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RIT launches 3 new online program to create an easier work environment for students

For RIT freshmen, there has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway. Amazon has never been just a river in South America, and websites and cell phones have always been around.

That’s according to the Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2015. Each year the college looks at what shapes the lives of students entering college. Administrators at RIT understand how tech savvy today’s college students are. And they are matching that deftness with an innovative approach.

“This is the Internet generation,” says Ron Nief, emeritus director of public affairs at Beloit College and an author of the Mindset List and the new book The Mindset Lists of American History with Beloit English and humanities professor Tom McBride. “From the moment they were able to pull themselves up to reach on top of a table, they have been hitting a keyboard. They have grown up with this technology and its use is second nature to them.”

Administrators at RIT understand how tech savvy today’s college students are. And they are matching that deftness with an innovative approach.

Undergraduates in the School of Interactive Games and Media are playing a Web-based game outside of the classroom called Just Press Play to learn how to navigate college life.

The game is being watched nationally as something that could change the way students are educated.

Students from the E. Philip Saunders College of Business, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences and B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences are developing StoreWorld, a Facebook game that aims to teach students the fundamentals of running a business.

And a new tool called BookBag allows faculty, students and staff to share information on a social bookmarking site designed specifically for the RIT community.

All three initiatives are examples of how RIT continues to be a leader in educating this digital generation, says Jeremy Haefner, senior vice president for Academic Affairs and provost.

“It is increasingly becoming clear that our students are becoming more and more sophisticated,” Haefner says. “Games and technology are a way to open up new venues and to get kids to learn in new and exciting ways.”

Also read:

• Just press play—New game pushes students out of their comfort zones
• StoreWorld—Game teaches business concepts
• BookBag—Sharing content now in the bag