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Press Release from Primary Research Group, Inc.
Primary Research Group has published a new report – Trends in Training College
Faculty, Staff & Students In Computer Literacy, ISBN 1-57440-085-1 – that explores
how technology trainers and educators at American colleges are planning to improve the
computer literacy skills of faculty, staff and students. The report presents case studies
from nine institutions of higher education, including-- Brooklyn Law School, Florida
State University College of Medicine, The Tuskegee Institute, University of West
Georgia, Clemson, Indiana University Southeast, Texas Christian, and others.
At Texas Christian, a new technology lab devoted to teaching new media writing,
established and run by professors from the University’s English Department, has
challenged some of the traditional notions of what writing education should be.
For the Teaching and Learning Technology Group, a non-profit corporation that counsels
colleges in proper technology instruction and implementation, cross-departmental and
administrative collaboration is a key factor. Technology literacy is a philosophy, not just
a program of study, and continuous needs assessment, always focused on educational
outcomes, followed up by action at all levels, is the key to success.
Indiana University Southeast has developed a new informatics major that fills a gap
between casual information technology training, inadequate for many students, and the
computer science major, insufficiently practical for some.
Florida State University College of Medicine has developed a highly detailed and
integrated informatics program for medical students; the program is integrated into
virtually every course offered by the College. For Florida State, the key has been broad
institutional support, including the provision of laptops to students, as well as the
necessary support personnel to service them.
At the South Carolina Center of Excellence for Instructional Technology Training at
Clemson University, the mission is to support teacher training and teacher preparation.
Chris Peters, the director of the Center, notes that its mission, like that of the Indiana
University Southeast informatics program, is to allow IT professionals to assume some of
the load of teaching technology-related classes within a particular discipline, in this case, K-12 teacher training.
At the University of West Georgia, Melanie Clay, the Director of Distance Learning, has
found success in training the hundreds of distance learning instructors employed by the
college by taking a cue from Japanese auto manufacturers, whose just-in-time inventory
management methods significantly improved efficiency in auto manufacturing.
The Appalachian College Association, an organization set up largely to improve the
quality of instruction in higher education in Appalachia, developed a novel approach to
computer literacy, by educating both instructor and student together. Martin Ramsay,
Chief Technologist for the organization, won a grant to develop a special program that
pairs professor and student in a three-day technology workshop.
At the Tuskegee University in Alabama, technology coordinator Jacqueline McArthur
has been able to increase the number of regular Blackboard users among faculty from
twenty five to one hundred and twenty five in just a few months.
At Brooklyn Law School, the development of a training oriented computer laboratory,
combined with discreet but timely marketing, has helped to break down the walls
between technology end users and trainers. Lloyd Carew-Reid, a technology-training
specialist at the School, believes that timely marketing – through brown bag lunches,
scheduled visits, and short but highly focused drop in sessions – are keys to taking
technology training to the end user.
For more information about the report, visit our website at www.primaryresearch.com
Trends in Training College Faculty, Staff & Students in Computer Literacy
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