Mary Harrsch (Mary_Harrsch@ccmail.uoregon.edu)
Thu, 24 Sep 1998 11:31:37 -0700
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Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 11:31:37 -0700 From: Mary Harrsch <Mary_Harrsch@ccmail.uoregon.edu> Subject: Re: [ifets] Another try - (Fwd) Size of Learning Market; Sto
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I understand where Jacyln is coming from and to some extent agree with her
but I can't help but shudder when I encounter a new faculty member that has
gotten all the way through PhD but doesn't even know what operating system
the computer has that they have been given to use in their work. (I had
this experience just last week) Technology has become an integral tool in
our research and teaching activities. Yet, I am amazed by new graduates
that, although apparently "educated", seem to have such marginal computer
literacy skills in this information age. This deficiency makes these
graduates substantially less productive ( at least in an environment such as
ours where 98% of all formal communication is electronic and
computer-mediated collaboration a daily fact of life) and therefore less
desirable from an employer's perspective. Liberal arts majors appear to be
the most disadvantaged since technology is less integrated in these
disciplines than in the sciences. For these reasons we have introduced
mandatory computer literacy courses in our newly defined education
undergraduate program here.
Mary Harrsch
Network and Information Systems Manager
College of Education
102-K Education
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
(541) 346-3554
http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~mharrsch/index.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: ifets@gmd.de <ifets@gmd.de>
To: ifets@gmd.de <ifets@gmd.de>
Date: Friday, September 18, 1998 12:21 PM
Subject: Re: [ifets] Another try - (Fwd) Size of Learning Market; Sto
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i have been lurking so far ... but now i want to put a few cents' worth
in:
one thing i am very concerned about every time i hear about making
education a business is the emphasis of "work-related skills" versus
"education". while i will not argue against better math and science
education, the issue is if that is instead of the poor math/science
education we are giving now, or if that will supplant such "useless"
subjects such as english literature, art, and music.
i wish i could remember where this stat came from, but i heard in a
lecture a year back that many k-12 teachers rated teaching children how to
use computers as more important than math or reading! this is terrifying,
because they are forgetting that technology is a _tool_, not an end in
itself. this is a perspective that i think this list has held onto very
well -- i just wish everyone else did!!
also, the trend i am seeing in higher education is to slight liberal arts
and social sciences for technology and business oriented subjects. i do
realize that the alumni for those fields tend to make a *little* more
money <grin>, but in my experience people with a background in the
arts/social sciences had better problem solving skills. i think that it
is only a matter of time (if it isn't already happening), before
businessed rediscover the value of a liberal education w/ a background in
technolgy. (disclaimer: i am biased - i have a degree in political
science, with a minor in computing.)
but there - i have vented plenty ;) just remember, if you use technology
for everything, but don't have an understanding of what it is doing and
why it works, you have become a slave to that technology and are no longer
independent ...
----------------------------------------------------
Jaclyn Whitehorn * User Service Consultant
Seebeck Computer Center * The University of Alabama
jaclyn@bama.ua.edu * (205)348-8720
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