“How do I send an Email?”

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the ability of college freshmen to successfully use common academic software and manage files. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 39 college freshmen from three college campuses were recruited for the study. An online test environment and screen recording software were used to measure student proficiency in using PDFs, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, Gmail, and Windows. Data were collected in September 2013. Findings – Student use of academic technology is common, but their software skills are not comprehensive or deep. Students were most proficient at using PDFs and Microsoft Word. Microsoft Excel tasks were the most difficult for the students, and many struggled to use Gmail to compose a message and send an attachment. Students were able to open a PowerPoint document and view a slideshow, but they were less comfortable navigating the software’s printing environment. Originality/value – Having concrete data about student technology skills, rather than anecdotal data from reference desk interactions, can help librarians design improved instruction and tutorials that target areas of student technology weakness.

A close look: roving reference in a community college library information commons

“…Working in the author’s information commons involves routine, technology challenges. This echoes Chan’s (2014) and Eichelberger and Imler’s (2015) results.…”

“…Information commons increase technology-related reference. Chan (2014) asserted that “reference librarians have had to add software and hardware troubleshooting to their proficiencies.” While in Eichelberger and Imler’s (2015) three information commons, “librarians have grown accustomed to answering questions about technology in addition to more traditional research-focused questions.” In Chan’s (2014) hybrid, public-academic, information commons, roughly one-quarter of reference desk questions were “web or computer related.” Paulus’ (2014) information commons included a computer lab and printers on two floors. Jiang et al (2015) recounted their commons’ creation of a technology support desk, staffed by well-trained students.…”

“…If computer literacy means the ability to nimbly navigate MS-Office, then “students are not computer literate” (Wilkinson, 2006). More recently, Eichelberger and Imler (2015) found that students “struggle with common academic technology.” Eichelberger and Imler (2015) tested students at several institutions. Their test covered Windows, Adobe Acrobat and MS-Office 2013.…”

“…Their test covered Windows, Adobe Acrobat and MS-Office 2013. More than 40 per cent of their students had difficulty opening and/or saving PDF files (Eichelberger and Imler, 2015). More than half could not complete any Excel task correctly (Eichelberger and Imler, 2015), and fewer than half successfully attached a document to email (Eichelberger and Imler, 2015).…”

“…More than 40 per cent of their students had difficulty opening and/or saving PDF files (Eichelberger and Imler, 2015). More than half could not complete any Excel task correctly (Eichelberger and Imler, 2015), and fewer than half successfully attached a document to email (Eichelberger and Imler, 2015). Finally, Stahl (2017) gave the Information and Computer Technology (ICT) Driver’s License test to students and discovered that only 57 per cent of students passed the MS-Office module.…”