Computer competencies for adult basic education administrators : a national perspective based on the judgment of the state directors of adult education

• Main Author: Bothel, Richard Thomas
• Other Authors: Murk, Peter J.
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Adult education > Data processing.; Educational technology.; School management and organization.; Computer literacy.; Computer-assisted instruction.
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/175173; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/861386

The purpose of this study was to enlarge the information base that can be used by practitioners in the field of adult education to determine important computer competencies for individual development, training, and staff development programs for administrators of adult basic education programs. The final result of this study was a listing of computer competencies ranked as to their relative importance to each other based on the judgment of State Directors of Adult Education throughout the United States. The study results are presented to not be a rigid listing of prioritized competencies, but instead, to be general and current trends in ABE administrator computer competency needs as determined by State Directors of Adult Education.The general research question that was investigated by this study was: What computer competencies are needed by administrators of adult basic education programs to meet the educational requirements of adults in the twenty-first century? There are two specific research questions that were answered: 1) What are the computer competencies that experts in technology and/or adult basic education judge are important to the successful educational administrator? and 2) How do State Directors of Adult Education rank the importance of these competencies in terms of the needs of local adult basic education administrators in their respective states?These questions are answered by exploring, describing, and comparing information using both the analytical and survey approach to determining competencies. The analytical approach consisted of a review of literature and interview of experts in adult education and/or technology to establish a listing of 77 potential computer competencies for administrators of adult basic education programs. The democratic approach consisted of a national survey of State Directors of Adult Education throughout the United States and including Washington D.C.Eighty percent of the State Directors of Adult Education responded providing their judgment as to the importance of each of the 77 computer competencies. The outcome of the study is a rank-ordered list of important computer competencies for adult basic education administrators along with the survey write-in comments provided by State Directors of Adult Education. === Department of Educational Leadership