Hillary Ashman, a junior at BYU, could not figure out why her laptop died so frequently. Fortunately, a friend recognized the problem as a defective battery.

With society's reliance on computers, knowing how to fix these types of problems is becoming more important.

BYU School of Technology professors Barry Lunt and J. Ekstrom, along with other BYU faculty, initiated a grassroots effort to create the first-ever national standardized information technology (IT) curriculum.

After years of research, the curriculum was completed in November of 2008. The Association for Computing Machinery accredited the curriculum that represented the work of Lunt and Ekstrom along with about 24 professors from other universities around the nation.

A lot of research and collaboration went into the project.

"We met with other schools that had similar visions," Lunt said. "The curriculum matched the views of all of the programs but everyone made modifications."

Along with being adopted by many U.S. universities, the standardized IT curriculum has achieved international recognition in countries such as Brazil, the Czech Republic, China and Venezuela. Lunt and Ekstrom were invited to present the curriculum in foreign countries this summer.

"This has been an international effort and BYU has been one of the leading institutions," Ekstrom said.

The new IT study model can benefit those who participate.

"This curriculum will provide graduates with bachelors' degrees in specific areas where we need trained experts," Lunt said.

Lunt said by placing a greater emphasis on IT, there will be more trained professionals who understand the relationships of computer parts working together as a whole.

"It's a very integrative program," Lunt said. "Our depth is our breadth." As more people become adept in IT knowledge, there will be more people that know how to solve the annoying computer problems that we all face, he said.

Because of continuous improvements in technology, the IT curriculum has to be adaptable, Ekstrom said. The curriculum model defines a list of crucial concepts that IT students should be accomplished in before graduating.

"Instead of talking about Internet Explorer or Firefox, we talk about Web browsers in general," Ekstrom said. "We want to emphasize the concepts."



Copyright Brigham Young University 21 Jan 2009