By KIMBERLY ROSS

Two courses that are at the heart of St. Petersburg College’s (SPC) College of Computer & Information Technology (CCIT) curriculum are CGS 1000 Introduction to Computers & Programming and CGS 1100 Computer Applications. Depending upon the program, these courses are required or serve as electives. Professors’ Eva Hefner and Brad Yourth teach CGS 1000 and CGS 1100. As a prerequisite for every computer programming course, Yourth, who teaches CGS 1000 said the course is “the foundation for our certificate programs and AS degrees.” The course covers “the basic concepts and techniques used to write programs in any programming language and “computer science” topics common to all types of computers. Yourth also stated that “students learn about hardware components like memory, processors and I/O devices and how they work with software to make a computer such a useful machine,” Yourth said.

Yourth, who has been teaching the course for the past ten years said, “To me computers are fun and I enjoy turning students onto the joys of computing.”

 Eva Hefner has been with the college for the past 35 years. For 23 of those years she has taught CGS 1100 Computer Applications. It is a dynamically dated, skills-based course that uses several search engines and computer applications such as Windows Operating System, word processing, spreadsheets, database programs and slide presentations. With rapid changes in technology, Hefner said that SPC’s CCIT programs “are constantly changing with the demands of the marketplace.” As for CGS 1100, availability has increased, since there are currently 48 sections of the course for the fall 2010 term and for the spring 2011 term the course has 53 sections.

Speaking of what is involved in the course, Hefner said students are required to learn the concepts outlined throughout the book. They are given exercises using the Skills Assessment Manager (SAM) to help reinforce material learned. Through SAM, assignments are graded electronically and students are able to “critically assess” their results, correct their mistakes and resubmit their work. As a security measure, SAM “ensures that students are completing their own assignments because SAM flags any projects that have been copied from someone else.”

Students are also required to do Internet research, compose opinions and exchange ideas with other students. Some assignments require the incorporation of concepts from the chapter. They must also take multiple choice exams that include some true/false questions and SAM tasks. “These SAM tasks are very valuable because they strengthen the students’ knowledge of the concepts presented in each chapter,” Hefner said.

After completing both courses one student said, “I have already been using the information I have learned in papers for other classes. CGS 1100 is by far the most applicable class I’ve taken and yet the skills have made my life much easier.”

Expressing her hopes for the course Hefner thinks that “this course should be a general education requirement because the knowledge students’ gain will help them in other courses. I feel it is one of the most valuable classes students can take for their academic career since all students must use computers in some capacity.”

The success rate of students depends on their experience with computers.  Students who are less familiar with computers prefer to take the 16-week-long CGS 1100 classes that are face-to face, instead of the 8-week blended classes. “Our mission is teaching. We need a class that meets the needs of our students,” Hefner said in reference to these two modalities.

“The students must learn the concepts. We, the professors, reinforce the concepts with additional exercises. You can’t just do the tasks once and expect to know the material,” Hefner said.  Hefner also recommends that students do the following: Make homework a priority ahead of recreation, set aside time to read and study, read the material carefully since it is vital to understanding concepts, pace yourself and “take responsibility for your own actions and be determined to not give up.”