Students' Computer Skills and Advertising Course Performance

Abstract

General computer knowledge and literacy are essential in the education of today's advertising practitioner. While research suggests the availability and use of computers has become widespread in advertising education (Kendrick, 1995), there is little research to confirm that students are acquiring the computer literacy and general knowledge they need to successfully make the transition from campus to workplace. Furthermore. despite the fact that use of computers in higher education appears to have reached a critical mass (DeLoughry, 1996), there is little evidence regarding the extent to which general computer knowledge contributes to education outcomes, such as improved course performance. This article examines the role computer knowledge may play in the accomplishment of short-term advertising course educational outcomes, as well as the longterm goal of improving advertising education. Background Computer technology has been investigated extensively as an instructional technology. Less frequently examined, however, is the issue of basic computer knowledge and literacy and its relationship with academic performance. Increasing exposure for students to computers in higher education (Arant 1996; DeLoughry, 1996; Kendrick. 1995), elementary/secondary schools, as well as the potential for an emerging gap between technological haves and have-nots, clearly suggests the importance of examining the issue of prior computer knowledge and its relationship with advertising course performance. Yet, despite the rather intuitive assumption that student computer knowledge should be associated with higher levels of performance in college courses, few studies have attempted empirically to examine this issue. For instance, Reed (1990) found that students. who were instructed to use computers during a semester-long English course, soon began to develop more effective ways to accomplish their courserelated work with the computer. Unfortunately, he did not address the possibility that prior general computer knowledge might have affected the students' performance in the course. Novitzki (1991), in his study of business administration programs, found that when the emphasis on computer instruction in a course is focused on applications needed for students to understand course content, the students' performance in the course is likely to increase with their computer knowledge. Advertising faculty generally have been positive toward the use of computer technology. For example, Kimbrough (1992) sees the computer as a powerf`ill stimulus for creativity. Alvey (1992) contends that computer technology can improve students' work in advanced level courses. Barnes (1996) reports that over one-third of her students visited Web sites on their own after her demonstration in the class. In their examination of the Internet as a teaching tool, Farnall and Geske (1996) developed a Web site and used it, and other resources on the Web, as an instructional strategy in two sections of an advertising creative strategy course. Their results indicate that students in the two Internet sections performed better in the course, based on midterm exam scores and individual student projects. Thus, their study suggests that computer knowledge, at least in the form of Internet knowledge, may be associated with improved course performance. However, the study did not differentiate between types of performance assessments, e.g., exams vs. computer-based assignments. In contrast to the taith in the potential of using computer to enhance learning shown by the advertising faculty discussed above, Smith's (1994) experiment of using computer-mediated communication in his three media law classes shows no improvement in students' course performance and, further, that it can arouse objections from the students. One of the most extensive studies of student general computer knowledge is Geissler and Horridge's (1993) survey of 790 students enrolled at a large university in the southwest. …