The School of Information Technology and Communication Design - The School of Information Technology and Communication Design

The idea was to design a technology program better than anything the world had ever seen before for the 21 st century, preparing students to cope with a rapidly changing technological environment. In the design stage, why not reach for the best? Decisions needed to be made. Would the program teach in a traditional way with lots of theorizing? Would the program go for accredited styles? The questions she then asked herself were: “ What types of graduates do we want to produce? Do we focus on design, technology, or both? How do we strike a balance between hands-on rather than theoretical? If we want an outcomes-based degree program, what outcomes should the students be fulfilling?”

The original dream was to have students who were able to do it all: design, programming, the theoretical and the practical. ITCD wanted to give the students a firm, hands-on, and broad basis of knowledge. They wanted to have majors with interdisciplinary concentrations: drawing from or characterized by participation in two or more fields of study. The teachers would teach the students , and vice versa.

With the help of others, Dr. Moroh introduced the core values: technology, applied learning, collaborative learning using real projects, and taking advantage of partnerships. The students were originally to partner with faculty to run IT completely. For example, the students would design, configure and run the entire campus network as part of their telecommunications lab coursework. Unfortunately, there were two conflicting interests: to have a robust system for the whole university campus, and a learning environment for the ITCD (formerly TMAC) students. And one mistake by a student could (and once did) cripple the whole campus network.

Another dream was to have students create working businesses and help make ITCD self-supporting, so it could always have state-of-the-art equipment. The Department of Defense (DOD) once said that if they want theoretical approaches to a problem, they would contact University of California Berkley, however, if they wanted something done, they’d contact ITCD at CSUMB. This internship dream has not yet come to pass because of conflicts with local businesses, and problems with the use of state-funded equipment and infrastructure. The educational experience of creating real projects for actual businesses with an opportunity to fulfill course outcomes is an idea that is still being considered.