IST 110Information, People and Technology

3 credits · Information Sciences and Technology · Penn State

Information, People and Technology presents the high points of an education in the College of Information Sciences and Technology. It opens an intellectual journey through the ideas and challenges that IT professionals face in the world. It will address major questions such as: How can we use technology to organize and integrate human enterprises? How can technology help people and organizations adapt rapidly and creatively? What can we do about information overload?Three perspectives (or facets) address the core issues: information or the basic science of data encoding, transmission and storage; people or the interactions among technologies, institutions, regulations and users; and technology or the design and operation of basic information technology devices. Students completing the course will be confident users and consumers of information technology. Students will develop research and analytical skills to evaluate specific devices and understand how those devices function in larger socio-technical systems. Students will be able to predict and anticipate the impact of new technologies on human institutions as well as understand the potential impact of institutions on the use and design of information technologies.The course employs an action-oriented approach. Students learn by doing-formulating and solving problems drawn from professional contexts, detecting and recovering from errors related to technology use, and locating, reading and studying materials that support their analysis and problem-solving. Students will accomplish this by participating in team-based learning. The course provides students with the opportunity to use, modify, and evaluate software to search for, frame, and express ideas with fluency. A variety of mechanisms are used to assess student performance. These evaluation methods typically include exams, quizzes, homework assignments, group projects, and peer and self-assessments.