Digital illiteracy among college students

Parent Cafe
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<p>As someone who grew up in the typewriter, rotary phone, snail mail era and struggled successfully to learn technology step by step, I find it sad that some young people today are digital klutzes. </p>

<p>Do they need to get their faces out of Facebook? Even here on CC, there are many young posters who ask simple questions because they are unable (or too lazy) to search a college website for the answer. </p>

<p>Thoughts??</p>

<p>Digital</a> natives? Not my students. – - Maclean's On Campus</p>

<p>There’s a lot of talk about how today’s student is a “digital native” and how educators have to adjust to their mad high tech skills. Born and raised with electronic technology, the high tech world is as natural to today’s students as a first language.</p>

<p>Of course, what exactly that implies, is anyone’s guess, and some commentators have begun to point out that maybe this whole digital native thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Maybe being raised with technology doesn’t mean students have the skills we think they do. Mary Beth Hertz, for example, has noted that just because students know how to use computers doesn’t mean that they know how to use them well.</p>

<p>My experiences this year have begun to make me think Beth Hertz is right. Maybe more right than even she imagined.</p>

<p>Strange as it sounds, I’m worried that this generation of students increasingly doesn’t know how to use computers. Before you scoff and say “Ridiculous: today’s students are all about technology. They grew up with it. The eat, breathe and sleep technology” consider the following, admittedly anecdotal, evidence.</p>

<p>Exhibit A: A student who is required to submit her paper in Word format comes to me and says she doesn’t have Word on her computer. I tell her that she can create Word files for free in Google Docs, or she can download Open Office for free and save her files in Word format that way. She can’t manage to do either. Later, she drops the class.</p>

<p>Exhibit B: Another student with the same problem manages to solve it by printing the essay out at home, taking it to the lab at school and retyping the whole thing over again.</p>

<p>Exhibit C: A student receives his assignment back in PDF format but is helpless to open it because double clicking doesn’t work and he has no idea how to download a free PDF reader, even though advice on this matter was included in the course outline.</p>

<p>These are all true stories, and they are all recent examples. And maybe they are not typical but I have never in the past decade had so many students who seemingly lacked even basic computer skills. These students don’t seem like digital natives. They’re not even “digital citizens” as Hertz has it. They’re digital tourists.</p>

<p>But didn’t they grow up with technology?</p>

<p>Technology yes, but not entirely, or even mainly, computers. The main piece of tech these students interact with, as far as I can see, is their phones. They text and tweet and check Facebook, but none of these things require them to do very much, to create documents, or find solutions to problems they haven’t encountered before.</p>

<p>When they do use computers, my sense is that it’s mainly for playing games and web surfing, and there again, they are just opening the program and clicking (or blasting) away. Aspects of computing that I and my friends took pains to learn like learning to find software, and learning to use a word processing program are not skills that students have — or at least that we can’t take for granted that they have them.</p>

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<p>I’ve noticed there’s usually only one tech person in the family. If it’s a parent, the kids don’t learn. My kids never even tried to get around restrictions I placed on internet hours and social networking access when they were a little younger, although off the top of my head I can think of a way to do so. On the other hand, parents of a friend of D2 said their son wouldn’t let them have access to his computer - he had it password-protected and generally appeared far savvier than his parents.</p>

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<p>What is the background of these students? Did they come from homes with computers? Were they required to use those programs in school? Just because it’s out there doesn’t mean all kids have access to them. I hear over and over again how parents refuse to get a computer for their kids because they don’t want them looking at porn or other questionable sites :rolleyes:. Schools that try to implement more technology get bucked by the community because “it was good enough for me, why do my kids need all that”. How many people refuse to get their child a smart phone because “they don’t need one”. All of these would be the same as our parents saying, typewriter, why do you need one of those, what’s wrong with a pen and paper??</p>

<p>My question to you is why didn’t you show the girl how to download Open Office or show B how to use a thumb drive or help C download Adobe?</p>

