General Education

What You Should Know about Teaching an ITEC Course

What are your obligations as an instructor of an information technology-intensive (ITEC) course?  What freedom do you have in redesigning an existing ITEC course?  The following guidelines will help answer these questions.  If you would like more information or assistance, contact Kellie Price at 423.439.5385 or pricek@etsu.edu.

Your ITEC course should . . .

  • require every student to actively use information technology

    In an ITEC course, students should be expected to use current information technology throughout the course.  The use of information technology should be integrated into the course as appropriate and should account for a significant portion of the course.
  • expect each student to use information technology learned in CSCI 1100

    When applicable, students should be required to use the skills learned in CSCI 1100, Using Information Technology.  These skills include e-mail communication, internet searching, and word processing, spreadsheets and presentation software skills. For a more detailed list of the topics covered in CSCI 1100, go to the course website.
  • involve students in learning new information technology skills

    These are skills beyond those taught in CSCI 1100.  Since these are new skills, the instructor must provide the instruction necessary for the students to be able to complete assignments using the new technologies.
  • require students to use current information technology throughout the semester to complete out-of-class assignments

    Students should be required to complete assignments using current information technology and the new skills learned in the course.  These assignments should be spread throughout the semester, ensuring that students get sufficient hands-on experience with the new technologies.
  • base at least one credit hour's worth of each student's final grade on his or her knowledge of these new skills

    The actual percentage of the final grade that the new skills should account for is based upon the number of course credit hours.  If the course is a four-credit-hour course, it should be one-fourth of the final grade. If it is a three-credit-hour course, it should be one-third of the final grade.  If it is a two-credit-hour course, it should be one-half of the final grade.  If it is a one-hour course, it should be the entire grade.

Use this form to propose a course to be ITEC-intensive and submit all proposals electronically to pricek@etsu.edu.