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I've noticed an interesting, somewhat concerning trend over the past
few years. First, let me clarify that I have absolutely no reason to
believe that what I'm about to describe is any more prevalent among MSU
students than it is in the general population. It's just that since I
primarily worked with students, MSU is where I've experienced this the
most.
Over the past decade, computers have become an increasingly ubiquitous
part of our daily lives. This has happened primarily for two reasons:
Due to the Internet, we have far more incentive than ever before to
learn to use a computer. Also, the computer itself has become
significantly easier to use. Things are much more automated, plug and
play, point and click than they used to be fifteen or 20 years ago.
Back then, there were fewer computer users on average; but, I believe
that the percentage of users who had some idea of what was going on
behind the scenes was much higher than it is today. In the late 80s
when I was in high school, basic computer intro classes were offered.
In those classes, many fundamental concepts were introduced: What is the
difference between hard drive space and ram? What is the CPU? What does
it do? ...
I wonder if classes like that are still being taught today, or if the
computer has become so ubiquitous that such fundamental concepts are
now taken for granted? Due to what I'm seeing in my day to day work, I
suspect the latter.
I would estimate that at least 75% of the students I've worked with have
not had any exposure to such concepts. They could download files all
day and copy them to their thumb drive; but, if you were to ask them how
much space is currently free on that thumb drive, they would be
stumped.
They don't know how to buy a computer. Well sure, they know how to whip
out the credit card and pay for one, but they have no clue what to look
for when making the purchase. If they did, these retail outlets would
never be able to get away with selling Vista machines which limp along
with 1 gig of ram, and are preloaded with tons of garbage to make
matters even worse.
They'll under buy the ram, and yet way over pay for hard drive space,
because, well, it sounds like they're getting more for their money when
they buy 500 gigs instead of 4.
Are we as a university doing anything to combat this situation? Do we
offer any basic 100 level intro classes which cover this stuff?
What about a general computer users group? Does such a thing exist?
If not, perhaps one solution might be to form such a group, where in we
would offer presentations, and mentor any students who were interested
in learning more.
Thoughts?
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