<p>My kids would know how to do all of that and then some but they don’t have the excel skills my DH has because they haven’t needed to use that program to the extent he has. They can use the program but they don’t know how to embed the higher functions of the program, etc. (neither do I for that matter). If they needed to do that, however, he would show them.</p>

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<p>In the last two paragraphs of the article Dr. Pettigrew specifies that these students are quite savvy on their smart phones and using social media. What they don’t know is how to use a computer for classwork or on the job.</p>

<p>It is also not the responsibility of a college professor to offer remedial training on a computer to his/her students.</p>

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<p>“It is also not the responsibility of a college professor to offer remedial training on a computer to his/her students.”</p>

<p>Would this same professor not show a student how to make a proper cup of tea if the kid popped by for office hours and the prof learned that the kid had never had tea? Good grief. This is academic snobbery.</p>

<p>Yes, it is disturbing when someone does not have the skill set that you expected they had, but your options are to either help that person develop that skill set, or hand them off to the person who can. Whining about it is not going to improve things at all.</p>

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<p>TomSrOfBoston–WOW, really??? You couldn’t be bothered to take 5 minutes to show a kid how to download Adobe?, REALLY??? Perhaps the student has been told that by every teacher? Wow :eek: I was specifically asking the background of the students you are “teaching”. </p>

<p>Like any article, it picks a few examples of the “worst case” and exploits them. I’m sure a large number–high 90%–of the kids in our high school would know how to do of those things you stated because they are required to do them in high school in many classes.</p>

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<p>I think anyone learns something new when they are forced to. These kids have not been asked to do this yet.</p>

<p>What is wonderful about the Internet is that people are willing to share their knowledge of how to solve any problem or answer any question.</p>

<p>So…google it. Step by step directions are available for almost every question you have.</p>

<p>Computer programs are changing daily. What people learned 5 years ago is often obsolete after a few years. These kids need to learn how to access info and follow directions.</p>

<p>And in a few more years we won’t even need keyboards. We will tell our computers what to do or write and they will automatically take care of it…</p>

<p>So these students need to learn how to access what they need themselves.</p>

<p>And we all have to consistently keep up with the next best thing…or we will be replaced by those that do.</p>

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<p>I am not the professor. I noticed this article on line. I am a CPA and in hiring college grads, I would expect them to already have these basic skills or they would not get hired.</p>

<p>Also, in large universities, a class can consist of hundreds of students. So no, I would not offer remedial training to a student or job applicant. </p>

<p>Sorry if I am intolerant of apologists for young people not having basic skills needed in college or their careers.</p>

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<p>As a hiring manager, you can expect people to know certain things because you have vetted the program that they come from and you know that they have mastered a specific skill set.</p>

<p>If the college admission process does not require a specific skill set for enrollment, then some students will have skills that others don’t. To whine about a student not knowing how to do something will get the student nowhere. These students will not suddenly master a skill (whether it is turning on a computer, baking a cake, or driving a car) unless someone sets the student in the right direction.</p>

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<p>TomSrOfBoston–if you are not their professor, how do you have personal experience with these kids needing to use these programs for assignments and dropping classes, etc. because they didn’t know how to use them/get them?</p>

<p>Again, not ALL kids grow up with technology for one reason or another. MOST kids these days do, but not all.</p>

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While a professor may take the time to show one individual or two individuals how to do something, it would quickly become onerous if they were tasked with showing dozens of them. Incorporating it into a class when that is not part of the curriculum is also a problem. Not academic snobbery, just practical sense. That said, if professors are finding their students ill-equipped with skills they expect them to come into the course with, the question can be taken up by the system at large.</p>

<p>One of the courses D took freshman year at hs was Computer applications and keyboarding. They learned to type (for real, not picking) and how to use an assortment of software. Of course, most of the CC uber-kids would look down on such a class ;), but she has found it useful.</p>

