Tech Readiness

THIS IS A ONE-SEMESTER CLASS OFFERED FALL SEMESTER ONLY.

Most students are very adept at using social media and playing games on their phones; however, most entering high school have not had proper training on the use of preparing a paper using a word processor, creating an on-screen presentation for a speech, or used a spreadsheet to organize data and calculate values.

In this one-semester class we will give students the training and experience to be ready to prepare high school and college level papers and presentations. We’ll also introduce them to tools to help them organize and document (create references for) their online (and off-line) research. And we’ll also help them establish good habits for organizing all those files that they create on their computer – and not lose them.

Students will specifically lean how to properly use the following programs/apps for both academic work as well as in relation to career work:

• Word Processor
• Spreadsheet
• Presentation
• Email

Students will also learn how to properly touch-type so that they can efficiently type all those papers and reports.

NOTE: Students will have the opportunity to use multiple different office 'suites'. We will cover general concepts common to all office suites and we will also go through 'where to find things' in the different suites. We will use a major open-source office suite for the majority of our work.
Students do NOT need to purchase Microsoft Office (or any other program/s) for this course.

Equipment Required

• A Current laptop - (required) A current laptop (within the last 4 years) with Windows, Mac or LInux is required during class.

Homework

Students should expect to spend 1 hour per week on homework.

About the Instructor

Mr. Paschen has been teaching technology courses for over 20 years, including both high school and college students in public and private/home-school. He also teaches several other technology courses at Mid Metro Academy throughout the year.