It uses a combination of pedagogical approaches to
reach students with a variety of learning styles. As part of the core curriculum, it engages students from
every discipline. By putting faculty from a variety of disciplines in the breakout sessions, it motivates
students across the disciplines. A useful byproduct is that the faculty who teach the course will bring back
their own learning to their departments, encouraging more uniform fluency among the college faculty. Using
tutorials to teach skills frees up faculty to teach advanced concepts and allows students already proficient in
certain areas to “test out” of those modules. Finally, the project provides a comprehensive structure to
information technology, centering on a small first-year core course that covers fundamentals, with
connections to the rest of the core as well as disciplinary majors.
III.
The Significance of the Project
Potential Contribution. The project will promote understanding of a key educational question: the
tension between face-to-face traditional teaching and technology-based learning. This course reflects the
deeply held conviction of most liberal arts faculty that there is something very worthwhile in face-to-face
teaching, but it also recognizes the potential of information technology to transform education itself. The
proposed course combines both approaches, capitalizing on the strengths of both.
A New Teaching Strategy/Importance. The recently developed “Fluency with Information
Technology” approach is promising for developing the level of competency and understanding necessary for
3
all college graduates. It incorporates three components: Intellectual Capabilities (e.g., engage in sustained
reasoning, anticipate changing technologies, organize information), Information Technology Concepts (e.g.,
networks, modeling, digital representation of information, limitations of technology), and Information
Technology Skills (e.g., using a word processor to create a document, a spreadsheet to model processes).
This comprehensive approach is designed to help students achieve the fluency needed for effective use of
information technology across the disciplines. It does not stop at a single course, but connects with
technology use in other course courses as well as within disciplinary majors.
Potential Replicability. The project results will largely be in the form of modules and templates
published not only in paper form with accompanying CD-ROM, but also as web pages on the Internet
(probably through the Blackboard Courseware). Although the tendency in designing a new course is to pack
as much material as possible into the syllabus, this project focuses on designing a small core course easily
incorporated by institutions trying to add a new requirement to an established core curriculum. The use of
modules also gives other institutions flexibility to tailor the curriculum to their specific needs.
IV.
Project Design: The project will proceed in a number of phases:
Year 3
Year 2
Year 1

Develop plenaries and breakouts, templates for
 Establish fluency coordinator
disciplinary emphasis
 Establish appropriate publishing procedures
 Develop web-based textbook modules
 Summer faculty workshops for Course
 Develop web-based and human-led skills tutorials
instructors
 Pilot course materials
 Evaluate baseline of student fluency
 Initial course offering
 Ongoing evaluation of student information technology fluency
 Develop discipline-specific information technology teaching modules




Publish modules, templates, web-based tutorials, web-based textbook (Internet & paper-based)
Disseminate through conference publications
Ongoing evaluation
Public training sessions for faculty
Addresses Central Causes of Problem. Problem 1: Separation of Theory from Practice. Goetsch
and Kaufman (1997) identify the separation of instruction from the actual use of information technology as a
fundamental weakness in most current approaches. By using the hub-and-spokes approach to the curriculum,
the learning from the first-year Fluency in Information Technology course is applied immediately and connected to learning in the rest of the core and within the disciplinary major. This may have the added benefit
of convincing students of the relevance of the core curriculum overall by connecting it to their major.
Problem 2: Inadequacy of Skill-level Literacy. Literacy is simple skill learning, which will not carry
4
over to new technologies. Fluency indicates higher level learning, which allows application to new
technologies. Achieving only a “skills” level of information literacy can even be detrimental! Students tend
to overestimate their information technology proficiency, an overconfidence that becomes painfully obvious
when the graduate is hired but cannot effectively use new technologies.
Problem 3: Neglect of Non-Technical Majors. By including this course in the core curriculum, we will
involve every student, regardless of major. Furthermore, faculty in non-technical majors often need some
coaching to incorporate the sweeping changes of information technology in their own disciplines. This
course allows them to engage information technology in a stimulating, non-threatening manner.
Addresses Needs. The project considers the diverse learning needs of the students by incorporating
multiple pedagogical approaches and accommodating different starting proficiencies through use of tutorials.
It meets the needs of faculty by considering the variety of faculty backgrounds and using plenaries for
fundamental concepts. It meets the needs of cost-conscious institutions by improving efficiency through
combining basic education in information technology that would overlap across departments into one course
for all students. This in turn frees up departments to focus on discipline-specific technology issues. It serves
more broadly as well by allowing other institutions to selectively replicate materials for their own courses
from the published web-text, templates, and tutorials.
V.
Evaluation
Two objectives will be evaluated: (1) producing students who are fluent in information technology
and (2) producing fluency across all disciplines, not just technical majors. Formative evaluation will
involve online skill tutorials with questions crafted to provide immediate feedback to instructors and students
as well as to guide content selection for subsequent course offerings. Summative evaluation will include
the Calvin Social Research Center administrating a coordinated set of surveys, using an existing survey of
graduating seniors to form baseline data as a comparison group. As students graduate under the new Fluency
in Information Technology curriculum, this survey will check for advanced use of information technology
within the student’s major as well as broader understanding of the issues. As an independent measure, we
will ask employers and graduate school advisors to assess students’ information technology fluency and
identify any deficiencies. Evaluation results will be posted alongside the project modules, templates, and
web text on the Internet. This will allow institutions to choose wisely which components to replicate and
provide direction on pitfalls to avoid. Presentations and publication at appropriate conferences will provide
publicity for the products of the project.
5