Promoting computer literacy: a search for cost-effective alternatives

ABSTRACT

The use of computers in society today is growing at a startling rate. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly important that today's well-educated college graduates have knowledge about computing. This knowledge, which not only includes exposure to the use of computing but the ability to manipulate computers for one's own individual needs, is what might be termed computer literacy. It is becoming essential that the educational institutions in this country provide students with the opportunity to become computer literate by promoting the use of computing in education. Unfortunately, this has not been done as rapidly as we would like to see. It then becomes an important responsibility for the computer professional in general and the User Services organization in particular to provide both the environment and the motivation for development of computer literacy.There are a number of reasons why instructional computing has grown slowly in the past. One reason is that faculty either do not have the time or do not receive rewards for developing and implementing instructional materials. Another reason is that there is often very little funding available for the acquisition of computing hardware. Making this problem worse is the trend toward tightening of computing budgets at many academic institutions. Fortunately, within recent years, a number of hardware and software alternatives have been developed and are beginning to address these problems.This session will be an examination of some of the alternatives that are available for providing instructional computing facilities at a reasonable cost, thus paving the way for our efforts to promote computer literacy. The hardware alternatives range from the large to small, centralized to decentralized. While inexpensive technology is now available, there are many factors, including logistical, technical, administrative, and political that prevent us from moving immediately to the most modern equipment. The intent of this paper is to suggest alternatives that are viable despite these constraints, and thereby provide a model for those who are evaluating available alternatives.

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Computing education

      • Computing education programs