Work in progress - iterative curriculum development for an interdisciplinary online-taught IT course

Today, students acquire basic computer skills at the early stages of their lives through several courses taken at schools before university and social online environments where they can engage with their friends. As a result, students may become more reluctant to attend similar courses in universities. A similar situation has arisen recently with a service course, which is given to all first year undergraduate students in METU. A survey conducted two years ago showed that most students already acquire skills in basic word processing and spreadsheet tools before they have started their studies in the university. Therefore, a revision of the contents was required. After working with educators, librarians and looking into several curriculums, a new course outline was formed. This paper explains the motivations, experiences and outcome of developing a brand new curriculum for a first year course, which aims to make student computer and information literate.