This is a short audit of the
acquisition of IT skills by first year
undergraduates in 2000-01. Two new
sources of information were collected:
A web questionnaire sent to all
first year students in May 2001 asking
about all key skills including IT
a questionnaire sent to Directors
of Undergraduate Studies in Departments
and Schools asking about the skills
expected, practised, taught and
assessed.
These will be described and a few
tentative conclusions will be drawn.
The student questionnaire had 48
responses. The results show differences
in the confidence in using different
standard packages (Question 1).
Confidence was highest for word
processing and spreadsheets and lowest
for databases and statistics. For all
except word processing there were at
least 20% who were not confident in the
package use (scores of 1 and 2). When
asked had they developed their skills
at Keele, the answer was positive most
often for word processing and
presentations, and lowest for
databases. For all packages, a majority
wanted the opportunity to develop their
skills further, especially with
presentations and databases.
Most students felt confident in
searching the Web and selecting and
evaluating what they found. About 1 in
8 students were not confident. Most
students said they had developed these
skills at Keele and most said they
wanted to develop them further,
especially in evaluating the
information.
Most students were confident in the
use of email and had developed their
skills at Keele, but even so wanted the
opportunity to develop their skills
further.
So there were understandable
differences between applications in the
numbers of confident students, and in
the proportion who said they had
developed their skills at Keele. The
majority who said they wanted to
further develop their skills was quite
constant across all applications.
The students were asked where they
had developed their skills. The largest
number (29) said through their
principal subjects. Almost as many said
the Computer Science Subsidiary course,
and through 'self study'. Very few (4)
said they had used KIS workshops of
booklets. This is consistent with the
experience of KIS: in the previous
year, drop-in workshops had been
popular, but in 2000-01 the attendance
had been very low. This was for no
obvious reason and despite more
advertising of the service (Dave
Sherwood, personal communication). It
seems that students do want to gain
skills but they want to do it through
their mainstream modules. (For an
example of an embedded skills module
see 'Putting first-years on right
track, Chris Hopkins, THES 7/9/2001,
page 22.)
The survey of provision
of IT skills in first year modules,
principal and subsidiary, was sent to
all departments. Of principal modules,
68 are officially listed and there were
returns for 18; of Subsidiary modules,
44 are listed and there were 9 returns,
so the response rate was about a
quarter. (Computer Science did not
respond so the large IT Subsidiary is
not included, which is sensible.) The
sample is not large and is probably not
representative: those not responding
probably have less IT skills content,
although some modules not represented
are known to have IT skills components.
Of skills expected of students, word
processing, email, and using the web to
find information were expected by about
half of modules, and practiced in
modules more often than other skills.
Some skills were obviously relevant to
subject content, for example
spreadsheet skills in economics. Of the
skills taught and assessed, the
use of statistics packages and the
selection and evaluation of web
information are the commonest. For
evaluating information, this fits the
student data in that most students said
they had developed these skills at
Keele, but almost as many said they
wanted to develop them further.
What general conclusions can be drawn
from these small surveys? The
development of some IT skills is general
to many modules (word processing,
presentations, email and using the web
effectively) and others (databases and
spreadsheets) are more specific to some
subjects. A variable minority of
students were left at the end of their
first year feeling not at all confident
in all IT skills except word processing.
Maybe their skills will be developed in
year 2 (and some evidence of skills
provision in year 2 was provided).
The descriptions of skills used in
these two surveys were crude. To be able
to audit skills development better
requires 'operationalising' the high
level descriptions of skills into
considerable detail of type (e.g.
application) and depth (skill
sophistication). If Keele wants to be
able to manage the provision of skills
development for all students, and as
skills development should generally be
provided through modules, a common
framework for describing skills needs to
be used by all modules. Each combination
of modules (degree pathways) will then
have a skills profile. For a minority of
students their subject combinations will
mean they 'slip through the net' and
miss out on some IT skills. A central
KIS service of flexible learning
resources and support can be provided
for them.
Stephen Bostock, September 2001
Keele University Skills
Questionnaire May 2001
IT skills section
What is your age?
median
19, max 47
Gender M/F ?
48:
18 males, 30 females
Communication and Information
Technology Skills
How confident were you about doing
this activity when you began studying
at Keele?
1= not at all confident
3= lacking some confidence
5= very confident
Have you developed skills in this
area since you arrived at Keele?
Would you like to have an opportunity
to develop these skills further?
1. Using standard
software packages for:
a) Word processing
1
2
3
4
5
1
1
5 16
25
Yes
34
No
13
Yes
31
No
17
b) Spreadsheets
1
2
3
4
5
3
7 11
11 16
Yes
24
No
23
Yes
30
No
18
c) Databases
1
2
3
4
5
8
8 9
11 12
Yes
19
No
27
Yes
32
No
16
d) Statistics
1
2
3
4
5
4
14 14
8 7
Yes
24
No
23
Yes
31
No
16
e) Presentations
1
2
3
4
5
5
6 19
10 7
Yes
32
No
15
Yes
35
No
11
2. Searching for
information on the WWW
1
2
3
4
5
4
3 7
10 23
Yes
38
No
9
Yes
28
No
19
3. Selecting and
evaluating information and data
1
2
3
4
5
2
4 17
17 7
Yes
38
No
9
Yes
33
No
14
4. Using e-mail to obtain
and send information
1
2
3
4
5
5
2
9 8
23
Yes
36
No
11
Yes
27
No
19
5. How have you developed your skills
in this area? (IT skills)
(Tick the appropriate boxes and
add text details if possible)
a)
Through coursework for Principal
subjects. Please specify which
subject/subjects: 29
Stephen Bostock asserts his moral right to be acknowledged as the
author of documents on this site, unless another author is identified.
Copyright remains with Keele University, or the author. The
views expressed in this site are those of the author and do not
necessarily represent those of Keele University.
Last edited:
November 22, 2006