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<p>Steve, I think he was just pasting part of the article. If my kids didn’t know how to do something, they would call their dad. Not me - I haven’t a clue. I agree if they have not done these things before, it would be reasonable that they would not know how to do them. Also, I think mine would tend to ask around among their friends rather than Google it. They all have used computers to write and turn in papers though. Not sure they would know how to convert it to Word if we didn’t have it.</p>

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<p>Uh, I am commenting on what the professor wrote in the article.</p>

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<p>Over the Thanksgiving break, I went to go visit my dad’s best friends and their kids (ages 16 and 11). The 16 year old is a junior in high school so we got to talking about scholarships, colleges, etc. She is a genius and a violin prodigy, but didn’t know the first thing about google when I told her she needed to start searching for scholarships. Why? Because her parents are technophobes who have severely restricted internet and the only computer is a family computer that barely allows you to surf the web. The parents are extremely overprotective and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if my “cousins” didn’t know how to download Adobe or something when they get to college. </p>

<p>Her parents, btw, are a doctor and an accountant (by training, he is now a SAHD). They barely know how to use computers and refuse to let their children learn. </p>

<p>No, not everyone of my generation is a native to technology for one reason or another. I do think students should be able to go to their prof to ask for help, even if the prof just told them where to go for other help. I really don’t think it should be expected that every single student has had technology their whole lives.</p>

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<p>Well, yes, now… but not our whole lives. Most of our lives were spent without smart phones. We are fluent in computers first, smartphones second. I think I remember smart phones getting big around my junior year which means most college students didn’t have their first smart phones until at LEAST high school.</p>

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<p>@romani: I was going to make a post asking you what an SAHD was. Then I remembered “Google is my friend” and found out for myself: Stay At Home Dad"!</p>

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<p>I think the bigger message is that too many kids aren’t very resourceful because too much has been handed to them. Too many can’t find their way out of a wet paper bag. </p>

<p>Even my own kids shock me sometimes when they don’t know some very basic things. As a mom, I have to admit (and slap myself upside the head) for perhaps not making sure that they had enough “walking around smarts” growth opportunities while growing up.</p>

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<p>kids, like everyone, learn by doing things. Once they do a task a few times, it is easy for them. Having said that, there really isn’t any excuse for not being able to learn things on your own, and no more excuses for being ignorant these days, everything you need to now is a click away.</p>

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<p>@mom2: You hit the nail on the head! If some students don’t know how do download Adobe, there are certainly others who do. They need to be proactive to reach out to others for assistance, rather than waiting for someone to offer the help. </p>

<p>Professor Pettigrew, who wrote the article I pasted, teaches at a Canadian university. In Canada, universities are not known for hand holding. Students have to be resourceful or suffer the consequences.</p>

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<p>I would think most colleges have resource centers where students can pick up the skills they are missing.</p>

<p>M2ck, I think you have a very valid point.</p>

<p>g20…exactly right. It is all right there for the taking. THE INTERNET IS AWESOME.</p>

<p>Sadly, I think that all the info we find for free today will eventually cost us extra money to access it. It is only a matter of time…</p>

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<p>Part of the problem is an assumption that kids who use smart phones know about computers. They don’t! We assume that these kids all have certain skill sets, because it appears that the majority have them - only maybe we’re making an assumption about the majority too.</p>

<p>Our middle school won’t allow kids to use flash drives, because they might bring viruses and infect the school computers, yet the 9th graders are expected to know how to use flash drives - there is a disconnect. Now they’re restructured our middle school schedules, and kids who take “general music” get a half year course on keyboarding (typing/computers , not musical keyboards) while those in band or chorus have music all year and don’t get that class. Yet teachers will expect them to have the same skill set when they get to the high school. If students are arriving at universities without these skills, there should be a place for them to get them - maybe the same place they go for help with their writing, because this has become part of the writing process.</p>