Tek.Xam Preparatory Training for Students and Non-IT Employees

by Deborah Mateik

The Office of Information Technology (OIT), in partnership with the Office of Continuing and Extended Education (OCEE) has designed an instructor¹s guide and student manuals to support the Tek.Xam (http://www.tekxam.com) assessment tool. The Tek.Xam Preparatory Training Series was developed under the auspices of a grant to OCEE from the AT&T Foundation and the Tek.Xam creator, the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges.

The Tek.Xam assessment examination measures information technology competencies and problem-solving skills. The Preparatory Series mirrors the areas of proficiencies tested and includes modules on "Understanding How Information Technology Works in an Ethical Society," "Using Web Technology to Retrieve and Present Information," and "Using Technology to Report, Interpret and Present Information."

The purpose of the Tek.Xam is to help students and non-IT workers demonstrate skills that aren't indicated by their field of study or area of employment. Employers, such as those noted below, have found Tek.Xam certification to be useful in identifying prospective employees with strong technology and problem-solving skills.

The Tek.Xam was designed in 1997 to assess skills of students across the curriculum and of members of the workforce. To date, 75 colleges and universities have piloted delivering the Tek.Xam battery of online certification tests. More than 45 corporations (http://www.tekxam.com/Endorsements/endorsements.htm), representing the banking and securities, telecommunications, technology, media, legal and professional, health care, and manufacturing industries have endorsed the Tek.Xam test as a needed and recognizable indicator of technical proficiency.

OIT developed content that provides instruction in key information technology skills like word processing, presentation graphics, spreadsheet construction and data interpretation, and web page development. Another facet of the training materials explores such general computing concepts as the interrelationships of hardware, software, and networks in addition to Internet research and the legal and ethical issues surrounding the uses of technology. Subject experts from the University Libraries User Education Services and OIT's Project NEThics contributed significantly to the development of these content areas.

The objectives of the Preparatory program include:

• develop student familiarity with the "language" of technology (identify terms and associations between them);
• demonstrate application of technical knowledge by putting terms and associations into "real world" context;
• reinforce understanding through hands-on exercises;
• engage participants in discussion and case studies to enable them to integrate their own experiences with course content;
• evaluate progress through mastery of self-tests and assessment of, and response to, peer critiquing;
• synthesize concepts taught by producing a new product (report, website, presentation) through independent or collaborative effort.