Academic programs for first year students are increasingly emphasizing computer skills - and this trend is expected to expand significantly in the next few years, according to Penn State faculty members.
Many instructors have begun adapting courses taken by first year students into learning environments that teach information technology skills. Faculty members are also relying on programs like the Student Computing Initiative (Penn State's recent recommendation that every full-time student have a personal computer) to get the word out to freshmen and potential students that computers are now an essential part of college life.
"Everyone assumes that students are natural computer
users and are more advanced than the faculty," said R. Thomas Berner, professor
of journalism and American studies, "but my experience suggests that while
students know where the on/off switch is and can type a paper and send
e-mail-they see the computer as little more than a glorified typewriter that
can send messages."
Over the twenty-five years he spent teaching journalism courses at University Park, Berner came to believe that the ability to use electronic research tools such as Lexis/Nexis and the Library Information Access System (LIAS) could spell success or failure for many students. This spring his honors COMM 261 class made frequent use of digital research tools and interacted with one another electronically several times a week using a Web-based technology called CourseTalk. Berner plans to incorporate CourseTalk into three first year seminars he will teach next fall, by using the software to stimulate Web-based discussion of articles available on-line from the New York Times. At the end of the semester, he'll expect the first year students to know how to successfully retrieve and download research materials, have a good understanding of Word, Excel, FrontPage, and be able to create PowerPoint presentations.
Berner is not alone in his campaign to strengthen freshmen technology skills. This April, 213 faculty, staff, and students attended and/or gave presentations at Penn State's Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium (a number up 33 percent from last year). Many of these participants teach the First Year Seminar or freshmen courses throughout the University's twenty-four campuses.
"Faculty members are hungry for knowledge they can use to help their students utilize technology," said John Harwood, director of the Center for Academic Computing's Educational Technology Services. "There is a growing understanding that the immense spectrum of research and instructional opportunities available today can only be accessible to students if they know how to use computers."
"These are skills that will take young people through college-and life," added Helen Hartman, a First Year Seminar instructor and lecturer of Kinesiology at the Penn State Berks-Lehigh Valley College. Hartman, who uses the Appalachian Trail as a metaphor in her classes to teach students how to "embark on a process, work through it-then finish it," believes that students need to learn to benefit from interaction with one another and technology to effectively manage in today's world. "I ask my students, what does it take to journey a 2,160 mile path, packing everything you need on your back-and what kind of tools and skills will you need to begin a four year study program that will lead to a college degree you'll want to use the rest of your life?"
Following her on-line instructions, first year
students in Hartman's seminar last fall and this spring worked in groups to
collect and evaluate information about the Appalachian Trail by using the
Internet and LIAS. They also collaborated to master the use of
e-mail,
electronic references, Web-journals, and, in some cases, HTML in order to
present final projects via the World Wide Web.
Higher-education trends echo the rising demand for technology-savvy students. At Penn State last year over 10,229 students, faculty, and staff enrolled in computer training classes; 97 percent of all students currently use Internet access accounts; and 86 percent of students own their own computers. "That figure should climb to 100 percent in the next couple of years," said Harwood, who also chairs the Student Computing Initiative Committee. "Penn State now provides free Internet access, free Microsoft software, and free computer training and consulting services in order to make acquiring and using a computer easy for incoming students." The University is additionally in the process of sending out information packets that provide advice on how to purchase a computer, receive financial aid, identify college system-requirements, and obtain repair services to newly admitted Penn State students, he added.
On a national scale, information technology spending by colleges and universities is expected to jump from $3.1 billion in 1998 to nearly $5 billion by 2003, in an effort to attract students and stay current in computer technology, predicts International Data Corporation in the recent report IT Spending Forecast for Higher Education Institutions, 1998-2003.
Upper-level classmen agree that incoming students are more likely to do well in college if they're technology-prepared. In a survey recently conducted by the Center for Academic Computing, over 75% of all students queried rated the significance of computers to academic work and post-graduate careers as either "very important" or "extremely important." In addition, Penn State recently doubled its server capacity in response to student demand for Web-based services such as on-line academic counseling, course information, and scheduling; and in the last six months, LIAS on the Web increased its databases and resources almost 25%, due to the high-volume of patron requests for on-line library materials.
Adds Katrina Gavriloff, a senior majoring in English who just recently landed an internship with America Online, "Students may sometimes feel they can avoid computers and other sources of information technology - but this choice can seriously impede their marketability, especially in a world that has a growing desire for a more technologically well-rounded English major."
For more information, please see the Student Computing Initiative Web site at: http://www.psu.edu/studentcomputing/
