A textbook chapter with some IT literacy concepts

We talk about the skills and concepts making up an IT literacy course.

Some of the concepts I feel should be included in an IT literacy course are covered in a chapter I wrote for a textbook called Introduction to Information Technology a while ago.

The chapter, Technology trends, Internet Applications and Possible Roadblocks, does not cover all of the concepts I would include, and some are covered in too much depth. Here is an abstract of the chapter:

Information technology is improving at an accelerating rate. This opens the way for innovative applications, which make organizations and individuals more efficient and effective. This chapter outlines hardware progress, which has led to new forms of software and software development. Software evolution has brought us to the current era of Internet-based software. After describing some of the characteristics of Internet-based software, we ask whether the progress we have enjoyed will continue and conclude with a discussion of some of the non-technical issues, which tend to impede that progress.

• Hardware progress
• Software progress
• Internet based software
• Will the progress continue?
• Bumps in the information technology road

Toward computer literacy 3.0

We have seen two major shifts in computer literacy courses as technology changed. The first generation was made possible by the advent of time sharing and the second by the personal computer.

Today's shift to the Internet as a platform for developing and delivering applications seems as important to me as the shifts from batch processing to time sharing or from time sharing to the personal computer were, so I think it is time for another change. In moving to computer literacy 3, we must also consider the characteristics of our students who have had Internet access all their lives -- what they know and what they do not know.

Most of today's students are familiar with email, SMS, Web search, digital cameras, MP3 players, word processing, etc., but they typically use these tools without a mental model of the underlying technology and without considering their implications for individuals, organizations and society. As such, I would stick with the format of combining concepts and skills, but the concepts should now include network and communication topics like:

• Accelerating improvement in communication, storage and electronic technology
• Data types -- numbers, text, images, audio, and video
• Data encoding and compression
• Analog versus digital data
• Circuit versus packet switching and the rudiments of layered protocols (at least application versus the rest)
• Internet connectivity from fixed (home and organization) and mobile and portable locations
• Rudiments of wireless technology -- transmission frequency, attenuation, modulation
• Client-server and mashup architecture
• Software as a service (for users and developers)
• Telecommunication policy, environmental and economic impact
• The global diffusion of the Internet

What about the skills portion of the course?

When Kemeny and Kurtz invented BASIC, they were interested in algorithmic thinking -- most application development remained the responsibility of professional programmers. With the advent of the PC and spreadsheet, many non-professionals became application developers. With the Internet as a platform, users can develop complex applications without programming or with a bit of scripting. (Professional developers can quickly do things that were previously impossible). Internet services are the “new spreadsheet,” and relevant skills include network-based application development and content creation, things like:

• Using RSS
• Using social bookmarking with tags
• Creating online questionnaires
• Creating online databases
• Concise, often collaborative writing using wikis and shared documents
• Synchronous collaboration using voice and video conferencing, chat and screen sharing
• Creating and using blogs
• Creating and using threaded discussions
• Image, audio and video editing
• Creating and using social networks
• Data and service mashups

Note that many of these involve learning expressive skills as well as technical skills. Writing a blog post, a focused reply to an email or writing collaboratively on a wiki are not the same as writing a term paper.

A skill can also be taught as content creation or application development. For example, we might be satisfied if students use a minimal blog to track progress on an internship or project or we might ask them to create a more fully featured blog with various subscription options, mashups, usage measurement, etc.

In shaping a course, we should also ask whether to introduce a topic conceptually or teach it as a skill. For example, one can illustrate data compression and discuss quality trade offs with a simple class demonstration (like this, this, or this) in which you talk about perceived quality, file sizes and transmission times. Is that sufficient, or should the students be required to compress their own images or audio? For some majors, the answer is clearly "yes," but is it for all liberally educated people?

Computer literacy 2.0

First generation computer literacy courses began with the work of Kemeny and Kurtz at Dartmouth College. The computer literacy course generally consisted of a skill portion -- BASIC programming -- and a conceptual portion covering topics like hardware and software, encoding of numeric and text data, applications, and the history and social implications of computers.

These first generation classes were geared to time sharing systems. With the advent of the mass market personal computer, the computer literacy course was revised.

Second generation courses generally dropped the BASIC programming component, substituting skill training with a personal computer operating system and file system and productivity applications -- word processing and spreadsheets, and, to the extent time allowed, database management and making presentations. When we shifted from command line to graphical user interfaces and Microsoft became dominant, this became training with Windows, its file system and Microsoft Office applications. With the Internet we added email and perhaps USENET news and with the Web we added browsing and search.

The proliferation of skill topics has extended that portion of the course, putting pressure on the conceptual portion. It remains, but less time is devoted to it.

For example, on my campus there are two computer literacy courses, one offered by the Business School the other by Computer Science.

CIS 270 Information Systems and Technology Fundamentals.
Provides an introduction to information technology, systems concepts, and application software. Covers system components and relationships, cost/value and quality of information, and package software solutions. Includes basic skills related to operating systems, word processing, spreadsheet software, and the Internet.

and

CSC 101 Introduction to Computer Education.
A computer literacy course designed to familiarize the learner with a variety of computer tools and computer concepts with emphasis on utilizing packaged programs. This course provides an introduction to the use of computers, common software programs and peripherals. Students are instructed in the use of a word processor, drawing programs, spreadsheet, database, presentation tools, internet applications and statistical package in scientific applications.

