June Dostal

Publication Date

1970

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Crank, Floyd L.||Stehr, B. W.

Degree Name

M.S. Ed. (Master of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Business Education

LCSH

Electronic data processing--Study and teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the status of data processing instruction offered by the public junior colleges in the State of Illinois. This study sought to determine the following specific information: a. The public junior colleges in Illinois that offer instruction in data processing b. The types of data processing instruction offered (separate courses or integrated in the form of units with other subject matter) c. The depth of data processing courses offered (introductory, unit record, computer programming, systems analysis and design, preparation for data processing career areas; degree awarded) d. Availability of data processing courses (open to anyone or only to degree-seeking students, offered only during the day or days, evenings, and/or Saturdays) e. Future plans for instruction in data processing f. Enrollment of students in separate courses offering data processing instruction g. The programming languages taught h. The type of equipment on which instruction is given i. The number and qualifications of teachers teaching separate courses in data processing j. Opinions of data processing teachers regarding teaching materials and current practices for data processing instruction. The population consisted of thirty-five public junior colleges listed in the Directory, Illinois Schools, 1968-69. Branches of schools operating under one catalog were contacted and returns were summarized to represent one school. Two questionnaires were prepared--one to be answered by the head of the'department under which data processing courses are taught, and the other to be answered by the full- and part-time instructors who teach separate data processing courses. The department head questionnaire together with several copies of the teacher questionnaires were sent to the chairman of the business education department (or whichever department under which data processing courses were taught) with the request that he distribute copies of the teacher questionnaire to all full- and part-time instructors. Returns were received from 24 department heads, or 69 per cent of the 35 schools contacted, and from 60 per cent, or 84 of the 141 full- and part-time teachers reported by the responding schools. The following is a summary of "significant" conclusions: 1. Data processing instruction was offered primarily in the form of a separate course, or separate courses. 2. Those schools which integrated data processing concepts or units in business education courses appeared not to be doing a thorough job of integration in all fields of vocational business preparation especially in the clerical and management areas. 3. Those schools which integrated data processing concepts or units in courses outside the business education department appeared not to be doing an adequate job in preparing students for the data processing applications and concepts which may be encountered on the job in the fields of science, math, and engineering. 4. It appears that practically all of the schools in the state were providing instruction in data processing on an introductory level, about three-fourths were providing instruction in unit record machine operation, and almost all of the schools provided instruction in programming and systems analysis and design. 5. Illinois residents do not lack sufficient opportunity to obtain data processing instruction in introductory, unit record machines, computer programming, and systems analysis and design courses. 6. The schools appear not to be providing sufficient opportunity to acquire knowledge relative to specialized fields of data processing. 7. The concentration in preparation by the schools for data processing positions was in the programming area. 8. Schools teaching programming languages seemed to be emphasizing high level languages in addition to symbolic or assembler languages. 9. Institutions of higher learning appear not able to provide the type of preparation needed by data processing teachers to qualify for their teaching in this area since most teachers prepared themselves for teaching through other means.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

x, 173 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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