During the '80s most colleges established computer literacy courses along with the addition of computer proficiency as a graduation requirement. The courses typically assumed no prior knowledge of computers and guided students through the basics of computing theory, computer commands, and a limited group of applications. This made sense during an era when computers were a new item in the arsenal of scholarly tools.

The next generation of students will have grown up with home computers from early childhood. They will have encountered computers throughout elementary and secondary school as well as encountering them in local libraries.

Just as driver training courses serve an important role in training teenagers in safe practices, computer literacy courses will be replaced by the study of computer ethics, and copyright, along with the study of effective computer-based scholarship.