Both of these courses have two textbooks, one for Office applications, the other for computer concepts. Today's student often has skills with Windows, word processing, and various Internet applications, and the Internet has clearly emerged as a platform for developing and delivering applications. Courses like these are no longer appropriate.

Computer literacy 1.0

Early computers were expensive and complex, so it took special vision to see they would one day be widely used. John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz of Dartmouth College held the conviction that understanding computers and their applications and limitations was an essential part of a liberal education.

During 1962, they and their students implemented several simple programming languages on the LGP-30, an early, expensive, desk sized, personal computer, and, by 1963, they had made the decision that all Dartmouth students would be taught computing.

Following a design policy that "In all cases where there is a choice between simplicity and efficiency, simplicity is chosen," they built the Dartmouth Time Sharing System (DTSS) and invented BASIC as a language for teaching programming. (The quote is from Kurtz' chapter in The History of Programming Languages). They also opened the first campus computer lab, shown above.

The project was sponsored by the US National Science Foundation, and in their 1967 final report to the sponsor they wrote:

Four years ago Dartmouth College reached the conclusion that learning to use a high-speed computer should be an essential part of liberal education. Four years ago this was merely a dream, and considered impractical by many experts. Today it is a reality...The average college graduate of today is almost sure to need a computer in his work twenty years from now. Therefore, we must prepare him today to use this most powerful of tools ... Even more significant is the need for changing the attitude of the typical intelligent person towards computers. ...It is vitally important that the leaders of government, industry and education should know both the potential and limitations of the use of computers, and to be aware of the respective roles of Man and machine in the partnership.

Dartmouth did not offer an independent computer literacy course at first, but integrated it into existing courses throughout the curriculum. Textbooks and full computer literacy courses followed. (Jeremy Bernstein, a prominent physicist and New Yorker author, published an excellent introduction to computers for the layperson at the same time -- it holds up 40 years later).

As the above quote shows, Kemeny and Kurtz realized computing skills were needed for work and computing concepts were needed to be an effective citizen. Early computer literacy courses recognized this, combining a skill portion -- an introduction to procedural or algorithmic problem solving using BASIC programming -- with computing concepts. In first generation computer literacy courses, those concepts included topics like hardware and software, encoding of numeric and text data, applications, and the history and social implications of computers.

John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz:

About this blog

The idea of IT literacy began with John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz. In 1964, they developed the Dartmouth time-sharing system and the BASIC programming language in order to teach IT literacy at Dartmouth College. They were motivated by their conviction that

knowledge about computers and computing must become an essential part of a liberal education. Science and engineering students obviously need to know about computing in order to carry out their work. But, we felt exposure to computing and its practice, its powers and limitations must also be extended to non science students, many of whom will later be in decision-making roles in business, industry and government. (reference →).

Kemeny and Kurtz emphasized the skills and concepts needed to be successful as a student and after graduation as a professional and citizen. Those skills and concepts, and hence the IT literacy course, change when new application development and delivery platforms are invented.

IT literacy could not be taught well using a batch processing system, but time sharing made it feasible. The skill component of the first generation course (called "computer literacy" at the time) stressed algorithmic thinking and programming using BASIC and the concepts focused on hardware, software, applications, and social implications of computers.

The emergence of the personal computer as a platform led to the second generation IT literacy course. We revised the curriculum, substituting skill with productivity applications, and later, email and Web surfing, for programming. We retained, the old concepts, but had less time to cover them.

Today the Internet has become an important platform for developing and delivering applications and our students have been using it since they were children. We need a new definition of IT literacy, IT literacy 3.0.

This table summarize the evolution of IT literacy:

Generation	Platform	Course content
0	Batch processing	No IT literacy courses
1	Time sharing	BASIC programming (algorithmic thinking), IT concepts
2	PC with a command-line user interface	Productivity applications, DOS, fewer concepts
2.5	PC with a graphical user interface	Microsoft Office applications, Windows, email and Web search, fewer concepts
3	The Internet	Create content, develop applications, different concepts
3.5?	The mobile Internet and the Internet of things	???

I offer the following as a starting topical outline for an IT Literacy 3 course:

1. Internet concepts
   1. Applications
   2. Technology
   3. Implications for
      1. Individuals
      2. Organizations
      3. Society
2. Internet skills
   1. Application development
   2. Content creation
      1. Text
      2. Images
      3. Audio
      4. Video

This blog is concerned with questions like:

• What skills should be included in IT literacy 3.0?
• What concepts should be included in IT literacy 3.0?
• Who is developing courses that teach these skills and concepts?
• How are our student's backgrounds and expectations changing?
• Should we teach IT literacy as a stand alone course or disperse it throughout the curriculum?
• Does IT literacy require two full courses?
• Should all students take the same IT literacy course or should there be different versions?