Undergraduate Student Hendrix College Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Program Abstract: Upon entering higher education, new students are often expected to understand programs such as Microsoft Word, and, especially in STEM, Microsoft Excel, but frequently fail to meet these expectations. Many of these students, especially those from low-income backgrounds who live in technology deserts with limited broadband access, have only interacted with technology through mobile devices or school-assigned Chromebooks with limited capabilities. Thus, when these students enter college, they have not yet developed the basic computer science skills necessary for navigating academia We have created an online module as part of a larger Introductory Biology program that aims to teach basic skills such as file management and simple functions in Word and Excel, for both Windows and Apple devices, to bridge this gap and prepare students for writing and data analysis in their academic careers, which can be delivered either in class or as part of an introductory biology laboratory.
