The committee has determined that the appropriate goal for the curriculum should be the highest appropriate levels of computer competency, rather than mere computer literacy. In fact, more and more students are arriving on campus with basic computer literacy. The Learning Standards established for public school students by the Illinois State Board of Education include the use of computers for writing, oral presentations, research, and mathematics. The WIU curriculum should reinforce the computer skills the students arrive with and move them beyond those entry levels. Note that any definitions of competencies must be tentative.
New applications can replace older ones or very quickly become essential skills.
An integrated plan WIU faculty have learned from our experience with campus-wide writing requirements that the responsibility for essential skills cannot be relegated to a single course, department, or program. Students learn best when responsibility for teaching and practicing such skills is shared throughout the university. Accordingly we propose an integrated computer competency requirement, a cooperative venture among all departments, the four colleges, General Education, Admissions, Academic Computing, Student Services, and others. The integrated plan will be centered in the many measures that we are already taking to provide computer training and experience for our students. One of the significant findings of the committee is that a great deal of instruction in computer applications is already in place on campus.