A Profile of Computer Use among the University of Illinois Humanities Faculty

Abstract

The faculty of the School of Humanities of the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign (UIUC) were surveyed to assess their current use of and attitudes towards educational computing. The respondents were generally self-trained in computer use, indicated positive attitudes to, and made frequent use of computers. Frequency of computer use, level of general computing skills, computer interest, and anxiety were analyzed according to respondent rank, sex, and age. Faculty perceptions of obstacles to computer use in the humanities indicate a need to address issues of funding for hardware, quality of software, training, and technical support. The main faculty interests in applications software include word processing, desktop publishing, graphics, database management, communications, and computer-assisted instruction. While recognizing that humanities faculty do not have the same level of involvement in computing as faculty in more "technical" disciplines, UIUC humanists, as a group, are clearly not intimidated by computer technology.The infusion of computing into higher education has been widely heralded as a critical issue, one that evokes predictions of profound or revolutionary changes [I]. While there are many who may debate the radical articulation of this position, there is no question that most colleges and universities in the United States are expanding their computer resources, particularly in the area of microcomputers. As more and easier to use computer hardware and software are made available on college campuses, computing is extending into fields, such 83

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