<p>In my view, the problem here is one of a failure of responsibility and ownership rather than knowledge. It’s really not a big deal if you don’t know you need to download Adobe to open a .pdf. It IS a big deal if your response to a file that won’t open is to give up, or ask your English professor for Adobe lessons, instead of looking for the information yourself. (According to the article, this was in the course materials as well as through Google.)</p>
<p>Students need more of an adult attitude toward resourcefulness, as opposed to courses in computer literacy. When you run into a software snag, the right answer is rarely to go directly to your professor/boss unless your course/job is about software. The right answer is to check whether the solution might be right in front of you. In other words, when you discover a hole in your computer literacy (or other underlying skill), you view it as YOUR problem, not someone else’s.</p>