Purdue Global IT190: Information Technology Concepts
IT190 is the entry point for Purdue Global's IT degrees, surveying hardware, software, operating systems, networking, databases, and security at an introductory level. It runs over the standard 10-week term with a unit of work due every week, and it sets the vocabulary every later IT course assumes.
Fennie is independent and not affiliated with Purdue Global. This is an unofficial study guide.
What makes it hard
Nothing in IT190 is conceptually deep. The trap is volume and cadence. Each unit stacks a discussion post, an assignment, and a seminar, and students who let a Tuesday deadline slip spend the rest of the term catching up. Students with IT experience get bored and skim, then lose points on assignment rubrics that want specific terminology from the readings.
What you'll cover
- • Computer hardware and software fundamentals
- • Operating systems basics
- • Networking concepts
- • Introduction to databases
- • Information security basics
- • IT careers and certifications
The IT190 study guide
How to study for Purdue Global IT190, step by step.
- 1
Map all 10 weeks before unit 1 opens
List every discussion, assignment, and seminar from the syllabus in one place. IT190's danger is volume on a fixed clock, so see the whole term before it starts moving.
- 2
Read each unit over the weekend before it starts
Finishing the reading by Sunday lets you post your initial discussion early in the week, leaving room for the required responses and the assignment before Tuesday night.
- 3
Keep a running vocabulary list
The assignment rubrics want specific terminology from the readings: hardware components, network terms, security concepts. Capture terms as you read so assignments quote the right language.
- 4
Attend seminars live when you can
The live session previews what the week's assignment rubric cares about. If you must use the Option 2 write-up, do it the same week so it never stacks onto the next unit.
- 5
Submit Monday, not Tuesday at 11:58
A self-imposed Monday deadline gives you a full buffer day for tech problems or a seminar conflict, the most common ways students lose easy points in IT190.
Today
Today's IT190 plan
What a Fennie Daily Plan looks like for IT190. Yours is built from your own syllabus and adapts every day to your deadlines and progress.
First plan free, no card required. Fennie is independent and unaffiliated with your school.
FAQ
Is Purdue Global IT190 hard?
No. It's an introductory survey course. The difficulty is keeping up with the weekly cadence: a discussion, an assignment, and a seminar every unit for 10 weeks. Students who fall a unit behind struggle far more than students who find the material hard.
What do you do in IT190 at Purdue Global?
You cover IT fundamentals (hardware, software, operating systems, networking, databases, and security) through weekly readings, discussion boards, written assignments, and live seminars over a 10-week term.
Do I need IT experience before taking IT190?
No. IT190 assumes zero background. If you already work in IT, expect review material. Your job is mostly hitting the rubric requirements on each weekly assignment rather than learning anything new.
More Purdue Global courses
IT273: Networking Concepts
IT273 is Purdue Global's core networking course, covering the OSI and TCP/IP models, IP addressing and subnetting, network hardware, and basic network troubleshooting. It sits early in the IT and cybersecurity tracks and roughly tracks CompTIA Network+ territory.
IT331: Technology Infrastructure
IT331 is an upper-division course on designing and evaluating technology infrastructure: networks, servers, cloud services, and the planning that ties them to business requirements. It typically culminates in a multi-part infrastructure design project that builds across the term.
IT332: Principles of Information Systems Architecture
IT332 is an upper-division course on how the pieces of an information system fit together: hardware, operating systems, networks, and applications viewed as one architecture rather than separate topics. It leans on diagramming and design assignments that ask you to specify a complete system for a scenario organization.
IT391: Advanced Software Development
IT391 covers advanced design and programming concepts, applied across web and mobile contexts, with latitude in which language you implement assignments in. It sits late in the software development track and assumes you can already write working programs without hand-holding.