Using computers on campus
- Continued from p. 3
impact.
"CAI will help because many students acquire writing skills more rapidly with the computer, but overall, teachers are the ones who, when it comes to how they write," Hove said.
Another encouraging point, Hove said, was that when students were asked in a questionnaire whether they would recombine computers to a friend, the answer was yes.
"I think with this question that you can really get a better feel for what students are thinking." Hove said. "To recommend it to a friend could be dangerous. The friend could come back and say, 'I really hate this. Look what you got me into?' I think the response to that question really shows what students are thinking."
Opposite results
Phil Wedge, lecturer in English, taught two classes for the study. One of his classes wrote its papers out by hand and the other class used computers.
Results from his class were the opposite of the overall results. His handwriting group had a slightly higher grade point average than the computer group.
"I think that the students without a computer may do more drafts." Wedge said. "The students with the computer would write a first draft, read the analysis and then write the second time for the final draft. The writing group students usually
wrote two rough drafts and the third draft was the final one."
Wedge said he saw the computers as a time-saver
"I can't spend a half hour with each
client. I must stay at home to work on the
program for an hour." Wedgis said.
In the end, it's the type of student that really matters. Wed said.
Gurmur Mein, teaching assistant in English, was not involved in the study, but requires students in some of his classes to use Writer's Workbench.
"The computer lab is most useful for beginning students for things such as syntax."
The advantage of the computers is that they save time on explaining grammar in class.
Mein said he would use the lab for his English 102 class, but it wouldn't be useful for his Introduction to Fiction class because I intercedred more with ideas than grammar.
"The students can improve, but they just can't plug in the formula and come up with a great paper," Mei said. "With the computer program, less time is spent on little things that really work; it frees more time to spend on ideas and how to expand those ideas in the essays."
Mein said his students are reluctant to use the computers in the beginning, but after becoming familiar with the equipment they could appreciate its advantages
Julie Adrian, Valley Center sophomore
used Writer's Workbench in one of her English classes.
"I hate computers, but it really has helped me a lot," Adrian said. "I gave me a lot of different insights, especially with verb tenses."
When the computer told her to do certain things, sometimes she ignored it and sometimes she complained.
"As far as grammar, the computer was right on target," Adrian said. "As far as style, usually what the computer said was crap and I wouldn't change it."
Healy said the direction of the computer programs for English was toward helping students with basic writing problems, and making sentence structure and brainstorming.
“At a school like this, where anyone with a high school degree can get in, sometimes we have to make up for remedial goods,” Healy said. “Right now, we're helping the mainstream students, not the remedial or the student students. We need to start at the beginning.”
Steve Goldman, director of the Minority Tutoring program, is aware of that fact and is trying to introduce computer use into the tutoring program.
Goldman said that four graduate teaching assistants tutored about 45 students.
He said most of the programs that were available needed to be interpreted for the tuxedo.
"If students make changes just because the computer highlights it, it's a mistake."
Goldman said. "The computer just makes suggestions. That's why students need to go over the papers with an experienced tutor to discuss the problems."
Library access
Along with special interest programs such as the tutoring program, students can benefit from technological breakthroughs in computers. Any student that has access to a computer hooked to the University system or that has modems can use the direct link to the library catalogs at Watson library, libraries at Fort Hays State University, Kansas Medical Center, Kansas Medical Center, the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, and next year, Kansas State University and Pittsburg State University, Niebium said.
"I think this will have a tremendous impact," Niebaum said. "I could get information without leaving my office. For example, if you have to do summer research, you could get information from the Wichita library or the KU library through a network without a long distance call."
Niebaum said that since he began working at KU, he had seen the knowledge about computers grow with the number of computers.
"People on campus are much more savvy about what computers can do," Nielbaum said. "There are优势 opportunities for use people are beginning to realize it and use it."
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