In the recent Open Thread Wednesday, William Patrick Wend asked what are the most essential word processing skills for composition students?
Moments later, I saw the Lifehacker post on Preparing for College: Tech Essentials for Your First Year, which takes a look at “some of the most important hardware, software, and textbook tools you’ll want in your arsenal when you matriculate.” The “software” suggestions include note-taking applications like Evernote, Microsoft OneNote, and Simplenote, and office suites like Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, and Google Docs. Students definitely have many options, starting with hardware and then moving to the software that powers the hardware. Of course, there are students who have no options—these things aren’t cheap, and most institutions do have computer labs of some type for their students to use…in which case students may be stuck with antiquated versions of software.
Then I thought, “first William has to pick an office suite to focus on, which itself is no easy task.”
The default is to teach basic skills using Microsoft Office products. I wouldn’t argue too vigorously against this choice; Google Docs and Open Office both have similar basic functionality and in reasonably close proximity to the Microsoft Office menus. But there are problems with that as well: those students who are at the mercy of old versions of software. In his comment, William named some tasks that he intended to cover in a “lab day” in his classroom: saving, basic backup, inserting page numbers, footnotes/end notes, page breaks, and styling paragraphs. Thinking about these tasks and the different ways of doing them in three different types of office suites made me a little stressed on his behalf. So, what do you think he should cover in his lab day?
Now, that’s actually a different question than the one he originally asked. There’s “what should students know how to do?” and “what should I teach them? I am sure some of you will argue that he shouldn’t take time from the teaching of composition to teach students how to use Microsoft Word; in the comments, let’s try to avoid going too far down the rabbit hole with that discussion and focus on the core questions being asked here.
For the first question, “what should students know how to do?”, I remembered that the College of Business at San Jose State University has a lower division core course, BUS 91L, “Computer Tools for Business”, that is meant to ensure business students know the basics of (in this case) the Microsoft Office Suite and working on the Internet. This course is typically fulfilled via a challenge exam (yours truly successfully challenged it in 2003, which is why I remember it) that covers the following word processing tasks:
- Formatting Text: changing font and font size, underlining text, bolding text, italicizing text, highlighting text, format painter, bulleted list, borders and shading
- Formatting a Document: setting margins, setting line spacing, setting alignment, indenting text, centering text vertically, page numbers, page breaks, inserting symbols, creating footnotes and endnotes, creating headers and footers
- Tables: parts of table, creating a table, formatting a table
- Using Graphics: inserting an image, sizing an image, moving an image, creating a text box, using wordart, formatting graphics
This seems like a reasonable starting point. The question then becomes: do you teach the concept or actions in the specific tool? And how exactly do you do that in one lab meeting?
So, we open the discussion up to you. To recap, the questions are:
- what word processing (or document creation) skills do you want your students to know?
- overall, what general technology skills do you want your students to know?
- would you teach these skills as part of your course (assuming your course is not a “tech skills” course)?
- would you teach processes in a specific tool, or attempt to teach the concept surrounding the task?
Go!
[Image by Flickr user Monochrome / Creative Commons licensed]
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20 Responses to Essential Technology Skills for Incoming Students: Your Thoughts?
jmeloni - July 15, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Now I’ll go ahead and add my own answers to the questions. In a composition classroom — and in fact any classroom in which writing essays is a component — at the very least I want students to know how to: change margins, change fonts, work appropriately with the header (and footer), how to use styles for document hierarchy (headings), how to generate TOCs (based on those headings). In classes like Prof & Tech Writing, my wish list is different and I do actually teach these things during class time, because the concepts are part of the class.I don’t teach these word processing basics in my other courses. I give a little list at the beginning of the semester — especially if it’s a first year class — that says “this is what I expect you will know how to do, and if you don’t, here are some resources”. Those resources include online tutorials and info about workshops on campus. I also say that I’m happy to meet individually during office hours if someone wants to know about, say, how to do the “lastname page number” in the header and can’t figure it out on their own. But I don’t do it in class.If I were to teach stuff like this in a workshop day, I would teach the concepts based on a specific tool. For example, how and why to modify the header of a document is a concept; doing it in practice is similar across word processing programs but not exactly (buttons in different places, etc). So I’d introduce the concept, show it using the software most used by everyone, and mention where to find/look for similar action paths in other software.
