Computer Skills Needed for High School/College Curriculum?

[sue]

What computer skills are needed for High School/College? PowerPoint, Excel, Word ...?

 

I need tutorials with assignments. Does anyone have any idea where I could look for a course or curriculum?

 

 

 

[Kendall]

Did you ever find anything?  I'm just now looking for the same thing.  I'll post here if I find anything.

[Arcadia]

. Does anyone have any idea where I could look for a course or curriculum?

 

My local library has free classes for adults and for teens that takes place in the library's computer rooms. 

 

For online DIY learning

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Office-training-and-tutorials-b8f02f81-ec85-4493-a39b-4c48e6bc4bfb?legRedir=true&CorrelationId=26151398-a1c4-44cb-b23e-65d53d74e9e9&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

 

ETA:

My oldest is attending a free three session HTML workshop at the library which is for upcoming 6-12th graders.  They have free introductory python classes too at the library.

[Melissa B]

Our local community college offers computer classes under the heading of Continuing Education. One does not need to register as a college student. The classes are open to anyone above a certain age - thirteen maybe. There is a nominal fee per class.

 

[Kendall]

Here is a thread with some ideas

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/540488-introductory-computer-course-for-middle-school/?hl=computer

[merylvdm]

Well, I am teaching one online :)

 

Other than that - if you google you can find pretty much anything you need. I have had 3 of my own kids already graduate, go to college and then enter the workplace so here are some of the skills I know kids need. You need a lot more than just spreadsheets, documents and slideshare knowledge these days:

 

Bookmarking (Evernote)

Video creation (also how to make GIFS)

Graphic creation (to make flyers etc) (Canva, PicMonkey etc)

Website creation (Strikingly, Wix, Weebly, Google sites etc)

Project management systems (Trello)

Photo editing (Pixlr)

Infographic creation

Online research / citations

"Newer" ways to create slideshows (Prezi, Haikudeck)

Form and Survey creations (Google Forms)

 

 

 

 

[Teachin'Mine]

A short term library class can get the student started, but considering how much Word, Excel and PP are used in college, I'd recommend a CC class or something similar.  Being able to navigate these applications easily will help cut down time spent in future class work and projects.  Equally important to the class is keeping up on the skills after the final is done.  It's one of those classes which can be done very nicely online so that opens up many possibilities including the ones mentioned in this thread.

[merylvdm]

Btw - it is better to learn Google docs than Word - so many businesses are moving everything to the cloud these days. In fact, students should be very familiar with Google Drive and all it offers. As so much is done as "shared" work, both in college and in the work place, it is the online programs that should get the most attention today.

[RegGuheert]

 

 

Btw - it is better to learn Google docs than Word - so many businesses are moving everything to the cloud these days. In fact, students should be very familiar with Google Drive and all it offers. As so much is done as "shared" work, both in college and in the work place, it is the online programs that should get the most attention today.

 

I don't disagree that Google Drive is important, but computer skills assessment tests at most (nearly all?) colleges are still based around Microsoft Office tools.  Here is a description of the test that DD22 failed when she started college. :tongue_smilie:

[RegGuheert]

What computer skills are needed for High School/College? PowerPoint, Excel, Word ...?

 

I need tutorials with assignments. Does anyone have any idea where I could look for a course or curriculum?

 

Microsoft provides free online training for all of those tools.  It appears there are both videos and slides for the materials.

[merylvdm]

I don't disagree that Google Drive is important, but computer skills assessment tests at most (nearly all?) colleges are still based around Microsoft Office tools.  Here is a description of the test that DD22 failed when she started college. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

None of the colleges my kids went to had computer skills assessment tests - actually I have never heard of that before from any of the students I have taught. Interesting. Always something new to learn about colleges!

 

Of course the tools are all fairly similar so if you know one it is easy to pick up the others.  Wordperfect was the one I started with years and years ago, then I transitioned to Word, and now I have a Mac I use Pages - but most of the time I actually use Google docs as I like all the features and so often I need to share the doc with others. As long as kids learn one of them they will likely be OK.  

[RegGuheert]

Virtually every student entering college today is required to purchase or license Microsoft Office.  I looked at the four of the largest schools in VA and they all have Microsoft Office at the top of the list of software for incoming freshmen (some are prebilled for it):

 

VA Tech

UVA

William & Mary

JMU

 

Many courses require the use of these tools.  Even MAC users are required to use the Microsoft Office tools at most schools because tools like Pages are not available on the PC.  DS25 even had the requirement to use OneNote in some of his classes.

[sue]

Thank you!

[Julie in MN]

I don't disagree that Google Drive is important, but computer skills assessment tests at most (nearly all?) colleges are still based around Microsoft Office tools.  Here is a description of the test that DD22 failed when she started college. :tongue_smilie:

 

That's a great list.  Word has also been required by the colleges my son has attended, and when he tried to copy from other formats, some formatting and text could be lost.

