IT Staff Convention 2006: End User Education

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End User Education: Increasing Computer Literacy

Facilitator: Jon Baron, SAS

Notes: Gayle Belford, ISC Communications Group

Handout: Components of IT fluency (A.K.A. computer literacy) J. Baron, 4/26/06 (below)

Overall question was how to make users sufficiently comfortable to expand their technological prowess is using the computer.

Wikis and Blogs

Does use of wikkis and blogs help in teaching computer skills? Some pro and cons. Also questioned was this a better tool for faculty or students. Some felt students are more apt to try new technology.

• It was suggested that the use of technology could be incorporated into student assignments (e.g., go to the wikki for more information/instructions).

• One participant felt that the wikki is about as simple as you can get. However, many students are reluctant to go beyond typical word processing.

• It was felt that students need some kind of extra incentive to advance their knowledge of the computer.

• Use of wikki gives students a central location from which to obtain information.

• SAS uses blogs for student information.

• Advantage of wikki or blog is that they can be used from anywhere. Great for housing technical instructions/information for end-users.

Questions posed on how to make the end-user more interested and self-reliant.

Possible answers:

• Let user know that what he learns is good for about the next 10 years.
• Provide good documentation instructions (online or hard copy. Wharton generates a lot of hard-copy documentation.
• “Show” user how to do it.
• As technical support, go ahead and do it yourself.
• Insist user learn how to do it.
• Another solution is help desk software.
• Group users according to skill level. Also acknowledged is that some groups require special attention because of who they are (e.g., VIPs).
• Noted was the fact that users tend to pay more attention to procedures and processes they will have to do repeatedly.
• Try using peer pressure. Example: John in your department had this problem, but now he knows how to solve it.

Clueless user examples: User’s share drive goes down, but user has no concept of what happened because he does not know he is using shared drive or what exactly it is. In addition, common complaint begins and ends with “My email doesn’t work.” No further explanation is offered (e.g., mail client).

What opportunities present to encourage user to improve skills?

• One person answered most of the items in II of the attached handout. Of particular importance is II.G, computer maintenance, troubleshooting, and problem solving.
• It was noted that most students do not care about learning information in I. Concepts.
• One possible solution suggestion: Attempt to teach fundamentals of computing when users first come aboard.
• One person noted that test of computer literacy yield “awful” results.
• Suggestion to offer new users training session; make this part of their orientation to Penn/School/Department.
• SAS encourages use of computer and engages attention by showing how to use the library online.
• Suggestion: Start building trust with end users right from the beginning to get them to expand their knowledge of the computer.
• Need initiative to learn certain computer skills that is mandated at the University level.
• A department should incorporate computer learning requirements into performance reviews.
• Make computer literacy part of the hiring criteria for staff.
• Suggestion: Find the “comfort level” of the user early on.
• One person suggested that maybe faculty should encourage students to user computer more.

Where are Penn students in terms of level of knowledge of the computer and its processes?

One person's opinion that upon arrival at Penn, 60 percent of students are adequate to more than adequate; 40 percent are lacking. At graduation, 80 percent are adequate to more than adequate; 20 percent are still lacking.

Warning: According to one, many users do not know the computer and are proud of it.

Meeting ended abruptly because of fire alarm.

Handout Components of IT fluency (a.k.a. computer literacy -- J. Baron, 4/26/06)

I. concepts

A. Computer

i. Components: processor storage, memory, peripherals

ii. Files, directories, permissions, ownership

iii. Operating system, process management, devices

iv. Performance: speed, memory, disk

v. Programs, scripts, commands

vi. Graphical user interfaces, windows (small w)

vii. Security, firewalls

B. Network and communication

i. Internet Protocol

ii. Addresses and DNS, IPv6 and why we will need it

iii. Information, bandwidth, bits, bytes

iv. Media: wire, fiber, wireless

v. Client vs. server

C. Applications

i. Codes and alphabets: ascii, utf-8, etc.

ii. Programs and programming languages, compilers, interpreters

iii. Statistical computation, spreadsheets

iv. Search, query languages, databases

v. Writing: word processing, editing

vi. Graphics

vii. Terminal

II. Skills and attitudes

A. Mail, news, mailing lists

i. Formats: html, test, rich test

ii. Methods: bounce, forward, group reply, save

iii. Parts of message: header, body, attachments, signature

B. Web browsing, searching, and news reading

C. Document creation, web page creation

D. Data analysis: statistics and graphics

E. Images: digital cameras, editing

F. General programming

G. Computer maintenance, troubleshooting, and problem solving

III. Social context

A. History of computing and the Internet

B. Intellectual property

i. Patents vs. copyrights vs. trade secrets

ii. Open vs. closed source

C. Standards and standard bodies

D. Basic economics of networks: who pays?

E. Privacy

F. Communication: email, news, blogs, conferencing, feeds, etc.

G. Bad behavior: spam, viruses, worms, phishing, cracking, file sharing