fluency with information technology: an introduction cmpt 109 montclair state university

Fluency with Information Technology: an Introduction

CMPT 109

Montclair State University

Why fluency?

• Traditional computer literacy emphasized immediately useful skills, like using a word processor or a web browser.

• Fluency with Information Technology (FITness) includes literacy, but also comprises concepts and capabilities that will (we hope) help you deal with changes in technology throughout your life.

What is FITness?

• Skills means proficiency with current applications, for example e-mail, word processors, web browsers, spreadsheets, and databases.

• As applications change, the necessary skills also change.– New applications– New versions of existing applications

What is FITness? (2)

• Concepts refers to fundamental knowledge underlying information technology. Examples include the following:– How computers work– How information is represented internally– How information is transmitted over a

computer network

• Concepts change more slowly than skills.

What is fluency? (3)

• Capabilities refers to the higher-level thinking abilities needed to use a computer effectively. Here are some examples:– Troubleshooting an operating-system problem

– Organizing a research report using a word processor.

– Setting up a spreadsheet to perform a what-if calculation.

• Concepts and skills are necessary but not sufficient conditions for using IT effectively. One also needs higher-level capabilities.

FITness in CMPT 109 (examples)

Computer hardware Operating systems

Skills Avoiding lossof information

Launching programs

Concepts Major hardware components

Functions of an operating system

Capabilities Troubleshooting problems

Organizing a file system

FITness in CMPT 109 (2)

Web Browsing Word Processing

Skills Navigating hypertext links

Formatting text in a document

Concepts Packet-switched networks.Protocols (TCP/IP)

Internal representation of document

Capabilities Finding/evaluating information on the WWW

Preparing a research report

FITness in CMPT 109 (3)

Spreadsheets Databases

Skills Entering data and formulas

Creating a database table

Concepts Absolute and relative cell references

Relations between tables

Capabilities Constructing a model for a what-if calculation

Structural modeling of a real-world system