An Examination of Self-Reported Computer Literacy Skills of Preservice Teachers

The author examined the experience of preservice teachers in word processing, database, and spreadsheet software. A questionnaire was administered to 772 students enrolled in an introductory educational computing course over a period of four academic years. The author analyzed the relationship of gender, academic classification, comfort with computers, academic year and other personal computer (PC) experience to students' self-reported computer literacy skills. Students reported more experience with word processing than database and spreadsheet software. Males reported more experience with database and spreadsheet software than females. Students who were computer phobic and students who had no other PC experience reported less experience with all three applications than students who were comfortable with computers and students who had other PC experience, respectively. Respondents from the most recent academic year reported more experience with word processing than respondents from previous years. Implications of these findings for teacher education programs are discussed.