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Information and Communication Technology Literacy Issues in

Higher Education

Li-Jen Yu Shannon, Ed.D.Sam Houston State University

ISECONNovember 3, 2007

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

► Computer wizard generation Carlson, 2005; Howe & Strauss, 2003; Lowery, 2001;

Sanchez, 2003; Taylor, 2005

► Insufficient technological proficiencies Sanchez, 2003; Kelly & Haber, 2006; Udobong, 2001;

Rafaill & Peach, 2001; Hardy, 2005

► “Time-To-Degree” - Closing the Gaps by 2015 THECB, 2007

► Baccalaureate degrees: 120 credit hours SACS, 2007

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STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

►Analyze the Millennial Generation (MG) regarding:

information and communication technology (ICT) literacy levels

ICT literacy levels regarding to ethnicity and gender

Before and after they take the introductory computer course.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the competency (ICT literacy) of students who do not take an introductory computer course?

2. To what degree does the introductory computer course improve the college students’ ICT literacy levels?

3. Is there a need to designate the introductory computer course as a developmental course as is done in English and Mathematics?

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THE METHODOLOGY: SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS

► Population 14,411 students

► The purposeful sample 815 accessible purposeful samples

► The minimal total sample sizes: 620 for the independent samples (Gall, Gall, & Borg ,2003) t tests with alpha level : 0.05 a small effective size statistical power: 0.7 (N)

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STRATIFIED SAMPLING - GENDERS

Stratified Items

Colleted Samples

Collected SamplePercentages

Stratified Samples

Stratified SamplePercentages

University DemographicPercentages

Male 243 39.1 164 41.0 41.0

Female 379 60.9 236 59.0 59.0

Total 622 100.0 400 100.0 100.0

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STRATIFIED SAMPLING - ETHNICITY

Stratified Items

Colleted Samples

Collected SamplePercentages

Stratified Samples

Stratified SamplePercentages

University DemographicPercentages

African-American

97 15.6 54 13.5 13.4

Asian 7 1.1 5 1.2 1.1

White/Non-Hispanic

422 67.8 289 72.3 72.4

Hispanic 67 10.8 44 11.0 11.1

Other 29 4.7 8 2.0 2.0

Total 622 100.0 400 100.0 100.0

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INSTRUMENTATION (PART I)

Demographic information Year of birth Student classification College major Gender Ethnicity

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INSTRUMENTATION (PART I)

Prior experiences with computers

Experiences with multimedia classroom environments

Communication methods preference

Hours working with computers for coursework

Grade point average Ownership of digital devices

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INSTRUMENTATION (PART II)

Computer hardware Computer software File management Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel Microsoft Access Microsoft PowerPoint

The MG’s ICT levels of knowledge in specific skill areas:

(Likert scale of 1 to 5: 1 being the least and 5 being the highest )

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INSTRUMENTATION (PART II)

Microsoft FrontPage Web design Internet browsers Email CD burners File Transfer Application WinZip applications

The MG’s ICT levels of knowledge in specific skill areas:

(Likert scale of 1 to 5: 1 being the least and 5 being the highest )

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INSTRUMENTATION: Reliability

A self-report measure A paper-and-pencil instrument How individuals differ on various

aspects of self (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2003) (p. 189).

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DATA COLLECTION

►Approval for the Protection of Human Subjects

►The participants completed voluntarily At the beginning of Spring 2006 At the end of Spring 2006

►Collected by the faculty of the Computer Science Department

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DATA ANALYSIS:

Research Question Analysis Methods

1 and 3 One-Sample t test

2 MANOVA, ANOVA, Post Hoc, DA

►Pre-measure analysis:►ICT Literacy Levels Spearman’s rho: 0.520 - 0.905 Cronbach’s alpha: 0.568 - 0.980

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RESEARCH QUESTION 1

What is the competency (ICT literacy) of students who do not take an introductory computer course?

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ICT Literacy Levels: Pre-self-report

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RESEARCH QUESTION 2

To what degree does the introductory computer course improve the college students’ ICT literacy levels?

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ICT Literacy Levels: Post-self-report

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ICT Literacy Levels: Comparison Report

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RESEARCH QUESTION 3

Is there a need to designate the introductory computer course as a developmental course as is done in English and Mathematics?

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Ethnicity and ICT Literacy Levels: Pre-self-report

Function1: 42.4% of variance (p<0.01)

Function2: 30.6% of variance (p=0.02)

(54)

(5)

(289)(44)

(8)

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Ethnicity and ICT Literacy Levels: Post-self-report

(54)

(5)

(289)(44)

(8)

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Ethnicity: Comparison Report

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Gender and ICT Literacy Levels: Pre-self-report

Function1: 100% of variance (p<0.01)

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Function1: 100% of variance (p<0.01)

Gender and ICT Literacy Levels: Post-self-report

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Gender and ICT Literacy Levels: Comparison Report

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CONCULSIONS► Pre-self-report

5/13 ICT items: above the expected level

African-Americans: the lowest ranking

Hispanics: the second lowest ranking

The females: a significant lower ICT score than the males

► Comparison 13/13 ICT items: above the

expected level

African-Americans: the third highest ranking

Hispanics: the highest ranking

The females: a significant improvement in all of the items

White/Non-Hispanics: a significantly improvement in 12/13 ICT items

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IMPLICATIONS

►The introductory computer course:

Reduce the technological gaps within sub-populations

Strengthen the weakness in technological areas

Broaden the interest for selecting degree majors

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IMPLICATIONS (cont.)

►The findings support the needs of introductory computer courses in the vulnerable institutions

Subpopulations Valuable courses Individual needs

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THE END

►The leaderships: The higher education institutions The legislators

►The oncoming challenges►The needs of the students

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Questions?