Today's classrooms and workplaces are increasingly demanding in required skills for a successful education and a professional career. Not only are core skills mandatory for admission and placement but so are adjunct ones. In fact, what have been historically viewed as secondary skills are no longer so in complex communities of learning and knowledge. Expanding lists of required skills in knowledge economies do not cease, apparently, to expand. More colleges and employers are performing interdisciplinary exams for candidates. Skill integration is becoming norm. In order for a student and/or a job candidate to be able to perform simple assignments, she needs master a broad range of skills - not in addition to her core ones, as has been always in straightforward assignments in service-based economies – but integral to skills of main focus. One such skill, cutting across a myriad of disciplines and competencies, is computer skills. Since introduction of computers into education and workplace, conjectures from all disciplines and professional areas have been made on when, first, computer skills could be mastered and, later, what skills should be mastered and, recently, how computer skills could be integral into existing sets of skills. This paper aims, hence, to explore computer skills as a complex requirement in a knowledge-based economy.
First introduction of computers into campuses and workplaces has led to major disruptions in conventional classroom settings and workplace practices. Initial responses ranged from ad hoc programs aimed to help students and new joiners master basic computer skills required to perform routine assignments and functions to one-at-a-time sessions aimed to develop specific skills for a certain group of students and/or workers to perform specific assignments. Initially, no information system per se has existed on campus or at workplace since automation was still an experiential project not put into full implementation. Typical computer skills included mainly word processing and database search skills. But, given abundant offline resources and slow connections, computers had to wait a revolution in applications and connectivity. College students and job applicants had still to rely on non-computerized options for assignment and work delivery.
Side by side did new computer technologies and conventional study and/or work tools existed that many relapsed to more familiar ways in order to perform more quickly.
The introduction, however, of bulletin boards proved a major leap in computer applications and skills. Instead of sharing documents over blind intranets in which students and/or workers do not have a choice to exchange feedback on shared documents, bulletin boards opened up new horizons for semi-instant interaction. Students and/or workers could, for first time, message one another, share comments, or follow up on news via a semi-instant facility which facilitated communication and helped enhance more computer skills required for students and/or workers as more and more campuses and employers, first, recommended, and, later, required students and staff use computers and be able to manage assignments and work across boards and messaging systems.
This initial introduction led to confusion as to when computer skills should be acquired, let alone mastered. Since, as younger generations learnt to acquire skills and to rely on computers more, older generations lagged behind for reasons now understandable in light of gaps created between Y Generation and older generations.
The process of creating programs to cater for needs of both new comers and older generations of learners and workers was all but unplanned. This is due to computers and computer applications being still nascent areas unfolding at unprecedented paces but also due to a lack of an adequate degree of certainty as to when exactly should computer skills be developed at a student's or worker's life. Training sessions on campuses and at workplaces were held in order to both advance skills of students and workers who are adept at using computers and to develop basic skills for ones who lack such skills. The outcomes showed mixed success. Few managed to embrace computers and develop advanced computer skills on campus and at workplaces. The majority still switched back and forth between computerized systems and conventional methods owing to a multitude of factors including, non-computerized campuses and/or workplaces.
One most crucial factor, however, in uncertainty as to when – and whether- computer skills should be developed at all has been lack of an integrated system on campus and at workplace. Not only were computer skills developed independently from existing skills required performing study and working assignments but computers were still not integrated into learning and workplace settings such as to synergize core and computer skills into an integrated portfolio, to leverage performance, and to, ultimately, boost overall output. Context was missing for computer skills.
The question of computer skills has – only relatively recently – turned from when to how. That is, how computer skills could be integrated into a knowledge-based process of learning (Eisenberg and Johnson, 1996). This is where integrated systems come in.
In an ideal knowledge-based economy, students and workers alike should only learn and do in bundles. Similar to bundled plans, acquired knowledge of students and workers should not be based on individual skills acquired independently but on bundled skills acquired at once. That is, computer skills should not be developed and advanced in isolation from contingent learning and knowledge needs for students and job market requirements for workers.
A filmmaking student learning how to create, edit, publish and promote videos online, for example, is not integrating her computer skills if she does not bundle such skills with bordering ones in different classes. Likewise, a working professional mastering database management skills will not be able to leverage her performance if she does not integrate her computer knowledge into company's overall strategy.
The question of computer skills cannot be overemphasized in light of recent developments of workplace. As organizations learn how to integrate sub-systems of knowledge into overarching knowledge system, employers are setting expectations for required computer skills (Davis, 1997). In order for workers to perform efficiently and effectively in a knowledge-based work context, not only initial, expected computer skills should be met but such skills – acquired in an earlier phase in college or a former job – should be integrated into new work context in new forms compatible to a different knowledge system.
Typically, computer skills are understood in light of some technical wizardry when, in fact, such skills should be viewed in much broader contexts. Undeniably, mastery of technical aspects of a computer application or skill is essential to perform a specific assignment. However, skill mastery acquires additional value by innovative application to and integration into overall systems. There is no great use of an outstanding computer skill if such skill is not placed in an adequate context of learning and work.
Further, as additional computer applications – and skills – add up, more agile systems should be developed in order to accommodate new applications and skills. This should, for example, inspire Chief Information Officers to create and develop more agile systems responsive to staff developing computer skills. The strategy, hence, drawn by campus administrators and corporate executives would tap into a vast pool of skills acquired, not in isolation, but collaboratively. This should, in turn, change thinking of computer skills as competencies into springboards capable of leveraging overall performance when integrated into learning and knowledge needs on campus and at workplace.
The road is still long to walk. Computer skills in mainstream conception are still viewed in light of competencies, independently, and apart from an overall strategy of learning and knowledge. Skills are sill picked up randomly, not systematically mastered. This should all change, gradually, as more imaginative forms of conceptions for what constitute a computer skill on campus and workplace evolve. Admittedly, developing and mastering computer skills at present is picking up pace in a direction of innovative systems. This is becoming evident as more flexible modes of learning and knowledge are being effected in established organizations such as MOOCs.
In open learning resources such as MOOCs, students and workers are not only acquiring core skills in specific areas but also capture valuable computer skills in a collaborative context. The way computer skills are developed in a MOOC context are, moreover, radically different from conventional ways of skill development and advancement. Learners and workers do not only integrate acquired computer skills into an overall system of learning and knowledge but carry over learning mode into different contexts. This is most notable in learning spaces students and workers create after completion of an open course. Increasingly, more and more organizations are opening up spaces for learning and experimentation for students and workers alike in forms such as application labs, cubes and virtual workshops.
Younger learners, hence, could enjoy unprecedented opportunities using computer applications in ways completely different from older generations'. Therefore, instead of focusing on computer skills per se as skills one should learn in order to advance in college or at work, innovative online and offline contexts could be created and developed for further enhanced performance and increased productivity. In such a light, computer skills would be viewed more as a cut-across learning and knowledge tool and less of a core skill satisfying an admission exam or a job requirement.
Finally, as new forms of computing emerges such as cloud computing, more and more innovative forms of computer skill development will evolve such as to enhance growing needs for a broader skill integration.
Works Cited
Eisenberg, B. M. and Johnson, Doug. "Computer Skills for Information Problem-Solving: Learning and Teaching Technology in Context." Eric Digest. 1996. ERIC. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.
Davis, Philip. "What Computer Skills Do Employers Expect from Recent College Graduates?" T.H.E. Journal 25.2(1997): 74-78. ERIC. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.
