CE Reading (1); Being Fluent with IT 1999 National Research Council

[문교식]

Wordpad;

Being Fluent with IT 1999 National Research Council - Big.rtf

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Executive Summary from Being Fluent with Information Technology
 (National Research Council, 1999)

1.
Information Technology is playing an increasingly important role

in the work and personal lives of citizens.
Computers, communications, digital information , software -

the constituents of the information age - are everywhere.
Between those who search aggressively for opportunities

to learn more about information technology and those who

choose not to learn anything at all about information technology,

there are many who recognize the potential value of

information technology for their everyday lives and

who realize that a better understanding of

information technology will be helpful to them.
2. 

This realization is based on several factors:
  * Information technology has entered our lives

over a relatively brief period of time with little warning

and essentially no formal educational preparation for most people.
  * Many who crrently use information technology have only

a limited understanding of the tools they use and a

(probably correct) belief that they are underutilizing them.
  * Many citizens do not feel confident or in control

when confronted by information technology,

and they would like to be more certain of themselves.
  * There have been impressive claims for the potential benefits

of information technology, and many would like to realize

those benefits.
  * There is concern on the part of some citizens

that changes implied by information technology embody

potentail risks to social values, freedoms or economic interests, etc.,

obligating them to become informed.

3.
And, naturally, there is simple curiosity about

how this powerful and pervasive technology works.
  These various motivations to learn more about

information technology raise the general question,

What should everyone know about information technology

in order to use it more effectively now and in the future?

4. 
  The answer to this question is complicated by the fact that

information technology is changing rapidly.

The electronic computer is just over 50 years old, "PC,"

as in personal computer, is less than 20 years old, and

the World Wide Web has been known to the public

for less than five years. In the presence of rapid change,

it  is impossible to give a fixed, once-and-for-all course

that will remain current and effective.

5.
  Generally, "computer literacy" has acquired a "skills"

connotation, implying competency with a few of today's

computer applications, such as word processing and

e-mail. Literacy is too modest a goal in the presence of

rapid change, because it lacks the necessary

"staying power."

As the technology changes by leaps and bounds,

existing skills become antiquated and there is

no migration path to new skills.

6.
 A better solution is for the individual to plan to adapt to changes

in the technology.

This involves learning sufficient foundational material

to enable one to acquire new skills independently

after one's formal education is complete.

7.
  This requirement of a deeper understanding than is implied

by the rudimentary term "computer literacy" motivated

the committee to adopt "fluency" as a term connoting

a higher level of competency. People fluent with

information technology (FIT persons) are able to express

themselves creatively, to reformulate knowledge, and

to synthesize new information.

8.
Fluency with information technology

(i.e., what this report calls FITness) entails a process of

lifelong learning in which individuals continually apply

what they know to adapt to change and acquire

more knowledge to be more effective at applying

information technology to their work and personal lives.

9.
  Fluency with information technology requires

three kinds of knowledge: contemporary skills,

foundational concepts, and intellectual capabilities.

These three kinds of knowedge prepare

a person in different ways for FITness.

10.
  * Contemporary skills, the ability to use

today's computer applications, enable people to

apply information technology immediately.

In the present labor market, skills are an essential

component of job readiness.

Most importantly, skills provide a store of practical

experience on which to build new competence.

11.
 * Foundational concepts, the basic principles and

ideas of computers, networks, and information,

underpin the technology.

Concepts explain the how and why of information

technology, and they give insight into its opportunities

and limitations.

Concepts are the raw material for understanding

new information technology as it evolves.

12.
 * Intellectual capabilities, the ability to apply

information technology in complex and

sustained situations, encapsulate higher-level thinking

in the context of information technology.

Capabilities empower people to manipulate

the medium to their advantage and to handle unintended

and unexpected problems when they arise.

The intellectual capabilities foster more abstract thinking

about information and its manipulation.

13.
  For specificity, the report enumerates the ten

highest-priority items for each of the three types of

knowledge.

(Box ES.1 lists these ten items for each type of knowledge.)

The skills, linked closely to today's computer usage,

will change over time, but the concepts and

capabilities are timeless.

