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TC-001-089, Task Force on Technological Literacy.

CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA

ACADEMIC SENATE

TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

REPORT TO

THE ACADEMIC SENATE

TC-001-089

Creation of Task Force on Technology Information Literacy

Technology Committee Date:

Executive Committee

Received and Forwarded Date: 12/3/08

Academic Senate Date: 1/21/09

First Reading

2/11/09

Second Reading


Background

On June 13, 2008, the IT Governance Committee approved a recommendation from the Teaching and Learning Technology subcommittee (TLTC) for the establishment of a task force to explore the issue of student technology and information literacy. The recommendation stressed that this endeavor needs to be a collaborative effort with the Academic Senate as it relates to instruction and curriculum.

Specifically, the recommendation states:

¨  A task force shall be created with representation from the Academic Senate Technology Committee and Academic Programs Committee, TLTC, the University Library, I&IT, and students. It will also be important to involve the new Provost in this effort. A referral to the Academic Senate will be submitted by the co-chairs of the TLTC. The charge to the task force will be:

A. Determine “what” our students should know about and be able to do relating to information technology literacy.

B. Identify the required literacies/competencies of students at different stages of their education at Cal Poly Pomona.

C. Explore potential avenues through which students can gain and/or demonstrate this literacy.

D. Individual departments should be encouraged to assess the competencies required for their graduates to move successfully into careers and/or postgraduate work beyond general university expectations and to describe how they plan to ensure their students are prepared.

¨  The approaches being pursued at other campuses in the CSU should be researched to determine best practices that can be applied here. We also have considerable expertise on campus in our CIS Department, I&IT, University Library and elsewhere that should be incorporated in the process.

¨  This task force should be initiated in Fall 2008 with a progress report due to TLTC by June 2009.

Resources Consulted

Hye Oke Park, Peggy Perry.

Discussion

The TC met with Hye Oke Park and Peggy Perry, originators of the referral, co-chairs of the IT Governance Teaching and Learning Technology Committee. Their intent was to get the Senate involved in the process of determining what technological and information skills our students should have on entrance to the University and at later points in their academic careers, including at graduation. They envision a committee representing a wide range of University constituencies. Thus, the Technology Committee was requested to endorse a Task Force rather than do the investigation itself.

The Technology Committee believes that we can probably come to agreement about skills required on entrance, but that discussion of skills acquired by graduation is best left to individual departments or colleges.

Recommendations

The President should appoint a Task Force to study Technological and Information Literacy at Cal Poly Pomona. The Senate supports such a task force.

This Task Force should be composed of representatives of the Senate, I&IT, the Library, the student body, and the Faculty Center. Senate representatives might be drawn from the Technology Committee and the Academic Programs Committee.

The Task Force should identify basic technological and information skills expected of students on entrance to the University, so that they can succeed in their studies. Their findings should address whether there are tech-related skills which are equivalent to the writing and mathematics skills we expect of incoming students.

Students should be surveyed to learn if there is a gap between what they know and what they are expected to know about technology and informational literacy. Faculty should be surveyed to learn whether they perceive such a gap and whether they devote class time to teaching skills which students ought to have known. If the Task Force discovers a gap between what students know and what they should know, it should research ways of closing the gap. The Task Force should study how other universities have approached this topic.