The November 22, 2011 issue of this IAE Blog is titled: “That’s a researchable question.” (See http://i-a-e.org/iae-blog/thats-a-researchable-question.html.) The blog entry makes frequent mention of Computer Literacy, but does not attempt to define the term. Here, I give my current ideas about a definition for this rapidly moving target.

Sometimes I like to consider  computer literacy as a discipline of study and begin with a general discussion of how one defines an academic discipline.. I use a list from page 8 of the Moursund and Albrecht free book on math tutoring available at http://i-a-e.org/downloads/doc_download/208-becoming-a-better-math-tutor.html.

To shorten the discussion, Item 5 from the list is:

(Item 5): The knowledge and skills that separate and distinguish among: a) a novice; b) a person who has a personally useful level of competence; c) a reasonably competent person, employable in the discipline; d) a state or national expert; and e) a world-class expert.

The basic idea is that there are varying levels of computer literacy. I also like to point out to students the level of expertise needed to meet:

• Their own personal needs.
• The expectations being placed on them by parents, extended family, teachers, and our education system.
• The expectations of potential employers.

When the (Item 5) and the bulleted list approaches are combined, it is easy to see why computer literacy changes over time and that “one size does not fit all.”

Meeting Personal Needs

Many of today’s youth become quite facile in using computer technology to meet their personal needs. They learn to use cell phones, digital cameras, game machines, downloadable music and music players, search engines, browsers, and so on without any teaching help from our formal education system and likely with little help from parents or other adults. Kids learn enough to meet most of their personal needs from each other and through trial and error. They are intrinsically motivated to gain this type of computer literacy.

Computer Literacy Needs Specified by Others

The issue of computer literacy starts to get complicates when people other than the learner start to specify what is to be learned. Some of these adults have a level of computer knowledge, skills, insights, and foresight to make useful recommendations. Many don’t!

For example, consider the set of knowledge and skills of a good research librarian. It is easy to say that students should learn to use a search engine and a browser. How high a level of expertise in these endeavors does a person need?

It seems evident to me that rudimentary knowledge of the tools does not suffice. Contrast such rudimentary knowledge and skills with that of an expert—perhaps a research librarian who as specialized in information retrieval in one or more specific disciplines such as art or science. Out of this analysis I deduce that as a student studies a discipline they should be developing a reasonable level of research librarian information retrieval skills in that discipline. And, of course, the student needs to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff found in what they retrieve.. This is a major learning challenge.

As another example, consider computer aids to writing and desktop publication. It is a large step to go from hunt and peck keyboarding to the design and layout of a high quality published document that includes text and graphics. That leads me to believe that as our educational system helps a student to gain skill as a writer, we should also be helping the student to gain knowledge and skills in desktop publication.

I have mentioned Computational Thinking in several of my IAE Blogs and in my other writings. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides broadly applicable and very valuable aids to representing and solving problems in the various academic disciplines. From that point of view, one’s level of computer literacy within a discipline can be measured in terms of level of expertise in meeting the ICT demands of that discipline. Math-oriented computer literacy is quite different than music-oriented computer literacy or graphic arts-oriented computer literacy.

Final Remarks

In brief summary, computer literacy has many similarities to reading and writing literacy. Our educational system understands learn to read and write, and the need to also earn to read and write "across rhe curriculum"—that is, within each discipline one studies. Some aspects of computer literacy are interdisciplinary and it is useful for all students to move beyond the novice level in these areas. Some are discipline specific and students should be gaining discipline-specific computer literacy as an integral component of the various disciplines they study.