College means computing

Computer Life column for April 25, 1998
by
Richard Gordon

This week I had a call from a faculty member at a local school, asking me what that school's college-bound graduates should look like "technology-wise." It's a question a lot of schools and school districts have been asking themselves.

I should note up front that this is my personal opinion, and not the official position of the University for which I work.

It's also important to note that high school graduates who plan to enter the workforce directly should still be exposed to computing basics. Computers are in so many workplaces that an employee's ability to use a computer often helps the employer and the employee.

In some businesses and industries, specialized computer programs are now used in--for example--design, drafting, billing, and training. A new employee who has had some success with basic computing applications is more likely to have success with these specialized programs as well.

College-bound equals computer bound

E-mail and word processing are used across the entire curriculum on most college campuses. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Students who enter college with confidence in their ability to learn to use computers are way ahead of their peers who use them grudgingly. If a student learns the basics of using a computer, that will help him or her feel able to tackle new programs. So, having no fear of a computer is the most important part of the technology profile.

To achieve that goal, a student should have had success with some of the basic productivity tools and, if possible, with some specialized applications (e.g., Adobe Photoshop for an art student).

When they enter college, it would be great if all students knew how to do more than just type a paper in a word processor: They should know how to save drafts of their work, check for spelling and grammar errors, move paragraphs and sentences around, change typefaces and fonts, change basic formatting (indentation, margins, spacing), and print the document.

Similarly, they should know how to enter data into a spreadsheet, format the data, and build simple formulas to use that data. It doesn't matter if it's a science lab calculating the average rainfall for different cities or a statistics lesson or even a chart in which the students in the mile-a-morning club track how much they've run and their at-rest pulse rates. Just being able to do basic data manipulation is going to help a college-bound student immensely.

Using computer-based research tools is also very important. Most libraries now have their catalogs computerized; not many have card catalogs with real cards anymore. Therefore, in order to find information effectively, students need exposure to keyword searching of catalogs, CD-ROMs of information, and other resources.

They also need to know how to find information over the Internet. Given the millions of documents available over the Web, students should know how to find encyclopedia-style and current events information before they hit college. And if students have attempted in-depth research using the Internet--learning the strengths and limits of the Web, learning how to evaluate the reliability of the information they find--they are in great shape.

And don't overlook the "safe computing" and "data management" issues: for example, observing copyright rules for information found on-line, making back-up copies of work on a separate disk, learning how a computer's files are organized and how to find a file on a computer, and not sharing passwords with other students.

Even if they haven't picked up specialized computer skills like programming, e-mail, molecular modeling, or graphics manipulation in high school, students with a confident knowledge of the basics of general computing, word processing, data manipulation, and research tools are well-positioned to succeed in either the workplace or in college.

Copyright © 1998, The News Journal Company

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