Computer science/ literacy credit

[bethben]

For different reasons, my son needs a computer elective.  Things like knowing Power Point, Web stuff, knowing Microsoft Word and Excel - basic computer literacy.  He has probably done more than enough to make it credit worthy.  He has done years of power point presentations for online school assignments (with graphics and music), has instagram postings with 700+ followers, has edited video content with iMovie and I'm sure could tell me a lot more.   What would you include in all this?  

 

Thanks!

 

Beth

[EKS]

How about having him pass a series of tests with the various applications or whatever and call it done?

[DebbS]

I would include basic Excel spreadsheet functionality - calculated cells, various graph types, pivot tables. For Word I would include everything needed for a college level paper including citations, paragraph formatting, headers and footers and also a merge form that reads the data values from a spreadsheet. I would consider the past power point projects and movie editing as part of the credit.  You could include some basic web design in this credit or you could do a whole other credit just for web design.

[Heathermomster]

For different reasons, my son needs a computer elective.  Things like knowing Power Point, Web stuff, knowing Microsoft Word and Excel - basic computer literacy.  He has probably done more than enough to make it credit worthy.  He has done years of power point presentations for online school assignments (with graphics and music), has instagram postings with 700+ followers, has edited video content with iMovie and I'm sure could tell me a lot more.   What would you include in all this?  

 

Thanks!

 

Beth

Has he built a computer from the cpu up?  Has he formatted a hard drive and installed Windows or Linux os?  Has he installed printers for himself or other people?  I would include any photo or movie editing sw, OneNote/EverNote usage, any 3D sw like Sketchup, and any programming.  

 

DS completed assignments from this book in 9th grade.  

[Pistachio mom]

It sounds like he may have already earned at least a half credit with the hours. Lee Binz has an ebook  for writing course descriptions and how to determine if your student has enough content to count for a course. Her book is on amazon; it is called Delight Directed Learning. It sounds like he has a good base for a basic computer applications . The ladies above have contributed some great ideas too. I am also researching this topic to organize more computer training for my high school student.

[bethben]

My son is enrolled in a charter school of sorts part time.  Basically, they pay for college classes, keep his transcripts, and give him a diploma at the end.  We get to retain our homeschool status if we wish.  One requirement they have is a computer course.  The equivalent at the community college is this:

 

Introduces basic computer terminology, file management, and PC system components. Provides an overview of office application software including word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and presentation graphics. Includes the use of a web browser to access the Internet.

 

He's done this for sure.  We are Mac people and he has done quite a bit of manipulation to format his papers for his online class in the proper way.  The only gap I saw was Excel and I found a 6 hour course at the library for that.  I would like him to take a basic web design course of some sort also so I'll have to see where I can get that also.

[bethben]

The library also has an 8 hour introduction to Python that I may have him take.  He says he would hate programming.  It may be good to test that theory of his.  He would know if he hated it or wanted more at the end of that.  Don't you love the library?