The continuing growth of telecommunication networks is currently dominated by two technologies: fiber optics (or optical networking) and wireless. The Telecommunications Engineering Technology program at RIT, as part of its continuous improvement program, has been developing and updating courses in these important areas. This paper describes a two-course sequence in fiber optic telecommunication technology and systems. The first course in the sequence was introduced in the spring of 2001 as an advanced undergraduate elective. It has proven to be a popular course and has run at least once per year since then. The second course has just been completed and will be offered this spring (2005). The paper begins with a brief overview of fiber optic telecommunication, including some recent forecasts of the future of optical networking. The next two sections describe each of the two courses and the last section is a short summary
