Ryerson ITSDC: Student Competencies and Information Technology

This is not policy. It is a target to focus discussion on the issue.

1. Expectations for graduates: Although much of the learning which students do involves acquiring specific information, discussion of competencies is related to the type of skills students develop, not particular knowledge. Beyond the specific skills associated with each program, there are also some general skills which Ryerson seeks to foster, including:
   1. the ability to apply theory to practice
   2. the ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing
   3. the social skills to work effectively with others
   4. the ability to evaluate information critically
   5. a life-long capacity to learn.
   While this list is not exhaustive, it serves to indicate the type of general competencies which our graduates should have, regardless of what program they attend.

   In this regard, IT, like any technology, is necessarily a tool to enhance human capabilities. As such, it is not something to be learned for its own sake, but only as a means of enhancing the skills which we want students to develop. (Even if it were seen as desirable, a tools-as-an-end focus would be thwarted by the rapid rate of change in both hardware and software.) If trying to define the skills we would want students to have, given the current state of IT, it might be tempting to say, "Students should be able to write using a word processing program, communicate using e-mail, and research information from the Web." Yet evaluating these objectives in the context of the above goals, one would conclude that word-processing has no direct relevance, while using e-mail effectively may well be relevant to social skills. The key aspect of using the Web is not information access, but evaluating the information obtained--indeed, the ease with which material may be posted on the Web makes the ability to critically evaluate information even more important than it is with conventional texts and journals. Similarly, students must be able to apply sound judgement when using IT as a tool--e.g., evaluating whether a spreadsheet for marketing projections is using correct formulas. IT can make large quantities of information easily accessible, but students must know how to select relevant information, and evaluate its meaning.

   Given the foregoing arguments, it is not appropriate to define IT-related competencies narrowly (e.g., "the ability to compose an essay using WordPerfect 7.0"), even though specific competencies may be appropriate to a particular program (e.g., use of GIS software in Applied Geography). For the University as a whole, we must identify broader outcomes, such as making students comfortable with adapting to the changing nature of information technology (perhaps by addressing how it works), understanding the advantages and limitations of communicating by e-mail, and enhancing the evaluation of information and its meaning, however obtained. Doing so will require reconsidering how we teach and how students learn.

2. If we accept that information technology has a role to play in enhancing the abilities of our graduates, how does that decision alter the way students currently learn? Several implications seem obvious (and there are likely others):
   1. universal access must exist for all students (whether through labs or laptops, etc.), which raises obvious questions about costs, and who bears them
   2. the use of technology like multimedia course materials for out of class learning, or presentation technology within the classroom, will potentially alter/undermine the interactive nature of learning at Ryerson, as well as the social skills which our graduates need
   3. if IT-related competencies are deemed important, then curricular content and delivery must be examined to determine how these competencies are to be developed; this in turn has implications for faculty skills and institutional resources
   4. IT is changing the nature of work in many settings, particularly in terms of home-based work and "mobile offices", which in turn is changing the functions of corporate offices. In similar ways, the use of IT at Ryerson has the capacity to change relationships between students and faculty as well as between students and the university; this may affect recruitment, retention rates, and other elements that could significantly affect Ryerson's success.

Bill Glassman <glassman@acs.ryerson.ca> and Esther Deutsch <edeutsch@acs.ryerson.ca>