Competency, capability, complexity and computers: exploring a new model for conceptualising end-user computer education

Renata Phelps, Southern Cross University
Stewart Hase, Southern Cross University
Allan Ellis, Southern Cross University

Abstract

Notions of competency have dominated the computer education literature, and have underpinned Competency-Based Training (CBT) in information technology at all levels of education and training. The emergence of counternarratives underpinned by the capability movement, have as yet had minimal impact on practice in computer education. New discourses in educational theory and practice which are founded on non-linear approaches to learning and teaching provide added impetus to engage in the competency/capability debate, and re-examine our approaches to computer education. This paper explores complexity theories and demonstrates how complexity’s pedagogical implications can lead to new models for understanding computer learning and teaching. A new model for conceptualising end-user computer education is presented that was derived from a three-year action research initiative with pre-service teachers.