Local Industry-Student Team Collaboration on IT Projects: Experiences with a Multi-Semester Experiential Learning Course Sequence Mike Frandsen Loren Rhodes Juniata College Huntingdon, PA

We do IT for three semesters

Outline Juniata’s IT curriculum Innovations for Industry – Structure – History – Outcomes – Lessons – Fine-tuning – Open Issues

Curriculum: Guiding Principles Liberal Arts-Based Interdisciplinary Flexible Experiential – Hands on IT – Fearless Learning

Curriculum: Departmental Cooperation Information Technology Computer Science Math Business Accounting Economics Communication English Theatre Arts

Curriculum: Courses Technology (23 credits) Communication (12 credits) Management (10 credits) Experiential Capstone (12 credits) Concentration (9-12 credits)

Innovations for Industry (I-4-I): Structure Three semesters (IT 300/380/480) Field projects Intentional “stretch” Teams of 3-5 students, across levels Team of faculty sponsors All-hands meetings for presentations, informal information exchange Client-driven project deliverables Final reflections paper Integration of technology, communication, management Evaluation by faculty, client, peers

I-4-I: History Clients – Multinationals – Start-ups – Manufacturers – Service providers – School district – County government Projects – Analysis & Research – Prototypes – Production

I-4-I: Outcomes Real solutions to real problems Student, alumni satisfaction More clients than we can serve Freshman enrollment has doubled Interest of recruiters

I-4-I: Outcomes (cont’d) Benefits of multi-semester approach – Earlier involvement in field projects – Practice makes better – Skill mix on teams – On-going projects – Exposure to multiple organizations

I-4-I: Lessons Client involvement is critical Face-to-face communication enhances the experience Students are more interested in the technology itself than using it to solve an organization’s problem It’s really hard to break out of the academic calendar

I-4-I: Fine-tuning Poor project management Little cross-project learning Poor documentation/archives Enrollment imbalance Faculty labor intensive  Re-tool IT 300  Weekly brown-bag lunches  Templates  Larger teams  “ “

I-4-I: Open Issues Differentiation of levels Inadequate preparation Grading ??????

THANK YOU Questions? – Now – Later –