The perceived fitness level of I. D. Bilkent University Business Information Management students

The purpose of this research study was to examine the Ihsan Doğramacı Bilkent University Business Information Management (BIM) Department students‘ own perception of their Fluency in Information level (FITness). A secondary purpose of this study was to determine the possible factors affecting the BIM students‘ perceived FITness levels particularly as they progress through their four academic years. This was a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study. In order to obtain data, an instrument developed by Sharp (2010) was used. This study was conducted in the Department of Business Information Management, Ġ.D. Bilkent University. In December 2015, ninety-six BIM students from all years participated in this study, by responding to the same survey questions. The survey included three sections: Contemporary Skills, Foundational Concepts and Intellectual Capabilities. There were 13 Likert-type questions in the survey. To analyze the data, frequency tables, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Independent Samples T-Test were used. The results revealed that Fluency in Information Technology perception level mean scores of BIM students increased each academic year. Freshman BIM students had significantly lower scores than other years in terms of their contemporary skills and foundational concepts perceptions. However, there was no statistical significance in intellectual capabilities of BIM students regardless of academic year. The results also revealed no significant difference between the perception survey total scores of male and female BIM students.