deh. INNOVATION ABSTRACTS #2

GME ; .
Ay) Published by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development

. With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation

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INTEGRATING COMPUTERS INTO THE CURRICULUM: THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE

Integrating computers into college curriculum is not an easy task, and most community colleges in this
country have struggled with the process. Some of the concerns surrounding computer integration into
curriculum are timing, appropriateness, hardware, software, use, and funding.

Unfortunately, no one has provided the academic community with a step-by-step guide that answers all
the questions and solves all the problems surrounding computer integration. Additionally, educational
research and literature have not caught up with the rapid change in technology. The lack of "answers" and
valid research present an element of "risk" that is unsettling for many educators.

Using Research To Limit the Risk

Utah Valley Community College—in spite of budget limitations—has taken a progressive stand on
computer use in the classroom. The microcomputer is used not only in the traditional business curriculum
but also in the technical areas of drafting, mechanics, engineering, surveying, architecture, and electronics.
This progressive stance provided an environment for experimental research to be conducted before
curriculum and computer integration decisions were made.

The Research Problem

To act or react? This is the question facing the Office Education Department at Utah Valley Community
College and other college business departments that are realizing a need to update and replace equipment
that has traditionally been used for the teaching of typewriting and keyboarding. New methods of teaching
typewriting are being introduced. Office education publishing companies and computer software companies
are marketing typewriting and keyboarding software for use in the classroom, and many high school
business students are exposed to the minicomputer and accompanying software long before they enter
college.

Lieyd Brooks, Professor, Office Administration at Memphis State University, reported in Business Education
Forum:

Minicomputers are here to stay. Business teachers need to become aware of their capabilities
and limitations and begin preparing students to enter a business world where minicomputers
are going to become a standard business machine, as important and common as the
typewriter or the calculator.

With the apparent move in the industry toward office automation, the Office Education faculty at Utah
Valley Community College found themselves faced with a number of unanswered questions. On the verge
of making major equipment purchases, they needed to know whether they should purchase typewriters or
computers. The purchase issue brought into play other questions more specific to curriculum: What is the
best and most adaptable equipment to use in the teaching of typewriting? Can a student learn typewriting

as well on a minicomputer as on a traditional typewriter? If a student is trained on a computer keyboard,

will he or she be able to make a smooth transition from the computer keyboard to a traditional keyboard
without significant loss of speed and/or accuracy skill? A research study was conducted to answer these
questions. |
Purpose and Design of Study

The study was performed at Utah Valley Community College, during fall quarter 1984 and winter and
spring quarters 1985. Students in nine sections of skillbuilding typewriting participated in the term-long
study.

The research was designed to answer the following questions:

1. Will skillbuilding typewriting students taught on the IBM PC achieve the same level of skill competency
as the control group taught on the IBM Selectric typewriter?

 

F Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712

 

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