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College Freshmen Struggle With Tech Literacy

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the gotta-grow-up-nerd-to-get-ahead dept.

snow_man writes to mention an article on the E-Commerce News site about techno-literacy problems with incoming college freshmen. Some schools, like CSU, are planning on including a technology comprehension test alongside their English and Math evaluations for new students. From the article: "Not all of Generation M can synthesize the loads of information they're accessing, educators say. 'They're geeky, but they don't know what to do with their geekdom,' said Barbara O'Connor, a Sacramento State communications studies professor involved in a nationwide effort to hone students' computer-research skills. On a recent nationwide test to measure their technological 'literacy' -- their ability to use the Internet to complete class assignments -- only 49 percent of the test-takers correctly evaluated a set of Web sites for objectivity, authority and timeliness. Only 35 percent could correctly narrow an overly broad Internet search."

7 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. i have noticed this strange phenomenon by treat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At first I suspected it was because I've been doing searches since the days of archie. But more and more I've come to realize that some people just have no skill when it comes to doing a web search. I think it's primarily due to poor reading comprehension and poor reading speed.

    These people who can't do searches, they click on results where the summary clearly shows that it is not the desired material. If they had read every word, it would have been clear.

    It's a basic literacy problem. Americans have really poor literacy. The destruction of the concept that parents should educate their children, combined with an increasingly poor public education system, has left us with a generation too illiterate to do a web search.

    1. Re:i have noticed this strange phenomenon by Venik · · Score: 5, Interesting

      People have come to expect that the government is going to do that job for them...

      Sweden and Russia and two good examples of how a government can achieve excellent results by actively developing and implementing common standards in education. Parents, who themselves grew up in the TV-watching culture, are unlikely to encourage their children to read. Only the government, through a well-planned national campaign, can break this cycle. The way to a better public education system is not throwing more money at the problem. I agree with you here. I think the answer is in further standardization of curricula, textbooks, teaching and testing methods, introduction of uniforms in public schools, and a better system for evaluating professional competency of the faculty. Higher salaries for teachers is where the extra money should go.

    2. Re:i have noticed this strange phenomenon by KingJackaL · · Score: 5, Informative
      http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q=%22get+out+ of+a+wet+paper+bag%22

      ...gives several examples on the first hit ;)

      --
      Perfecting the art of insanity since 1982
  2. Missing the point... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This sort of topic has come up before, and the conclusion that should be drawn is the same -- this situation has little to do with technology, and a lot to do with lack of basic critical thinking skills.

    As long as US schools (for what it's worth, I don't necessarily know if it's a lot better elsewhere) continue to fail in teaching critical thinking skills properly, early enough to make a difference that is, then people will continue to be clueless when it comes to the sort of problems highlighted. Again, it's not a technology problem, but an educational one, which in fact is basically a symptom of the current values of our society and their effect on education. But that's another story altogether...

    1. Re:Missing the point... by INT_QRK · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Reminds me of a political debate that I frequently found myself engaging to defend my funding when I ran a military technical school back in the 90's. The story went something like this: "Kids today are born knowing about computers! Classroom training is expensive and redundant! Computer based training is more efficient and cost effective!" The fallacy, of course is the opening gamut. Kids then and today (first hand experience -- I put three of my own kids through college) mostly know about how to manipulate a mouse and navigate basic menus -- not the same as "knowing about computers," as in, understanding architectures, languages, logic, etc.. Trial and error in redoing questions until "Thats right!" appears does not critical thinking make or even promote. Another problem is that kids often have trouble maintaining focus on text of length greater than about a half-web page. At least a good instructor can detect a confused look as s/he pans the classroom, ask a focused question to check for comprehension, and recursively present examples, anecdotes, and analogies that eventually may wear away the confusion. I concur completely with the need to reemphasize critical thinking in the schools -- first step is to get rid of the idea of the education major and have CS majors teach CS, math majors teach math, engineers teach...

  3. Easy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    What is so hard about "porn -midget -horse -gay"?

  4. What about non-internet sources? by dircha · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would be surprised if freshmen were much better at evaluating and weighing objectivity and authority in traditional sources such as books, journals, and newspapers.

    And I would like to know the criteria for the "correct" evaluation of the objectivity and authority of these sources.

    "Only 35 percent could narrow an overly broad internet search"

    Yeah, and what percent of incoming freshmen new how to narrow an overly broad search using whatever ancient, proprietary electronic card catalog system the school useswithout being taught? Probably less than 35%.