Current Status of University Students´ Awareness of Information Technologies

Because “Information technology (IT)” has become a required subject in high schools, universities have been reexamining IT education as well. Especially given the decreasing number of students who are completely new to IT when they enter university, it has become necessary to reexamine the content of IT education. The author teaches courses in the Humanities at A University. We conduct surveys on knowledge of IT when the students enter the university, and divide up classes based on the results of those surveys. The author is in charge of classes for students who are new to information technologies. Over the past few years, the author has conducted surveys each year to determine whether these beginners have an increasing knowledge of IT, and to monitor changes in the students´ awareness and actual circumstances. In this paper, we will report on the results of these surveys. The students also studied IT ethics using an e-learning system. We will report on the results of independent studies, including the approach to the course and the outcome, so that this information can be applied to future improvements in information technologies.