Welcome to Mrs. Abbott's Upper School Computer Class!
An important goal of this class is for the students to learn the computer skills necessary for college and to be competitive in the job market. However, beyond that, they will learn skills that will prepare them for a career in technology, should they choose that path.
We are beginning this quarter with some diagnostic testing to determine each student's current technical skill level, reviewing skills such as Excel charting, formatting in Word (especially specific to MLA formatting), the principles of a good, professional Powerpoint presentations, and judging the validity of internet resources. We will spend a good part of the first quarter ensuring that all students can master the technical skills needed for non-technical high school and college classes.
After that, we will begin learning skills necessary for a technical career. We will learn to build websites, blogs, and wikis, and we will understand what differentiates them. We will each take apart a desktop computer, learn the terminology and the function of the components inside, then rebuild it and troubleshoot any issues. We will learn about tech support and how to troubleshoot a variety of computer-related problems. We will introduce programming.
Once we have each been introduced to these technical skills, we will, as a group, simulate a software company, capitalize on each student's strengths, and go through the process of producing software – from the initial brainstorming of ideas, to product creation, development, and implementation, to technical writing and tech support.