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What Computer Skills Are Required? |
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Students in BlueSky need good basic computer and Internet skills, including: - Keyboarding and using a word processing program.
- Understanding commands such as Save and Save as, Copy, Paste, and Print Screen.
- Knowing how to find a lost file.
- Using e-mail and Internet search engines like Google.
- Understanding how to minimize and maximize windows and what the task bar is and how to use these to work between open programs.
These are essential skills for participating, but are not skills that we address in our curriculum. VERY IMPORTANT: Students need to identify a friend or relative that will help them get set up for school and troubleshoot initial problems. This person should be very comfortable with computers and with downloading and installing software. Some of the tasks that this person would need to do before school starts include: - Making sure that the student’s computer has the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, Flash, and Spybot Search & Destroy.
- Downloading and installing a copy of a free word processing program called Open Office (Students receive the link to this software in the program orientation.) and a copy of Geometer’s Sketchpad (This software is provided on a cd, free for students enrolled in math classes.)
- Setting up bookmarks or favorites to all of the sites that the student will use regularly, such as ClassServer, Prentice Hall and McDougal Littell e-textbooks, SAS inSchool, and Arts Connected (Students receive links to these sites in the orientation.)
- Installing a virus checking software and/or doing an initial screen for viruses (If the student does not already have virus checking software on the computer, they will need to purchase this and install it before starting school.)
During the first week in school, students may also need help from someone in their family, or from a friend, to become completely comfortable with the skills they will be using over and over again in the program. These skills include: - Attaching documents to assignment forms in ClassServer and to e-mail messages
- Copying and pasting between open programs on their computer
- Working back and forth between two open programs on their computer
- Taking screen shots and pasting these into documents
- Opening and using Geometer’s Sketchpad files
- Opening and using a BlueSky Outlook e-mail account to send e-mail, reply to e-mail, and organize e-mail into folders
- Setting up folders on their computer harddrive for each course so that students can organize their work
- Using their virus checking software and Spybot Search & Destroy regularly so that they can minimize the possibility of technical problems
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