Orlando, Fla.—Online education can help laid-off workers learn new skills. But before they can even dream about getting a degree, some must clear a much more basic hurdle: learning how to use a computer.
This lack of basic computer knowledge is an increasingly common predicament as community colleges accommodate workers displaced by the economic downturn, according to one speaker at today’s Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning, which is taking place here this week.
Colleges are trying to bring people up to speed with basic computing classes that focus on material as simple as explaining the function of a mouse, says Saundra W. Williams, senior vice president and chief of technology and workforce development for the North Carolina Community College System.
During a talk on emerging trends in online learning at community colleges, Ms. Williams told the story of one laid-off worker who had spent 27 years with the same company—working the same job. She only had a high-school diploma.
“How many of you can imagine what her skill level would be to move into something different?” Ms. Williams asked. She added, “Some people will come in—they don’t know how to turn the computer on. They never had to. Their jobs never required it.”
Is this issue something your college is seeing as well? Tell us about it in the comments below.
11 Responses to In Downturn, More Return to College Without Basic Computer Skills
luisc - November 3, 2010 at 5:41 pm
While working for the Residential Life department of a large public 4-year university I was often tasked with helping our staff workers learn basic computer functionality (how to start the computer, use a mouse, open a web browser, check campus mail, basic web navigation, etc.). What made this especially tough was that nearly half of our custodial staff did not speak English as a first language, so we were really dealing with two barriers: technology and language. While I created dual-language instructional materials and conducted group and 1-1 training, it was quite a hurdle, specially with our older workers- many of whom were very bright and capable individuals. I’m glad this issue is starting to get attention. Educational and professional development should not be hampered by something as rudimentary as basic computer skills.
mack4853 - November 3, 2010 at 10:49 pm
All of my f2f classes are in a computer lab. Using a computer is part of my objectives for students. I started doing this about six years ago and since that time, fewer and fewer students come completely unprepared. What I do is make it a requirement that all students use our campus LMS (Blackboard) right from the first day of class. I put student in groups and tell them to use their group members if they need assistance with the computer. Some of the students begin very skeptical and ready to quit. By the fourth or fifth week, these novices are almost up to speed and thrilled that they have learned a new skill. By the end of the semester, they are uniformly glad they were thrown in the deep end and allowed to struggle. It is my opinion that you can’t sugar coat this process for students. It has to be something you require up front. They will learn it but only because I expect them to.
tbstoller - November 4, 2010 at 9:30 am
My university has a program designed for non-traditional college students, but it has not addressed this lack of the most basic computer skills. As a librarian, a large percentage of my time is now spent teaching students how to set up their student email, attach documents to an email, and format their papers (margins, double-spacing, etc.). I recently had to explain to a student that her paper would not be formatted correctly if she insisted on hitting the enter key at the end of each line.
Their professors seem unaware of their total lack of knowlege and they do not explain assignments clearly. One professor told a student that she needed to “name her Word document with doc at the end” so it would be compatible to Word 2003, so that’s what she did. He didn’t explain the she needed to convert it to .doc.
I do not know why they don’t add a basic computer literacy component to the classes the students take early in their studies. I had grad classes where the professor would take the last 10 minutes to go over how to use Excel for statistics or Endnote for citations. I am getting tired of being a computer tutor and the students will not stay in the program if they cannot do the work.
missoularedhead - November 4, 2010 at 1:20 pm
It would help immensely if part of the application process was a diagnostic for computer skills. I teach online, and I have students who email me the second or third week of class for help logging on to the course Blackboard, or tell me they haven’t yet figured out how to get to their school email. And while our TELS department does a great job with tutorials of such things, it’s no help when the student can’t even figure out how to get to them.
And oy, let’s not even talk about using the library’s (fabulous) online resources.
It’s sort of sad, truth be told, that I spend more time in an online class helping them figure out how to get online than I do answering questions that pertain to the material.
tribblek - November 4, 2010 at 1:31 pm
At my large, technical/community college, we have just begun offering a one-credit course in basic computing skills. This is my first term teaching it and I’m surprised that the majority of these students are in their early 20s. I have the expected 40+ and 50+ laid off workers. But I didn’t expect students to be right out of high school and not know how to adjust the margins of a word processing document or create/name a folder for their file storage. I’m glad it’s being offered, because teaching it is rewarding.
