Five years ago, at the height of the dot-com boom, colleges and universities, including Juniata, were scrambling to create information technology classes, preparing to mint techno-whizzes ready to create the next Netscape or Napster.

Today, the economic landscape has changed and many institutions are challenged to find ways to redesign information technology programs to better suit the needs of the global economy.

Juniata's already doing it.

At the outset of the College's IT program, Juniata took great pains to interweave its curriculum into the liberal arts tradition. While the IT sequence certainly focused on producing master programmers, Web gurus and systems engineers, it also was structured to give students in other disciplines a solid grounding in IT skills to enhance their marketability.

"I can't imagine any job that won't require some of the skills that are acquired by going through the introductory IT course," says Loren Rhodes, professor and chair of information technology.

Juniata is taking the next quantum leap in IT instruction by further refining its introductory course, IT 110. The course, which premiered in fall semester 2000, is taught almost entirely online, with one weekly class session. Students learn beginning skills in Web technology, networks and databases by following the online content path, taking a series of tests, and completing online projects to complete the course.

IT 110 will allow students to navigate one of three subject "streams" - bioinformatics (genetic and molecular biology), environmental science or business. Eventually, the IT faculty would like to incorporate an education module into the course. "Students will see how IT relates to their interests," says Neil Pelkey, assistant professor of envionmental science studies and IT, who designed the bioinformatics sequence with biologist Jill Keeney and Michael Boyle, von Liebig Chair in Biomedical Sciences. "The faculty also will be able to easily update the course as technology changes."

"I think the specialized streams will be exciting regardless of which track you choose," says Marlene Burkhardt, associate professor of accounting, business and economics/ IT, who created the business stream for the 110 course. "We will be able to make the course a work in progress. If you see a physics textbook published in 1992, it's no big deal, but if you're using a 1992 IT textbook, you're thinking 'Dinosaur.'"

The bioinformatics sequence of IT 110 shows students concepts in IT through the prism of genetics. Pelkey has created sequences in which students must create Web pages or import bioinformatics data into Excel documents, while including sequences beyond what is required by the course.

Burkhardt has built the business sequence around entrepreneurial skills, guiding students through exercises that reveal what IT skills people need to know to create a business. The sequence culminates in a final project where students are asked to integrate all their IT skills to develop a Web-based business idea.

The environmental science stream, designed by environmental scientist Dennis Johnson, will focus on projects that incorporate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) concepts and environmental projects into Web pages and database technologies.

"The new approach to IT110 is appealing because it makes it easier for students from other disciplines to get a very good technology skill set and take that into the workplace," says Tim McMichael '02, a support professional for Microsoft Inc. based in Charlotte, N.C. "The liberal arts approach produces students who are not only technically sound but have the ability to learn, plan and think holisitically about a problem."

The creation of a sophomore course, IT 210, that centers on integrating network, Web and database skills in a project-based curriculum, is the linchpin of the College's new IT curriculum. Created and taught by Bill Thomas, assistant professor of information technology, the course gives students from other disciplines superb IT training to create a secondary emphasis for their POE, and most importantly, it gives IT students a common class that consolidates and hones their skills before moving on to upper-level courses. IT 210 will create a sense of community," says Thomas.

Community-building is at the center of the unique three-semester course Innovations for Industry (its campus shorthand is I-4-I), which also functions as the senior capstone experience for information technology students.

"The idea is that students progress from supporting roles to leading a project," explains business professor Mike Frandsen.

Juniata is one of the few IT programs nationwide that require students to participate in a hands-on course that works directly on IT projects with real-world clients. In addition, the students are immersed into the business world by working on varied IT projects over 18 months.

Among the corporate clients that have praised I-4-I's work are Spring Cove School District in Martinsburg, Pa., Kish Bank and J.R. Wald Co., a manufacturer of work systems for the corrections industry. One of Juniata's most recent triumphs is the creation of an instant messaging application for Digital Solutions Inc. (DSI), an Altoona, Pa.-based company that creates software for the corrections industry.

"As faculty we look for clients who want a nurturing relationship with the students and a professional partnership with the College," says Bill Thomas.

In addition, the College seeks to establish long-term relationships with I-4-I clients to establish possible employment relationships. This year, DSI hired John Dale '03, a senior from Middletown, Pa., who had worked on a project for the software developer. "In the business world, companies want to limit the number of suppliers to a few reliable partners, whether it's computer chips or human resources," Frandsen explains. "We would like to establish Juniata as the employee supplier of choice for local firms."

"Group management and communication are the key tools I took way from I-4-I," says Matt Acker '04, a senior from Altoona, Pa. studying IT. "You learn to interact with people, find out what makes them motivated to work and accomplish tasks, and then you work to get the most from each group member."