Minority engineering program computer basics with a vision

Basic computer skills are necessary for success in an undergraduate engineering degree program. Students who lack basic computer skills are immediately at risk when entering the university campus. This paper describes a one semester, one unit course that provided basic computer skills to minority engineering students during the Fall semester of 2001. Computer applications and software development were the primary topics covered in the course that are discussed in this paper. In addition, there is a description of the manner in which the course was conducted. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the effort and future directions.