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I have a dual assignment (common, I've heard) both teaching part-time and tutoring part-time at the open admissions college I work for. In the tutoring center, the students fall onto a bell curve in terms of ability: a few at each extreme end of the spectrum, most somewhere in the middle.
One guy comes into the center all the time, usually not for specific appointments but just to work. (That's all right; we have a section set aside for independent study and work.) It's his first semester at college, and he's the first in his family to attend. He's in developmental classes for the most part. Sometimes he asks for help.
The help he asks for is not academic. He doesn't come in with writing assignments or math problems or study guides for exams. We could help him with all of those things.
He doesn't know how to use a computer mouse. He doesn't know what a browser is or how to find websites using it. He doesn't know how to click on a link in the school's LMS, or download a file, or type into a word processor. He is also, to put it in the kindest way possible (and there is no really kind way, I know), slow.
I try to be as patient as possible, but I know my limits. I've never been trained in how to teach basic computer literacy. I don't know how to do it well or effectively or in a way he'll be able to recall in the future. I also have never taken an online class, and have no idea how to navigate some of the more complex corners of the LMS myself.
We've all discussed it among ourselves but we have no idea what to do. Is this a communication problem? Is there a department somewhere? There's supposed to be a test for students who want to take an officially online or hybrid course - but what if a F2F teacher just wants to put materials online? And, worst of all, what if the problem is just one of basic functionality - can he do this, even if we did figure out where to send him?
Why is this person in college if he doesn't even have basic computer skills? I ask myself the same questions when I have to tutor students who barely understand english.
ReplyDeleteMy college has a basic computer literacy requirement which can be met through either taking a simple test in the department or taking Intro to Computer Literacy. We also have a center on campus designed to help students learn technology skills for anything as simple as using Word to as complicated as getting into the LMS and using its features.
ReplyDeleteI think you'll be seeing more students like this. We found out recently that only half our students own computers or smart phones. We have a paperless initiative, so we're all being "strongly encouraged" to put everything online in the LMS. Some departments don't even allow their faculty to print syllabi and force the students to print their own from the LMS. We are even now on a system which tracks how many copies each person makes so disciplinary measures can be instituted if someone uses too many college resources.
As for those without the intellectual capacity for basic computer skills, we're working on that too. We are trying to set up new programs in our continuing ed division for fundamental job and literacy skills that we're not equipped as proffies to deal with. Our provost thinks it's a great idea as those students drag down our almighty productivity numbers, but he wants to be sure we don't lose their tuition or financial aid in the process. I wish it were about actually helping the students be educated as best they can instead of trying to squeeze a buck out of them.
When I ran a writing center, we helped students with that sort of stuff. We were more likely to know the bits and pieces of Word students had to know than the math tutors.
ReplyDeleteLearning this stuff can be a laborious process. I sympathize with your frustration a lot.
There probably isn't anywhere else for this fellow to go. So.
The key to teaching technology skills is to help him learn how to figure it out himself. Make him use the mouse and keyboard and ask lots of questions, leading at first. "Where would it make sense to find...?" "Looking at the screen where do you think you should click?" and so on.
You can also recommend a good book series for them. The Shelly Cashman Windows books, for example, were quite good at introducing students to basic skills.
Does your school provide help for students who are learning disabled? Send him there for assessment and counseling.
ReplyDeleteWe have a computer literacy requirement, as well, which students can take a test to have waived, but if they can't pass the test (which requires basic keyboarding and the ability to google words and use a word processor), they are required to take the computer literacy class. Is there any chance of your center working with other departments to create such an option? If not, our local library offers such courses, too, for free to the community.
ReplyDeleteMost public libraries offer free computer literacy classes. Is there one near your campus?
ReplyDeleteThree words in your post amply describe the problem, and it cannot be solved, because those three words ARE the problem. Those three words are: "open enrollment" and "slow." Not "learning disabled." Slow. Meaning, below-average intelligence.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is your school lets anyone in, and that means that you are attempting to teach students that shouldn't be in college to begin with. Computer proficiency aside, a student has to possess a minimum intelligence level to get through, say, freshman comp and algebra, which are going to be constants at anything but vocational schools. The simple truth is that many people are never going to be able to pass freshman comp and algebra, and it's not a matter of still; it's a matter of a deficiency in their basic intellect.
You can't fix that.