14.
Concepts, capabilities, and skills -

the three different types of knowdedge of FITness -

occupy separate dimensions,

implying that a particular activity involving

information technology will involve elements of

each type of knowledge. Learning the skills and

concepts and developing the intellectual capabilities

can be undertaken without reference to each other,

but such an effort will not promote FITness

to any significant degree.

The three elements of FITness are co-equal,

each reinforcing the others, and all are essential to FITness.

15.
 FITness is personal in the sense that individuals

fluent with information technology eval‎uate, distinguish,

learn, and use new information technology as appropriate

to their own personal and professional activities.

What is appropriate for an individual depends

on the particular applications, activities, and

opportunities for being FIT that are assocaited with

the individual's area of interest of specialization.

16.
 Fitness is also graduated and dynamic.

It is graduated in the sense that FITness is

characterized by different levels of sophistication

(rather than a single fluent/not fluent judgment).

And, it is dynamic in that FITness entails

lifelong learning as information technology evolves.

17.
 In short, FITness should not be regarded as an end state

that is independent of domain, but rather as something that

develops over a lifetime in particular domains of interest and

that has a different character and tone depending on which

domains are involved. Accordingly, the pedagogic goal is to

provide students with a sufficiently complete foundation of

the three types of knowledge that they can

"learn the rest of it" on their own as the need arises

throught life.

18.
  Because FITness is fundamentally integrative,

calling upon an individual to coordinate

information and skills with respect to

multiple dimensions of a problem and to make overall

judgments and decisions taking all such information into

account, a project-based approach to developing FITness

is most appropriate.

Projects of appropriate scale and scope inherently involve

multiple iterations,

each of which provides an opportunity for an instructional

checkpoint or intervention.

19.
The domain of a project can be tailored to an individual's

interest (e.g., in the department of a student's major),

thereby providing motivation for a person to expend the

(non-trivial) effort to master the concepts and skills of

FITness.

In addition, a project of appropriate scope will be

sufficiently complex that intellectual integration is

necessary to complete it.

20.
Note also that much of the infrastructure of

existing skills-based computer or

information technology literacy efforts

(e.g., hardware, software, network connections,

support staff)

will be important elements of efforts to promote FITness.

21.
  Although the essentials of FITness are

for the most part not dependent on sophisticated

mathematics, and should therefore generally be

accessible in some form to every citizen,

any program or effort to make individuals more FIT

must be customized to the target population.

Because the committee was composed of

college and university faculty,

the committee chose to focus

its implementational concerns on the four-year college or

university graduate as one important starting point

for the development of FITness across the citizenry.

22.
Further, the committee believes that

successful implementation of FITness instruction will

requires serious rethinking of the college and

university curriculum.

It will not be sufficient for individual instructors to revisit

their course content or approach.

Rather, entire departments must examine the question of

the extent to which their students will graduate FIT.

Universities need to concern themselves with the

FITness of students who cross discipline boundaries

and with the extent to which each discipline is

meeting the goals of universal FITness.

----------------------------------------------------

BOX ES.1

The Components of Fluency with Information Technology

Intelellectual Capabilities

  1. Engage in sustained reasoning

  2. Manage Complexity

  3. Test a solution

  4. Manage problems in faulty solutions

  5. Organize and navigate information structures and eval‎uate information

  6. Collaborate

  7. Communicate to toehr audiences

  8. Expect the unexpected

  9. Anticipate changing technologies

 10. Think about information technology abstractly

Information Technology Concepts

  1. Computers

  2. Information systems

  3. Networks

  4. Digital representation of information

  5. Information organization

  6. Modeling and abstraction

  7. Algorithmic thinking and programming 

  8. Universality

  9. Limitations of information technology

 10. Societal impact of information and information technology

Information Technology Skills

  1. Setting up a personal computer

  2. Using basic operating system features

  3. Using a word processor to create a text document

  4. Using a graphics and/or and artwork package to create illustrations, slides,

     or other image-based expressions of ideas

  5. Connecting a computer to a network

  6. Using the Internet to find information and resources

  7. Using a computer to communicate with others

  8. Using a spreadsheet to model simple processes or financial tables

  9. Using  a database system to set up and access useful information

 10. Using instructional materials to learn how to use new applications or

      features

//