I normally teach a “freshman seminar” course and am beginning to modify it to focus on what I call “academic computing”, or common skills one needs to succeed in college (information literacy and word processing skills).
lizziec - November 4, 2010 at 4:14 pm
@missoularedhead – I have experienced the same thing: teaching an online course and by week 3 at least 2 emails from students who have no idea where the course materials are posted… nor how to reach them. Online/distance education has been an enrollment boon ($) to many colleges – especially community colleges – so I think that there is institutional reticence to any attempt to limit the interest. As a faculty member, I really don’t want to teach you how to turn on your computer and find BlackBoard, or click on a link to access a file… and frankly, I don’t think I should have to teach you that if you chose an online learening option. We do placement tests in Math, Reading and Writing – why not add one for basic computing skills??!?!
cheryljp - November 4, 2010 at 6:13 pm
One thing I have noticed is that students just out of high school are lacking word and data processing skills. Sure, they made a table in a Word document, once. And maybe they opened a spreadsheet when they were a junior. I am not talking about just my on-campus classes; my oneline students are often lacking skills to easily use word processing and other common programs. We have started letting students know that they need basic computer skills before they sign into many classes. The problem is that they think that have them because they use computers and other devices for socializing and gaming.
oklatonola - November 4, 2010 at 8:21 pm
It isn’t only basic computer skills that needs to be taught somewhere in pre-college education. I’ve spent a lot of time on Yahoo Answer over the last two years, and I have noticed how often people do not seem to be able to come up with appropriate search terms to do a Google search or other search engine. A lot of times they are completely unaware that the answer to their question can easily be found if they did a Google search. I’ve been using Google since 1995 when the University of Oklahoma put it on the university servers. Google is much better now than it was in 1995. I’d put in a search term, get 40,000 hits in seven seconds, and MAYBE two or three of these hits would be close to what I was looking for. The people who use the Astronomy and Space section in Yahoo Answer range in age from 12 years to 65 or more years old.
I think learning how to search online should be similar to learning how to use an old fashioned card catalog as a section in an English (or language) class in elementary school except adapted to an online environment. Admittedly, I may be somewhat biased by the 9 hours of library science courses I took while working on my geology master’s degree. chryljp’s comment about the problem that many think they have computer skills but actually don’t has to be considered. Has any school at any level considered students doing a required “placement test” in computer skills at the beginning of the term as part of an orientation program?
orangehorse - November 5, 2010 at 9:41 am
My education has been most recently in English Lit and Library Science. I teach at a community college, which, as far as I know, does not require a basic computing placement test, nor a writing sample test. Some of the English prep students I teach right now can’t write, and some of them can’t type and don’t know how to navigate around and use computers. Watching them struggle the other week in the computer lab trying to use the computers to complete a short paragraph assignment made me aware of how hard it is and will be for them. They aren’t prepared and I didn’t have the time or resources to teach them these skills…and yes, they don’t know how to search for things, either, in a catalog or library. They are deft texters and users of cell phones, but that seems to be mostly it in terms of the range of their technological skills.
harriet1925 - November 5, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Community colleges and workforce development centers can certainly help by offering classes in very basic computer skills. A relative was recently laid off from work. Knowing how to use a computer is necessary even to apply for most jobs today, as the majority of large companies REQUIRE online applications. Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, ad infinitum, will not accept paper applications. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have home computers may not have noticed those computer kiosks that are set up in these retail locations where hopeful applicants can type in their applications. In our local Walmart, the kiosk is set up right next to the customer service desk, where there are lines of customers returning items. So, you can imagine how frustrating it would be for a person to apply for a job, with limited computer skills, typing in a job application, while simultaneously listening to customers demanding refunds. And who is going to help when the computer locks up? Certainly not the person behind the counter who is trying to be pleasant to the 6th customer who is demanding a refund for a $3.00 item. There is no “helpdesk” to tell these folks about control/alt/delete at these kiosks.
bethj - November 6, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Like a few others here, I’m a librarian too and have seen this problem all too often. Mostly with “older” people returning to school, but also with the younger set of students. The problem at my library is not so much that I and my colleagues are unable or unwilling to help; it’s that it is often very busy at my reference desk and if you are the only librarian on duty, research and reference questions take precedence. That is our primary responsibility when in public areas of the library. I’ve made it a personal rule that if I can answer a basic skills question quickly (2 minutes or less), I will do so, but I am not going to sit next to a user an walk them through, step by step. I am 100% in favor of a basic skills course/test for incoming students.
Don’t get me started on database ignorance, except to say that for a generation of students who have no problem clicking on YouTube videos and a variety of links in Facebook, they sure are uneasy about clicking on a link in a library database that just might hold the answer they are looking for!