heatherwhitney - July 15, 2010 at 3:23 pm
My list of skills students should know before my classes (focusing on intro physics) includes:1. How to attach a document to email.2. How to convert a document to PDF (I often suggest that students install CutePDF, but ideally they would be picking up the hack mentality more than anything, i.e., searching around and figuring out their own solution.)3. How to use a spreadsheet, including the ability to do basic curvefitting and equations.How to teach this is something I struggle with. At some level, as I suggested in #2, students should have or be developing the ability to figure out these things themselves. Tech evolves so quickly that it’s not sensible to learn how to use just one program or solution, but one should learn how to pick up new skills. One approach I’ve taken in the past is to present very clearly the desired end result, but also direct the students that if they can demonstrate and document that they tried a few options and still can’t get it, they can come to me or try out a couple of resources I select for them. This lets those who can just run with it have that freedom but provides some scaffolding for those who need some extra help. But I also think that by articulating the goal, those who aren’t yet in the hack mindset get a better idea of where they need to be to be successful in the future.
jmeloni - July 15, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I forgot the “general tech skills” stuff that I wish students to know; I was focusing on William’s question. Oops. Like heatherwhitney above, attaching documents – yes. Understanding what it means when someone asks for a file of a specific type, and carrying that through. How to backup their files in multiple places. Naming conventions (importance thereof).
mcosgrave - July 15, 2010 at 4:03 pm
I’d put using styles to structure the document properly at the top of the list – this is the key to writing structured documents, which leads on to essay planning, outlining, and mindmapping; as well as reusing the same text for different media. They will learn how to do footnotes; they manage to work that out themselves, but they need to be shown how to apply styles (Hi, H2, H3) properly – it is, in my experience, the single 10 minute class which does more than anything else to change how they think aobut and work with text. I have a handout which steps through how I teach it – I’m happy to share it http://www.mikecosgrave.com/handouts/WritingStructuredDocs.pdf
csdanforth - July 15, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Different approach to teaching comp here: I want them to know how to format and work with writing in PLAIN TEXT, how and why to avoid attachments, how to invest their words with enough meaning that they needn’t rely on margins/fonts/etc and how to make their messages as platform/user/software/delivery system independent as possible. But, I would also really like them to know survival skills of file management, redundant and accessible storage, basic metadata usage, and Boolean operators. I teach most of these by setting up opportunities for success/failure, hoping to nurture or inspire an independent and inquisitive approach to scholarship. I usually end up demonstrating them directly at some point during each semester.Im hoping that others will have some ideas about where students should be getting whatever basic skills they want students to have. They’re so fundamental, I expect many general ed instructors want them to come from somewhere other than their own courses, but then where would that be? First Year Experience? Semi-mandatory Tech Literacy courses? High school? Family/Home? Work experience? Library and Research Orientation? I think this is quite a difficult issue to sort out (and am glad to see it being discussed here!).
eall4266 - July 16, 2010 at 8:23 am
We have created a list of basic tech skills we think are required for student success (http://www.stanly.edu/learning/sucStudentTech.html), which we present in a module of, what else, our “Student Success” class, supposedly enrolled with all 1st semester students. We ask students to self-asses and, where they note deficiencies, we point them to resources (including f2f help in our, you guessed it, “Student Success Center”).
calmansi - July 16, 2010 at 8:53 am
I fully support Mike Cosgrave (4.) on the importance of learning how to use structuring styles. Blind and dyslexic students understand that immediately, some other students – and teachers – remain lured by the possibility to play around with font type and size, bold (and other gimmicks) on the page itself for longer. But usually, after these people have mucked up a few documents, they also get the idea that defining structuring styles works better.Structuring styles are one application of the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle, which should be the basing guidance in using and learning to use tech, whether desktop or online applications / solutions.Which means: Don’t teach students tech particulars before they need them: teach them how to use the help menu and/or the Web to find what they need themselves.Which means, in turn, that differences between Office suites (MS, OO, Google docs) don’t matter at all, once students understand the basic structure of almost all softwares: File menu for file managing, Edit menu for editing, etc. If they need a particular feature and don’t find it via the main menus, they can always use the help menu.Re file managing: proper naming and locating used to be important. Nowadays, with the powerful search engines of the newer OSs, much less so. Sure, students must find a way to clearly identify versions when they co-write with others. But better let them evolve their own identification convention between them, rather than impose yours.Another important point: digital identity and its implications (answerability, privacy etc). But again, don’t teach these things: have the students discuss them, preferably on occasion of a real issue (e.g. someone having his/her twitter or facebook account hijackd by a scammer).
