1 Information and Communication Technology Literacy Issues in Higher Education Li-Jen Yu Shannon, Ed.D. Sam Houston State University ISECON November 3, 2007

2 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

3 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.

4 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?

5 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)

6 STRATIFIED SAMPLING - GENDERS Stratified Items Colleted Samples Collected Sample Percentages Stratified Samples Stratified Sample Percentages University Demographic Percentages Male Female Total

7 STRATIFIED SAMPLING - ETHNICITY Stratified Items Colleted Samples Collected Sample Percentages Stratified Samples Stratified Sample Percentages University Demographic Percentages African- American Asian White/Non -Hispanic Hispanic Other Total

8 INSTRUMENTATION (PART I) Demographic information  Year of birth  Student classification  College major  Gender  Ethnicity

9 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

10 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 )

11 INSTRUMENTATION (PART II)  Microsoft FrontPage  Web design  Internet browsers   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 )

12 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).

13 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

14 DATA ANALYSIS: Research QuestionAnalysis Methods 1 and 3One-Sample t test 2MANOVA, ANOVA, Post Hoc, DA ► Pre-measure analysis: ► ICT Literacy Levels  Spearman’s rho:  Cronbach’s alpha:

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

16 ICT Literacy Levels: Pre-self-report

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

18 ICT Literacy Levels: Post-self-report

19 ICT Literacy Levels: Comparison Report

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

21 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)

22 Ethnicity and ICT Literacy Levels: Post-self- report (54) (5) (289) (44) (8)

23 Ethnicity: Comparison Report

24 Gender and ICT Literacy Levels: Pre-self- report Function1: 100% of variance (p<0.01)

25 Function1: 100% of variance (p<0.01) Gender and ICT Literacy Levels: Post-self- report

26 Gender and ICT Literacy Levels: Comparison Report

27 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

28 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

29 IMPLICATIONS (cont.) ► The findings support the needs of introductory computer courses in the vulnerable institutions  Subpopulations  Valuable courses  Individual needs

30 THE END ► The leaderships:  The higher education institutions  The legislators ► The oncoming challenges ► The needs of the students

Questions? 31