Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Computer literacy--Study and teaching--Iowa--Cedar Falls; Curriculum planning--Iowa--Cedar Falls; Computer literacy--Study and teaching; Curriculum planning; Education--Curricula; Iowa--Cedar Falls; University of Northern Iowa--Curricula; University of Northern Iowa; Academic theses;

Abstract

This paper describes a curriculum that was developed and used for a computer literacy course at the University of Northern Iowa. The curriculum included a unit of computer programming, which has not been included as part of the computer literacy course in recent years at the University of Northern Iowa. Surveys were given at the beginning of the semester to determine the approximate level of students' prior knowledge. The same survey was given at the end of the semester and the results of both were compared to see how much more comfortable each individual student felt using the various computer equipment and applications, as well how much more comfortable the class as a whole felt using the various computer equipment and applications .. The curriculum as a who le was successful. The measure for success was that at least 80% of the students achieved at least 80% of the total possible points for a final grade. The main components of the course were evaluated individually. The programming component did not meet the success criteria as students did not achieve at least 80% on both the homework assignments and the test questions. The programming component was the only new part of the curriculum and its evaluation can be considered as the second phase of the systematic process for instructional development, which was used for developing the curriculum. There are several recommendations for future use of this curriculum, including adding more time for the programming and Internet components of the course. The surveys given at the beginning and end of the semester indicated that students had quite a bit of prior knowledge of word processing. With students coming in with prior knowledge of word processors, this would make it reasonable to spend less time on word processing and more time discussing different subjects, such as programming and the Internet.

Year of Submission

1997

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Computer Science

First Advisor

Janet Drake

Second Advisor

J. Philip East

Third Advisor

Bonnie Litwiller

Comments

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Date Original

1997

Object Description

1 PDF file (152 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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