AN ASSESSMENT OF THE CONTENT, STATUS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPUTER LITERACY CURRICULA IN HIGHER EDUCATION

This study utilized a survey research design to assess computer literacy curricula at public and private colleges in the seven states of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges district. The major purposes of the study were to: (1) assess the status of computer literacy as a graduation requirement; (2) assess institutional goals and instructor objectives for student computer literacy; (3) determine the content and implementation of computer literacy at the college level, and (4) determine whether backgrounds of faculty who teach computer literacy are changing.;A two-part questionnaire was developed, pilot tested for validity and reliability, then mailed to academic administrators and computer literacy instructors of 69 postsecondary institutions of which 57 returned completed pairs (82.6%).;The findings showed that computer literacy is not being required for graduation at any significant level outside the fields of business, mathematics, physical science and engineering, except in teacher education. These same disciplines provide computer literacy curricula on most campuses.;This study confirmed that there is considerable agreement among instructors on content of computer literacy courses. Instructors' primary objective for these courses was "use of the computer as a tool for multiple purposes". In most institutions, students can take a separate course or one with computing integrated into the subject matter. Hands-on experience was required for 94 percent of the institutions and was provided in a variety of settings. Small numbers of schools integrate computing into the curriculum in almost all disciplines. The predominant backgrounds of faculty teaching computer literacy courses are in mathematics, business, biological and physical science, and computer science, and recently education. The involvement of the liberal arts, fine arts, and social science disciplines was sufficient to indicate faculty in non-science based fields are using computers to teach their subject matter. Computer literacy courses are moving from the one "computer" course to being used as a tool in various disciplines.;Data was collected from academic administrators and computer literacy instructors in four-year colleges. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the responses according to classification of institution, type of control, and size of student body.