 

I might also try to get students familiar with Blackboard or Moodle, using online tutorials or by joining an online class such as through Virtual Homeschool Group.

 

Students need to not only learn to navigate online according to class instructions, but it's important to develop the habit of checking for online messages and added assignments and such.  Habits take a while to form, so starting in high school wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

Julie

[Tsuga]

Virtually every student entering college today is required to purchase or license Microsoft Office.  I looked at the four of the largest schools in VA and they all have Microsoft Office at the top of the list of software for incoming freshmen (some are prebilled for it):

 

VA Tech

UVA

William & Mary

JMU

 

Many courses require the use of these tools.  Even MAC users are required to use the Microsoft Office tools at most schools because tools like Pages are not available on the PC.  DS25 even had the requirement to use OneNote in some of his classes.

 

:svengo:

 

In WA you get them free. The tech fee pays for the labs, software is through their agreements!

 

http://www.washington.edu/itconnect/wares/uware/

 

http://west.wwu.edu/atus/software/workathome.shtml

 

If I were a student paying a tech fee I'd be livid to pay more for the software. Ugh!

 

Following are my comments on the extensive list above, based on my personal experience:

 

You need a lot more than just spreadsheets, documents and slideshare knowledge these days:

 

There is more available but we work with tech firms and I just don't see this happening. I do not see anyone bringing videos to us or asking them of us. When we want a nice marketing thing we pay someone for that.

 

Certainly, all these things are used by some people and kids have a lot of fun with them, but particularly with the graphic production, I consider that very specialized and I work on computers all day, even in a small organization where I do a great deal of presentation stuff. I don't mean to be rude, but to provide a different perspective. I realize you teach in this area, so this is just another side of the coin.

 

Bookmarking (Evernote) <-- Nice to know, not need to know, unless they are working in a field in which it is not their production but their means of production which is important

Video creation (also how to make GIFS) <--Need? Depends on the field. Certainly in my field we aren't making GIFs. We are using statistical software and SQL and stuff but we are not making videos.

Graphic creation (to make flyers etc) (Canva, PicMonkey etc) <--For what?

Website creation (Strikingly, Wix, Weebly, Google sites etc) <--I have never had to do this for school. Only as a hobby. I also would not categorize "Wix" as "website creation"... it's click and move software, really nice, but just not something you'd need to learn ahead of time. Website management is a lucrative career, though. You'd want to go much further than Wix.

Project management systems (Trello) <--Meh, too specific to the enterprise. Wait until they make you learn something then order Thai and spend two nights working through it. You never know what system you will have to use.

Photo editing (Pixlr) <--I haven't done this since high school. I just don't work in graphic production.

Infographic creation <--This is a graphic design skill, not a computer skill.

Online research / citations <--This is a research skill, not a computer skill.

"Newer" ways to create slideshows (Prezi, Haikudeck) <--Yeah, Prezi is nice but it's not super hard, nor is Haiku deck.

Form and Survey creations (Google Forms) <--SurveyMonkey is better for surveys and it is free; Google forms are useful, though--I think like MS, it's good to be familiar with the whole Google suite.

 

 

IMO much more useful is being able to read instructions. On my list of must-knows, i.e. used by every person I know on a monthly basis or more often, in nearly all jobs in large institutions:

 

1. Word Processing in general. It's really not rocket science, though. MS Word, Open Office, Pages, Google Docs, whatever. Learn the vocabulary and be prepared to manage. Margins, anchors, spacing, kern, font, etc. They all have a help section.

 

2. Spreadsheets. Excel is the big one and Excel is actually one thing Microsoft does well. Everyone I know downloads Google Sheets to Excel when they need to do stuff in them, then uploads the columns back to Sheets. So much easier, probably because with Sheets you have to learn new commands. Open office and Apple also have offerings. (Open office is free like Google, and kind of falling by the wayside, just mentioning it for the geeks out there.)

 

3. Presentations. Not hard. The principles of composition, which are not computer-based but really a communication arts skill, are the same for most of them and vary only in terms of what you can do visually. Prezi, Power Point, Decks... if you can organize a thought sequentially and avoid jiggling things around too much you're probably okay. Color blind people may want to consult an RGB converter to avoid slides that are in a vomit color scheme.

 

4. Surveys. These software were made to sell ads. If your kid cannot read and distribute a survey by HS I'm mildly concerned, not because they should have done it, but because they are trying to get the entire population on, and it's just not supposed to be that difficult.

 

5. For graphic designers, statisticians, artists, composers, or web developers, yes, there are special software packages you need. But not everyone needs all of those. Most people will only use one or two of these suites. Adobe is a big one but it's hella expensive as are Evernote, SPSS, AutoCad, Matlab... I could go on but I really wouldn't do this for a student who wasn't already seeing a need for it in their studies.

[Heathermomster]

We used this Practical Computer Literacy book for 9th grade.