Abstract:

As the pace of innovation grows faster than ever and knowledge building keeps exponentially expanding, there is an increasing demand of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) education in today's service economy societies. One characteristic of the ICT training needs is that software and computers are no longer language and tools exclusives of science engineering fields. Digitalization has spread over almost all type of human activity. Traditional labor processes have now incorporated digital layers of knowledge that are a critical part of their success. Digital appliances are finding a role in all human spaces. As a result, there is an increasing need of professionals with ICT competencies: from theorists, to high level specialists, application experts, multifunctional technicians, field specialists, and advanced users.

While all these changes and challenges are growing rapidly, it is important for universities to find out how to respond to the ICT field’s educational demands. However, it seems reasonable to declare that there is unanimous consensus in considering the university as a traditional institution and a conservative body at implementing change. Universities were born to research and transmit knowledge in an inquisitive, objective and profound manner. All of these processes need time and perspective in order to adequately operate. These are indeed dimensions lacking from current cultural evolutionary trends and specific educational ICT demands.

In this scenario, it seems relevant for the higher education and ICT communities to take into consideration the results of the efforts of the Informatics, Multimedia and Telecommunication department at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) to develop a bachelors program that addresses the educational issues mentioned above. Consequently, this paper describes how the UOC developed and implemented a multidisciplinary multimedia undergraduate degree; an ongoing program that has been successfully running for more than decade and, that recently has been accredited by EQANIE (a European authorized assessment/accreditation body).

This paper investigates the work done by the group of professors in charge of designing the degree in multimedia. It examines the tasks performed in order to identify and characterize the professional profiles that were the degree’s target. In addition, the article describes the criteria, process and strategies employed during the collaborative effort that led to the identification of the competencies of the new program. Moreover, this work discovers and examines some of the assumptions that were behind the orientation of this bachelor and the professional needs and competencies addressed within the degree’s curriculum.

Keywords:

Curriculum design, curriculum development, program design, undergraduate education, higher education.