Information Technology Skills for a Pluralistic Society

Abstract

Information technology skills are becoming more and more important to the success of students and teachers. These skills are acquired in many ways, including education, home use of computers, and on-the-job training. Literature has shown that computer access and integration of computers into curricula have been significantly lower in student populations from ethnic minorities in K-12 public schools. Studies have also shown that ethnic-minority households own computers at a lower rate than majority households. However, universities seldom stop to determine if required competencies exist uniformly across all students. This study focuses on access and use issues of students at an urban university across students of many different ethnicities. The findings indicate that discrepancies persist at the university level. A model of computer-based self-efficacy and performance is presented and partially validated. A discussion of the implications of these findings is included.