1. Basic eSkills Foundation or Frustration
Diane J. Goldsmith
Dean of Planning, Research and Assessment
Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium

2. CTDLC MISSION: Promote Quality Distance Learning 9 years old
49 member institutions
Higher Education
K-12
State Agencies

3. Research Questions
What Computer skills do faculty believe students need on their first day of class?
Do students enter higher education with those skills?
Research funded by:
Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education.
Sloan Foundation

4. Authors Diane J. Goldsmith, PhD. Cathy Manly, M.B.A
Project Director
Cathy Manly, M.B.A
Director of Distance Learning, Manchester Community College
George Rezendes, PhD.
Director of Institutional Research, Three Rivers Community College
David Nielsen, M.A.
Director of Institutional Research, Manchester Community College

5. Basic Skills Survey of faculty in 2002 11 institutions
Associate and Bachelor degree granting
Public and private
Teach online and face-to-face

6. Statement of Minimum Skills
Basic Computer/Windows Skills
Type
Open a software application
Exit a software application
Access a CD-ROM
Locate a saved file
Use copy and paste

7. Statement of Minimum Skills
Basic Word Processing Skills
Use the enter/return key to create a blank line
Tab text to indent a line
Apply basic formatting: bold, italics, and centering
Save a file (name the file and locate where to save the file)
Print a file

8. Statement of Minimum Skills
BASIC WEB SKILLS
Click on a link
Use the back button
Perform a basic search in a search engine
Print a web page
Go to a specified URL
Scroll through a webpage
Identify search results
Download and view a file from a webpage

9. Statement of Minimum Skills
Basic Skills
Send an message
Attach a file to an message
Receive an message

10. Initial Pilots Design a 2 part assessment –
Self Assessment – how well can you do this?
Simulation (CTDLC design, Course Technologies
Different combinations of these given in 9 institutions in the winter of 2004.

11. Initial Pilot Results
Students were not able to self-assess accurately.
10% had few of the basic skills
31% had significant weaknesses

12. Second Pilot Use Course Technologies simulations –
17 item Basic Skills Assessment
Windows – (3)open window, open file, close file
Word – (6) insert, copy, paste, save, print, format
Internet- (5) enter URL, use link, scroll, back button, search
– (3) open message, reply, send with attachment

13. Second Pilot Administered to 2090 students in 5 community colleges.
Assessment given after their placement tests (Accuplacer)
1459 registered for classes – have demographic information for them.

14. Not meeting basic skills
Results Only 18% got 100%
Pass
72%
300
Need Review
22%
250
200
Number of Students
150
Not meeting basic skills 6%
100 50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

15. Time to Complete Those who had the skills took an average of 7 minutes
Those in the “need review” or “not meeting basic skills” took an average of 10 minutes.

16. Item Response Theory Used IRT for Validity and Reliability
Most difficult items:
Send with attachment
Reply to
Enter URL in address bar
Copy and Paste
Use Search Engine

17. Demographic Analysis--Gender
75%
70%
80%
60%
Share of Students
40%
20% 0%
Women
Avg=82.5
Men
Avg=84.6

18. Average Family Income by Test Score Group
$60,000
$51,520
$42,178
$50,000
$40,000
$27,322
Average Family Income
$30,000
$20,000
$10,000 $-
Not Meeting
Need Review
Pass

19. Demographic Analysis -- Age
85.1 86
83.2 84 82 80
78.0
Average Test Score 78
76.5 76 74 72
19-
20-21
22-24
25+

20. Demographic Analysis
No significant correlation with prior college experience.
Students who scored higher on writing scored higher on Basic Computer Skills
(.42 correlation).
Small (.25) correlation with Math skills.

21. Caveats
Time: Students were given the assessment after their reading, writing, and math tests.
Language: both in terms of ESL and the language we use for skills
Demographics: It appears that percentage of those who lack skills is decreasing, but we don’t know if the two groups are comparable.

22. Conclusions Recommendations
May be important to survey faculty again as the technological needs may have changed.
Some students are entering Ct Community Colleges without important skills.
Certain skills seem difficult for many students – especially .
Testing can be quick

23. Reports Available on Line
Click on Research at
Basic eSkills
Item Response Theory Analysis
Statement of Minimum Technical Literacy.
Remediation: