The Myth about Exploding Computers (and Student Competency)

How do we define IT competency? It may be easy to assume that someone is technologically competent if she can use a variety of applications, but perhaps a more complex definition is needed. Oblinger and Hawkins argue that when judging IT competency, we should also consider what the person's IT skills are being used for. Part of IT competency is whether the person has the skills he needs to find the information that he needs, assess its value and interpret it. These questions actually overlap with information literacy. Due to the collaborative nature of the internet, it is more important than ever to make sure that our students are informationally literate. The authors define informational literacy as the ability to: find, evaluate and use information effectively to solve a particular problem or make a decision- whether the information they select comes from a computer, a book, a government agency, a film, or any number of other possible resources." What good is knowing how to use a search engine if you can't detect bias or interpret what you're reading?
The current generation of college students use computers with ease and seem to have an intuitive understanding of how to learn to use software. But the authors pose a really interesting question: Are students competent or just confident? Having no fear is not the same as having knowledge or skill [and I would add, critical thinking skills.]

Response: Okay. I understand that having no fear is not the same as having knowledge or skill. But there's definately an advantage sometimes to having no fear. I see this constantly when people attempt to help me with a computer glitch and they just TRY things. That is something I have not been willing to do. Perhaps it's due, in part, to how computers were when I was learning how to use them. If I remember correctly, when I was "learning" computers, it was much easier to really mess things up. I remember comments like, "I wish you hadn't done that; now it's really messed up." It seems like computers are now more friendly toward user experimentation. But I still have this feeling that computer problems cannot be solved by the likes of me and if I run into a problem, I should just slowly back away from the computer until a competent person comes around to fix what I've "really messed up." (I may have a little baggage...)

Perhaps its not fair to blame earlier technology for my phobias. I also developed strange ideas about cars from watching CHiPS as a kid (okay; now you know how old I am). Somehow, from watching hundreds of car crashes on that show I got the idea that cars are very likely to explode at the slightest provocation and one has about five seconds to get out of the car and jump into the median before one's car explodes into a fireball. So I was kind of a nervous driver at first. But I learned (not through personal experience, thankfully,) that cars do not explode after fender benders; and perhaps its time for me to learn that computers do not explode, either.

So I guess if some students are confident but not competent, then at least they are confident; and that's a decidedly good thing. Informational literacy can be taught, but confidence- maybe not so much.

Oblinger, D. and Hawkins, B. (2007). "The Myth about Student Comptency." In: Computers in Education, 12th Edition. Annual Editions.