UTILIZING THE WEB TO ENHANCE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT

The field of education is experiencing a rapid shift as internet-enabled distance learning becomes more widespread. Often, traditional classroom teaching pedagogical techniques assume competencies and application expertise that may or may not be present in a group of students. A traditional college undergraduate entry-level class might see a student attrition rate of 5-10% or higher, some simply from the students inability to use required business office software applications to do the required work. Colleges and Universities have a vested interest in "biting the bullet" and ensuring that their students are literate in the use of business applications software for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and database access. This is because: a) the students are effectively part of the institutions networks as end-users, and b) because preparing students for life after college is an implied and accepted part of the role of the educational institution. Various faculty at Mount Olive College and Triton College are addressing the challenge of technology/business applications literacy by implementing a new e-learning solution. A customized, self-paced, web-based end user digital security awareness tutorial has been created. This interactive learning activity reinforces student retention by providing questions at the end of each learning module to enhance retention. As students become proficient at using security best practices, their proficiency, confidence, and student engagement in learning the class material increases. Since more classes require the use of computing technology in completing assignments, students enhance their progress throughout their undergraduate program and increasing the probability of program completion. Faculty at Mount Olive College and Triton College have developed a research tool in order to study student perceptions of the online tutorial's effectiveness. The course instructor is able to shift their time and energy from "putting out fires" to focusing on higher-level feedback on assignments and administrative functions. Since more classes require the use of application software in completing assignments, students take this newly acquired problem solving approach to other situations and courses, enhancing their progress throughout their undergraduate program and increasing the probability of program completion. This survey has been developed to study and quantify the student perception of the usefulness of the MS Office 2010 tutorial.