IT skills of university first year undergraduate students: Two 2001 matriculation cohorts

The use of computers is becoming more widespread in education and in the wider Australian community. This communication reports the results of surveys of two cohorts of first year undergraduate students at The University of Western Australia and Deakin University, conducted at the beginning of the 2001 academic year. The surveys confirm that general IT skills among students are increasing, but that the level of skill is variable. This is consistent with a similar survey at Deakin University which was conducted at the beginning of 2000 [Lim, K. F. and Lee, J. (2000) IT skills of university undergraduate students enrolled in a first year unit, Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 16, 215 http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/ajet/ajet16/res/lim.html].