W TO MAKE COMPUTER

Should you teach students basic applications--word processing, spreadsheets, and da tabases .o r BASIC programming? The issue lingers. Here's one view.

By Peter Braun

~ FFICIAL PRESCRIP- TIONS for reaching the heavenly state of com- puter literacy are as numerous as religious

denominations. Naturally, each en- cyclical fervidly states that the computer language it espouses is the sole righteous path.

There also are emerging "com- puter agnostics" among computer- education experts. They claim that computer-literacy courses need not teach a computer language at all (I suspect because they don't believe that there is a CPU that under- stands). The agnostic movement is gaining strength. Its proponents claim that students need only know a word-processing, spreadsheet, and database program to live happi- ly ever after with a computer.

They justify their approach on the ground that these three soft- ware packages are popular in indus- try, and therefore, constitute some

Peter Braun trains teachers of com- puter studies at the University of California, Extension, Irvine.

skill that students might be able to use in the hereafter that they enter upon graduation--the World of Work.

But let us look at the effective- ness of teaching applications pack- ages. I will confine my comments here to the three most frequently advocated ones: word processing, spreadsheet, and database. Effec- tiveness can be measured by esti- mating how well the learning activi- ty achieves the desired goal. The goal in justifying these three soft- ware packages is to facilitate on- the-job performance after gradua- tion. So let's look at the jobs in which these software programs are customarily used.

We need to separate word proc- essing from the others here. On the job, word processors are used pri- marily by secretaries. Apart from that, word processors are useful to anyone who is required to commu- nicate in writing--students, for in- stance. Thus on the surface, you might think that word processing is a good software program to teach, because it is useful to students for

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LITERACY COST-EFFECTIVE [The Answer is BASIC]

written assignments. Unfortunately, to use a word processor is extreme- ly frustrating unless a student has at least a rudimentary familiarity with typing. Because of this, word processing should be taught as part of typing class. There is no place for it in a computer studies or liter- acy class.

Of course, typing and word proc- essing should be taught to all stu- dents. Its great utility as a personal and professional skill requires it. My son, a medical doctor, once confessed that typing was the single most useful skill he learned in pub- lic school. My point is this: If we teach word processing, let's do it right. Word processing without a concurrent typing course leads no- where. If it is not possible to teach students proper keyboarding skills, then let's forget about word proc- essing and teach the use of a pencil and eraser instead. In the absence of typing skills, a pencil is more learning effective and more cost- effective than word processing.

Having eliminated word process- ing as inappropriate for a computer-

literacy course, we are left with spreadsheet and database software. A recent survey shows that spread- sheet and database software are used almost exclusively by profes- sional and middle-management per- sonnel and that entry-level person- nel (such as recently graduated stu- dents) do not operate such software. How many of your stu- dents will enter management posi- tions after graduation? Or, for that matter, within ten years after grad- uation? My guess is only a few of your students will reach middle management.

Spreadsheets most frequently are used for budgeting and financial forecasting problems. How useful would it be for high school students to practice budgets and forecasts on a spreadsheet? Not much. Such ap- plications generally are beyond their competence--and also outside their range of interest. If this was not so, then why doesn't the princi- pal ask the brightest students to help with the school's budget using a spreadsheet program? If the school's principal does not consider

students mature and competent enough, then why should an em- ployer?

Teachers, therefore, are forced to demonstrate spreadsheets on rather trivial problems, such as, What happens to your mortgage payment if the interest goes up by a point? But in real life, spreadsheet pro- grams are not used for such trivial problems, because the set-up time takes longer than it would to look up the answer in a mortgage table. Students would be better served if they were taught how to read a mortgage amortization table for solving this problem.

But what about personal use of spreadsheets? We discovered that word processing is an essential per- sonal skill for students, because it can facilitate the completion of as- signments and term papers. Is there a similar personal use for spread- sheets? I must admit I am hard pressed to think of any but the most outlandish assignments where--as a student--I could have used a spreadsheet to advantage. Word processing, yes. Spreadsheet,

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I BASIC is well suited to teach problem.solving procedures, and it can help solve any problem that spreadsheets or databases can.

what for? Student assignments lack the essential ingredient for using a spreadsheet advantageously: the need for asking creative questions requiring repetitive processing of essentially the same data. How can we justify the teaching of any sub- ject matter for which no student need exists---either before, or after graduation?

Go ahead. Ignore my advice. But even after you decide to teach spreadsheets, which one will you teach? In the beginning, there was VisiCalc; then came SuperCalc, fol- lowed by SuperCalc II. After that came Multiplan, then Lotus 1-2-3, and lately, Symphony and Frame- work. In other words, within little more than two years, we have pro- gressed through seven generations of spreadsheet software. This means that the average time-to-ob- solescence of a spreadsheet pro- gram is four months. Even if you teach with the latest software, it will be obsolete before your stu- dents graduate.

We also must explore how data- base programs are used. There are primarily two uses: (1) status que- ries (exemplified by the bank teller who can query your account status on demand) and (2) summary re- ports. In a bank, the production of summary reports generally occurs at regular intervals--your monthly credit-card statement, for example. The database knowledge required

by an employer (in our example, a bank), generally is limited to the data kept by that company on its customers or its inventory. Howev- er, a manager occasionally might keep data specifically related to his or her job function. This type of data is best managed by a database program and maintained personally by the manager, possibly with the assistance of a data-entry clerk.

The career value of teaching stu- dents to use a database program is small because of the lack of trans- fer to the procedures that each company develops independently for dealing with its data. Imagine a student trained on dBASE II trying to update a bank account or to re- serve an airline ticket. It even sounds ridiculous.

