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Rapid advances in society's use of technology are producing pressure on the educational system to prepare students to effectively meet the challenges created by a highly technological environment. The proliferation of computer usage for an ever increasing range of applications has had a particularly strong impact. In order to effectively utilize this technological tool, educators are defining the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to become computer literate and free of computer anxiety.
This study attempted to identify ways in which computer literacy can be increased and computer anxiety decreased. Specifically, three forms of computer instruction were compared for their impact on computer literacy and computer anxiety. The relative effectiveness of teaching specific programming language skills versus teaching general computer skills, as part of an introductory computer course, was evaluated. In addition, the differential effect of teaching alternative programming languages was assessed.
The hypothesis stated that computer literacy scores as measured by the Standardized Test of Computer Literacy would improve; however, all the gain scores for computer literacy went in the opposite direction of the hypothetical prediction.
Using the pre-test as a covariate, the Pascal and BASIC classes were significantly higher on the computer literacy measurement than the non-programming class (.01 level of confidence). The data also showed a difference in computer literacy between students instructed in BASIC and Pascal programming languages. The Pascal class was significantly higher on the computer literacy measurement (.01 level of confidence).
The hypothesis that computer instruction of any form would decrease the level of computer anxiety as measured by the Computer Anxiety Index was not supported by the data. Using pre-test anxiety scores as covariates, the data did not support a statistically significant difference in post-test computer anxiety between students instructed in general computer skills and students instructed in a programming language. The data showed a difference in computer anxiety between students instructed in BASIC and Pascal programming languages. The BASIC class was significantly more anxious than the Pascal and non-programming class (.01 level of confidence).
Demographic variation (general, university school, computer experience, class level) were not found to affect the results of this research.