Information Systems Program Fall 2010 April 27, 2010
Posted by afoote in : Admissions, Information Systems , add a commentBy April most of the students that have been accepted at Stevenson for the freshman class in the fall have received their acceptance letters and the students of the class are making the decision about coming to Stevenson in the fall. In previous blogs I have mentioned some of the computer changes that will have been made by the fall. Virtualization will be expanded to include more courses. The next version of Blackboard will be available for faculty and students. The operating system for computers on campus will upgrade to Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Outlook will be the email software. These changes will keep the Office of Information Technology (OIT) very busy this summer.
These changes are needed and should be appealing to incoming students. All of these changes are to help students in the program and become better prepared for a career after graduation. There are also a few changes in the Information Systems curriculum to improve course selections for students. After a thorough debate about some of the changes, there has been agreement on all sides and the changes will occur.
Stevenson is a career oriented university and having students to be prepared for a career after graduation is a high priority. With the graduating class for this year in the Information Systems programs, a large number of the graduates either have a job or are in the process of being hired. The program has been successful in achieving this priority and intends on maintaining this record.
Incoming freshman in Information Systems at Stevenson will be entering a program using current hardware, software and tools. The focus will be on preparing for a career in Information Systems.
Changes on College Campuses June 14, 2009
Posted by afoote in : Admissions, Information Systems , add a commentAccording to a recent article (May 20, 2009) in US News and World Report, there are 17 Ways College Campuses are changing. At Stevenson University a number these changes can be easily seen. Changes such as first-year experience courses, a number of interdisciplinary programs, an emphasis on “service learning” and studying abroad are all part of the educational environment at Stevenson.
One of the changes that the article refers to is the increase use of e-resources. In the last few years the Information Systems department and the entire School of Business and Leadership are seeing increased uses of e-resources in the classes at Stevenson. We use Blackboard as the educational content management resource for classes. Students have online access to the syllabus, assignments, classroom discussions and even tests in this environment. I am a little wary of tests in the online environment, but under the proper situations it can be an effective tool. Blackboard is not the only e-resources that are used, but also wikis and YouTube videos are a part of my classes. In the fall semester we will be using the e-resource of virtualization for needed operating systems, programming and database environments to enhance the learning in the classroom. With these e-resources more education will occur outside of the traditional classroom. This is different than the way courses were taught ten years ago.
The article goes on to discuss a variety of subjects such as the high cost of education and the desire for students to choose a major. Stevenson is similar to other universities on these subjects. For students enter Stevenson in the fall of 2009, be aware of how things have changed in the last ten years. The school is still focused on graduates being able to begin a career this is the same as it was ten years ago. The difference now is that the resources and the environment have had a few changes.