There is one important student database, and it has little in com- mon with record-oriented database programs. Students need status query and summary access to the largest database in the world--the library. Libraries increasingly are putting information online---cata- logs, abstracts, encyclopedias, and other reference books, for starters. A student, certainly one bound for college, will need to know how to gain access to and get information out of this database.

It is doubtful, however, that this information should be taught in a computer-literacy class. Because it is a topic that every student would

benefit from, it should be taught as part of social studies, so that no student can pass through the educa- tion system without this essential knowledge of using an electronic li- brary. I challenge those of you who advocate database programs for lit- eracy classes to try your database knowledge in an electronic library. See how far you get.

Having tried to illustrate the lack of learning value of spreadsheet and database software for students, I come to another important issue: the cost-effectiveness of a curricu- lum featuring such software. Gener- ally, the combined cost of a word processing, spreadsheet, and data- base program can approach $1,000. Perhaps this does not sound like too much, but that represents $1,000 per computer.

Many of you will smile here, be- cause you know that many schools can afford to purchase only one spreadsheet and database program. State mandates or "recommenda- tions" of spreadsheets and data- base software-application programs are creating serious ethical and le- gal challenges. The curriculum guides are prepared by the state education agency, and the district is expected or required to implement the program without the funding necessary to purchase the software. Teachers then are faced with a choice: Decline to teach the man- dated material or illegally duplicate the software and documentation. This places the school district in jeopardy of prosecution and teach- es our young people (by example) that it is quite all right to steal.

Is there a solution? If spread- sheet and database software are only of limited learning value to students, and are in many cases only illegally available to teachers, is there something of equal or per- haps greater usefulness?

Yes. Because computers won't run without software, manufactur-

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ers include one piece of software with every computer. Its name is BASIC, and it has such tremendous advantages over spreadsheet and database software that it is incom- prehensible it so frequently should receive the Cinderella treatment. Among educators, only occasional princes recognize the advantages of BASIC.

Let's first deal with the cost-ef- fectiveness of BASIC: It comes with every computer you purchase, so there is no need to make illegal copies. Also, BASIC comes with each of your students' home com- puters, so students need not steal a copy to do homework. There's no way you can beat that cost-effec- tiveness and stay within the law.

Not only does the BASIC soft- ware beat all other software in terms of cost-effectiveness, but it also does so in terms of usefulness for the learner. Its usefulness is so overwhelming that I will only list a few of the main points:

1. Transfer o f knowledge. The most desirable characteristic of any classroom instruction is its applica- bility outside the classroom. BA- SIC can't be beat in this respect. Last year alone, more than nine million copies were sold--far more than any other software. BASIC can be found on every computer from micro to mainframe. It is the single most transferable knowledge that can be used on every computer outside the classroom. How many curriculum consultants can make that claim for their recommended spreadsheet and database software?

2. Ease of learning. BASIC has been taught at the early elementary school level. It certainly is easy to learn. Hundreds of books--usually only half as thick as those for spreadsheet or database software-- explain its use. Theoretically, it should be possible to learn BASIC in half the time it takes to learn the

others. In practice, another factor comes into play, having to do with the type of problem to be solved. The type of problem usually solved with spreadsheet software involves arrays of data having many rows and columns. Applications for spreadsheets most frequently are found in financial forecasting, bud- geting, and other accounting prob- lems. These applications not only require knowing how to operate a spreadsheet program, but also a knowledge of financing and ac- counting procedures to marry the problem successfully with the soft- ware. Students rarely encounter ar- ray-like data as parts of their stud- ies, and they normally would lack the knowledge of financing to use a spreadsheet in its most frequently used context.

Even the latest software will be obsolete before your students graduate.

What I am trying to say is that to apply technology effectively, one needs to have a problem to solve. If a problem is not present, technol- ogy is not required. The complexity of the problem determines the ease or difficulty of applying a software program, not the software program itself. Before any technology is used, students need to be taught explicitly how to analyze and solve problems that apply to the technol- ogy.

3. Potential student use o f BA- SIC. Problem solving generally is taught in a sequence from simple to complex. For instance, schools teach students how to add before they teach them how to multiply. If

we want to show students how they can use technology to solve addi- tion problems on the computer, then we either can use BASIC soft- ware or spreadsheet software for this demonstration. Suppose we wanted to demonstrate how soft- ware can be used to add two num- bers. Using BASIC, we only would need to turn on the computer and type a handful of characters. Using spreadsheet software, we would have to read several start-up les- sons and expend much more effort.

BASIC not only is well suited to solve the simple problems we ini- tially teach in schools to introduce problem-solving procedures, but it also can be used to solve any prob- lem for which one could use spreadsheet or database software. In other words, BASIC is a more general or more generic type of software than either spreadsheet or database software.

BASIC is ideally suited for solv- ing the wide range of problems stu- dents are required to solve during their schooling in computer studies, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, the vocational ar- eas, and so forth. Using BASIC does not depend on how hard or easy it is to learn BASIC, but most- ly upon how hard or easy it is to solve the problem at hand. A com- plicated problem can be difficult to solve with any software.

4. Potential career usefulness. By a great margin, BASIC is the most frequently used software in business and industry. Its potential career usefulness is beyond doubt.

Suitable curriculums that demon- strate the use of BASIC to teach problem solving, critical thinking, and creative use of computers exist as an alternative to the teaching of application software. The approach is not only far more educationally effective, but also is the most cost- effective approach to using software. �9

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