Summary Notes on "Are Computers Hurting Education?" by H. Baruh, PRISM, ASEE, October 2001, p. 68.

Summarized by J. T. P. Yao, 11/12/01

"In the past five years or so, I've become increasingly aware of a gradual decline in the performance of students, especially at the undergraduate level. … Recently, I taught a senior level course in vibration, a class I last taught 10 years ago. … The amount of material I could cover was less, and students were not grasping the basic concepts as well as before. … Even though these students have much more experience using computers, their programming skills weren't as good. Abstract concepts… seemed to fly right over their heads."

"The experience started me thinking about why today's generation doesn't perform as well as earlier ones, and I believe I have an explanation. … Today's college students are used to getting information quickly. … Because information can be found so easily and quickly, they often skip over the basics. … It's my belief that the proliferation of computers, software, and the Internet has had a 'dumbing down' effect on today's young men and women. …"

"What can we do at the college level? As educators, we must be aware of the effects that computers and information technology have had… on society. … We need to emphasize that computers are extremely useful tools for accomplishing tasks but are not solutions in themselves. … We can begin by giving students more hands-on visualization. … We must also adopt textbooks that contain sizable numbers of realistic examples. And we must develop challenging assignments that make use of the fundamentals as well as programming skills. But most important, we have to recognize that added exposure to computers and information technology is a double-edged sword, and treat this new technology in productive ways."

[Readers who are interested in this article are encouraged to read the original paper in its entirety. Other summary notes on faculty reward systems are available on the Internet at http://lohman.tamu.edu under the heading "Summaries of Papers ..."]