Computer Literacy in Human Services Education

Book excerpt: This volume provides a unique and notable contribution to the investigation and exemplification of computer literacy in human services education. A significant contribution to the development of the contemporary human services curriculum, this helpful guide introduces the computer literate curriculum, explores the nature of computer literacy and its ramifications for teaching in the human services, and discusses the computer's effect on scholarly thinking. Computer Literacy in Human Services Education is divided into two major sections, the first dealing with teaching about computers and the second addressing the use of computers in teaching. In the first section, the authors introduce the topic of computer literacy in human services education and look at some general issues which have broad implications for the educator. They also explore program-wide curriculum development and the development of individual courses. In the second section, the authors discuss computers as devices which can facilitate both learning and thinking in human services, and suggest that some theories explaining human behavior may also apply to human/computer interaction. Other topics covered in the section are the use of computers in teaching about human services, including Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI), simulations, and interactive video. The volume concludes with an examination of the ways computers can affect the thinking of scholars in teaching and in model and theory building in the human services.