Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

IT in Teachin g an d Learnin g N owadays if you are in business, you need to know about e-commerce; if you are an engineer, architect, or designer, you need specific software to help you in your designs and calculations; if you are a policeman, you need the computer to retrieve information about repeated offenders... . From aeronautics, genetic research, to the service industry, all sectors o f modern society are increasingly dependent on IT. And universities, as the providers of expertise for society, have to ensure that their students possess adequate IT competence and that their teachers are f ami l i ar wi th web-based teaching. They also have to launch new programmes t omeet new societal needs. P r omo t i n g IT Literacy Among Students To help students become I T literate, the University has required that undergraduate students admitted after the 1999 - 2000 academic year and graduat e students admitted after 2000-1 pass an IT proficiency test or attend intensive summe r courses before they can graduate. Amp l e resources and f a c i l i t i e s a r e m a d e available to those who are weaker in this respect to ensure that they get the training they need during their time here. A special working grou p c o m p r i s i n g s t a f f and s t u d e nt representatives was set up to design a self- learning software package on basic computer skills. Students can access the software b y g o i n g t o the I T l e a r n i ng c e n t re o r downloading i t from the relevant website. Recently the software has been developed into a CD-ROM. The University is i n fact c on s i de r i ng des i gn i ng more advanced teaching material an d proficiency tests to cater to the different I T requirements o f different subject disciplines. Su c h me a s u r es t o r a i s e IT competence have g e n e r a l ly been w e l l r e c e i v e d. M a n y students express that they f e e l b e t t er equipped in their learning and their Chinese University Bulleti n Spring • Summer 2 0 0 0