But if they are otherwise capable of earning some sort of degree, why insist that they pass freshman comp and algebra? Why not remove those requirements, replace them with something else or even give them passing grades that they may not deserve if they are otherwise capable of getting a degree? For instance, I majored in Translation. Why would I need algebra?
DeleteI once volunteered at a local community college helping with a tutorial for the college's course management system. It was a week-long evening event where students could stop in and get some one-on-one help with accessing online classes or any online materials used in on-campus classes.
ReplyDeleteI was expecting to answer questions regarding logging into the course management system, finding the syllabus, using the homework drop box, etc. Instead I often found myself teaching basic computer literacy, as others have described above, for which I was not prepared.
The majority of my most-confused visitors were quite old, as in getting beyond middle age, which perhaps explains their lack of computer skills. But I worked with one or two others who just didn't... get it.
At first I would feel like I was going too fast, making jumps in logic that were too hard for a beginner to follow, but in those few cases I could soon tell it was beyond my abilities to help them, once I had reached the point of saying, "Remember, to open the internet you need to click on that icon, the picture of the blue 'e', on the screen... yep, you move the white arrow over to it and click, yep! Ok, now the window that opens is your internet window, so what do we do next... ok let's go through it again..."
After just that week I felt pretty defeated. I can't imagine how some of the profs at that CC must feel...
@Sella: Neither you, I, nor Magical Realist are clinicians. Maybe the guy's slow, maybe he is learning disabled. Send him to an expert to find out.
ReplyDelete@Matilda: I know that "data" is not the plural form of "anecdote," but back in the day when computers were first becoming common--I'm talking about the first MacIntoshes with the tiny little screens--one of the most brilliant guys I know (and he was middle-aged, but not old)simply could not figure out, no many how many repetitions were involved, how to do simple word processing. Since then, I've seen a few people in the same boat.
And doncha think that equating an open admissions policy with a whole room full of drooling dullards is just a tad elitist? I work at a cc. Open admissions is part of what we do, and sure, every now and then I come across someone who absolutely doesn't belong in college, but so what?
I don't see what's elitist about being concerned for a school that's increasing its use of online classes/online course materials when many of its students (within the admittedly small subset I've encountered) have issues with the basic technology these classes require.
DeleteI really do feel for professors who find themselves asked to teach skills they did not expect to teach and may not even be able to teach effectively in some situations.
It just suggests to me that colleges, perhaps CCs in particular, need to offer (and even require) computer literacy classes before allowing students enroll in classes with significant computer use, as EnglishDoc mentioned.
I don't know if the CC I mentioned has such a required class, but I think it should.
Otherwise, it puts extra burden on teachers like The Magical Realist, and the time they spend teaching computer skills and such is time that now cannot be used to convey course content.
I'm with you, Matilda. There is nothing elitist about expressing concern that students at open-enrollment CCs increasingly lack the basic skills to get by in many classes.
DeleteIn fact, I think it's irresponsible to avoid such discussions. I teach at an open-enrollment CC and we are constantly discussing how to meet the needs of students who lack the basic, necessary skills to succeed in college--or who lack the basic, necessary skills to succeed in developmental classes or certificate programs.
If we enroll them and they don't have the basic, necessary skills, then we are setting them up for failure, quite literally.
An honest discussion about student skill sets at open-enrollment CCs is absolutely necessary, the only ethical and responsible thing to do. Acknowledging that many students are incapable of doing even developmental-level work--that many students don't know how to use a mouse, or turn on a computer, or add and subtract simple numbers, for example--is the first step in determining what must be done to meet the needs of an open-enrollment CC's local student population.
There's a reason for the "community" in the phrase "community college." I often despair here about the genuine misery associated with my job, but I have never lost sight of the need for LD3C in the local community nor lost faith in its basic mission.
Agree. If you don't question people's credentials then you end up with freshman who think they should get an A just for breathing.
DeleteA long time ago (20+ years), the student newspaper at my CC published a feature article about a couple (siblings, if I remember right) of really high-funcioning Down syndrome students who got AA degrees. I don't remember what the degrees were in, but for the sake of the discussion, let's assume they weere in something like General Studies.
ReplyDeleteAbout half the faculty thought this was wonderful, that it affirmed our open admissions policy and our mission statement, blah, blah blah. The other half thought it was outrageous that a college degree could be earned by [you can fill in the blank as you wish].
I didn't know what to think, and I still don't.
How about you all?