Technological Access, Fluency, and Literacy Proposal: The Implementation of Computer Focused Courses in Michigan Tech's Engineering Curriculum (Final Draft)

Entering my freshman year of college here at Michigan Technological University (MTU) I felt pretty confident in my ability to keep up with the technology used here. I now know what it's like to lose that confidence. Throughout my experience here I have been introduced to many new computer programs. Knowledge of these programs was essential to keeping up, completing, understanding, and doing well in most of my chemical engineering courses. What I found difficult was becoming "literate" and understanding how these programs worked while juggling 100 other homework assignments and trying to comprehend every educational concept. I can't speak for other departments but in my opinion, I don't believe that the Michigan Tech chemical engineering department does the best job when it comes to introducing students to new computer programs and technology. There are currently no mandatory courses that strictly focus on engineering computer programs in the chemical engineering curriculum. Students are briefly introduced to these programs as means of solving problems in other courses. This is why I would like to propose that the chemical engineering curriculum at MTU be altered to include mandatory computer program courses to be taken during the students' freshman or sophomore years. These classes could be major specific and be offered to other areas in need as well but I am most familiar with the chemical engineering program so that is my area of focus.They would focus strictly on how to use and understand the computer programs that would be used to solve greater problems later in the students' career. They would improve the students' computer literacy.

According to Palfrey and Gasser, I am a "digital native". I am one who has grown up with and lived with digital technology, my entire life. I feel that because I have grown up in this digital age, I am fairly "computer literate."  I am comfortable with computers and I am able to use my knowledge of digital technology every day. This comfort isn't always there, however. As mentioned in Williams' report on "Literacy and Computer Literacy...", technology is always changing and specifically, new, more useful, computer programs are always being released or updated. As Williams contradicts the NRC's view that literacy is "too modest a goal" in this ever changing technological world, she explains her theses on literacy and why she believes it can truly be defined. In my opinion and as discussed in my Digital Media class, "Literacy" can be defined as the capacity to understand goals and the ability to apply one's skills to achieve them. It is the confidence and comfort one has in understanding. 

Briggs, Carnahan, and Williams discuss that students must not only understand and be comfortable with present technology but also have the ability to understand and adapt to the technology of the future in their report, "The Use of Computers in Chemical Engineering Education". In this report, Briggs, Carnahan, and Williams struggle with the question of when a student should learn engineering computer skills. They ponder if the university is responsible for teaching these skills or if it is better for the student to learn in the workforce. In my opinion, this shouldn't even be a question, today. The use of computers in the engineering discipline has become the norm. Whether used for Computer Aided Drafting or problem solving through simulation and modeling, it is nearly impossible for an engineer today to work efficiently without the help of a computer program. It has therefore become extremely necessary for universities to incorporate technology education into their curriculum. As a graduating chemical engineering student I am curious to find out how prepared I am for computing in a chemical engineering career. I have been exposed to chemical engineering computer programs but I am by no means an expert.

This brings up a new point. In my opinion the terms access and exposure are very closely tied. According to Blackmon, access directly affects literacy. She argues that African Americans have fallen behind white Americans in terms of digital literacy because the African Americans have fewer opportunities to be exposed to computers and the internet. I don't believe that a lack of access is the problem at Michigan Tech. The campus has many computer labs available to students. They provide exposure to all of the programs needed by students. In the case of my argument, I don't believe access greatly affects literacy. Even though I've had access to programs like MathCAD, UniSim, and COMSOL, since my freshman year, I was clueless as to how these programs were used until I had a bit of instruction. Yes, it is entirely possible for one to blindly teach themselves how to use these programs but because of their complexity it would be extremely difficult. I think in cases like this, instruction must also be present in order to influence a student's literacy.

Changing the curriculum may be difficult. As Arden discusses, “The educational challenge will be to continue to develop students’ physical intuition and critical judgment of designs as they become more reliant on computerized design.” I believe that this can be done. I believe that although computers assist in solving problems, it still requires the intuition and judgment of the user in order to completely solve the problem. The user needs to understand the problem in order to solve it, even if a computer is being used. 

With the rapidly changing world of the digital era upon us, it is unavoidable. Dependence on computers and other forms of digital media to solve engineering problems will only increase as technology improves. If MTU refuses to evolve with technology, it will no longer produce intelligent, high quality engineers. Engineering companies will become more and more interested in students' computer literacy when recruiting for jobs and will ignore MTU grads if they aren't literate with engineering computer programs. Being educated and literate in this technology is and will continue to be a great advantage for years to come.