Planning for Computer Literacy
The term "computer literacy" has become de rigeur among avant garde educators and public officials. Despite its frequent use, however, computer literacy remains an amorphous concept. The purpose of this article is to postulate a planning framework which a college can use to decide what its students need to know about computers. Let me define computer literacy as that compendium of knowledge and skill which ordinary, educated people need to have about computers in order to function effectively at work and in their private lives in American society for the remainder of this century. Creating an operational definition by specifying what competencies a person needs to acquire is far more complicated. Individuals and institutions will come to different conclusions about competency, and these judgments may lead to some useful experimentation. Judgements will have to be made at individual institutions in terms of the relationship between institutional mission and projections of anticipated social and technological change. What is needed is not just a required programming course but a careful rethinking of the general concept of literacy that includes the use of computers. In recent months, we have seen members of Congress and state officials develop a growing awareness that educational institutions must play a leading role in economic improvement. Some have come to realize that many of the changes occurring in our economy are actually structural changes and that economic growth is heavily dependent on