โ Scribed by K. Lang; T. Lang; R. Auld
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Computer-users in universities need computing facilities to aid them in their research and teaching; they are not computer professionals nor, for them, is the writing of programs an end in itself. To enable them to make good use of the facilities, guidance is provided in the form of documentation, courses, face-to-face advice and computerbased HELP systems. A study of the attitudes of users in eight British universities to computing, and particularly to guidance services for operating systems and applications software, is described.
The overall evaluation of the guidance given was extremely favourable, although approval ratings for documentation were lower than for face-to-face advice for all kinds of software. Very few users had attended any kind of formal course, apart from those who had studied computing as undergraduates.
As far as diagnostic advice was concerned, in general users chose as their first source of help either their colleagues or members of computer centre staff in about equal proportions. This was subject to variation depending on both the discipline of the user and the nature of the software concerned. As a general rule, users were more likely to turn to the computer centre for help in areas where the software was not in widespread use among their colleagues. This contrasts with the widely-held view that advisory services are used disproportionately by those in the social sciences, humanities and medicine. Areas needing further study include the role of the group in aiding problemsolving, and the identification of methods of guidance most appropriate to particular problem areas.
Computer-users in universities are not professional computer people; they wish simply to use computing resources as a tool in their research in their own disciplines. In addition, there is a continuing training need given the three-year span of post-graduate research projects. To support this research work, help is provided in the form of documentation, courses, machine-based self-help systems and personal advisory services. These services, which are here referred to collectively as guidance services, are at present provided on a largely ad hoc basis. Little is known about the adequacy of provision or the effectiveness of particular methods. The aim of the project of which this study is a part, is to investigate current methods of help and guidance given to university computer users, in order to improve the efficacy and efficiency of such services.t
Initially it was proposed that certain user attributes had a major influence upon the attitudes and effectiveness of university computer-users in computing in general, and on interactions with guidance services in particular.
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