brichards99 - July 16, 2010 at 9:38 am
I would start at a more ‘hacker’ level.I want my students to be able to figure things out on their own. I am fully aware of the application version issues mentioned earlier, as well as the expense of software and hardware, so it would be my preference to point my students at approaches they should take to figure things out for themselves. For that reason, I would start with clarifying what word processors are, where they can find information about the different products available, and then how one goes about finding help. That’s the real key. Students need to know how to hit F1, or to Google for a key topic on the application they’re using, or (heaven forbid!) head over to the university’s writing center for assistance.In the end I would want the message to be clear to all of my students: whether it’s in my class or another’s, you need to look at the syllabus and the assignment requirements, and if you don’t know how to do something that is required (such as use footnotes or create a running header), then you need to figure it out.My concern is that if I tell them how to insert a page number in Word 2010 then they’re going to spend all their time trying to find a computer with Word 2010 next term, rather than focusing on the writing and working with whatever application is available.
benreynolds - July 16, 2010 at 9:47 am
Coming from the days of typewriters, I’ve seen lots o’ tech training for composition writing. Everything listed above is good stuff for students to know. Should you use valuable face time to teach any of this stuff?I’d use an hour to discuss tech skills. A pleasant conversation which is really me diagnosing the students and the students expressing their strengths and neuroses. My secondary aim would be to make my life easier by getting students to submit stuff the way I want it submitted (readable, findable, commentable [which leaves out plain text as "not easier"]).I’d have this conversation w/ a computer, a projector, & an Internet connection. Hoping to do a whole lot of heatherwhitney how to do [this thing], [that thing], [the other thing] — but mostly how to think your way to solving the problem you haven’t asked about today because you didn’t know you were going to have it.Oh, and I’d identify the most TechKnow savvy students in the group and appoint them the go-to folks for help.
infogoon - July 16, 2010 at 10:08 am
Students should know how to do some basic maintenance on their computers – running anti-virus software and updating definitions, installing system software updates, etc. Like many schools, mine is putting a halt to IT support of personally owned computers – there are just too many broken machines, and the new generation of malware is very time-consuming to remediate.With education as technology-dependent as it is, a student with a broken computer is often incapable of keeping up with course work. Not knowing how to maintain their laptop is akin to a guitarist who doesn’t know how to tune the instrument.
nancy_a_norman - July 16, 2010 at 10:10 am
Here’s my wish list. I would want students to learn to use the outline tool as a basis of their composition … and then develop the composition from there. I would also like them to know how to create a Table of Contents. From there it is a minor jump to link from the Table to the various sections of the composition … and make it into a browser friendly html document!
deliajones - July 16, 2010 at 10:37 am
mcosgrave–thanks for sharing your beautiful handout!
mhick255 - July 16, 2010 at 11:06 am
I’d include an introduction to keyboard shortcuts – the basic ones, why they help you, and how to find/create your own.
margray - July 16, 2010 at 11:57 am
mcosgrave, I agree with deliajones, that handout is beautiful.
mottgreene - July 16, 2010 at 2:11 pm
I like the handout too. Thank you. I have a very modest suggestion. I make my introductory students learn to use the strikethrough, and double strikethrough commands and forbid them the delete button. I want them to learn that after three or four attempts, perhaps try one, or try two, now looks better than three or four. I like them to submit at least one or two drafts, early in the semester, with every change they made in the course of their writing: the strikethrough and other commands allow me to track this, and I can get a sense of their process this way. wWorking this way allows one to see if students are getting hung up with introductory sentences or phrases, if they are pulling up looking for the right word, the right sentence, or bigger structural issues revealed by the striking out of an entire paragraph.Since we are all faced to one degree or another with plagiarism problems, having the students submit a portfolio in a major assignment with all the intermediary drafts, with nothing deleted but much, perhaps, struck out, is an extraordinarily easy way to see who has actually followed a process through several drafts, and who was working “dash and gasp” at the very end. It’s interesting for the students too, to see how their own work evolves: something that the delete button makes rather more difficult. So, there it is, my one button tech tip.
billso - July 16, 2010 at 3:15 pm
I’ve run into more than a few Mac users who don’t know how to create a PDF. It’s one of the first things I figured out how to do on a Mac, so I show them the button in the standard Print dialog. For Windows users, CutePDF is a good free tool. Google Docs can generate PDF, of course.mcosgrave, your handout is excellent and it’s in PDF. Win!
billso - July 16, 2010 at 3:19 pm
csdanforth, plaintext is a wonderful thing to learn. I tell students they should write every day, especially if they’re working on a long project or a thesis. Writing in plaintext helps students focus on content first. Formatting can be done later.
sanrim - July 16, 2010 at 8:08 pm
I think the technology faculty at your colleges who teach these skills as part of their course work would love to hear from you all. From e-mail to excel, students benefit greatly from a technology skills course. Not only will it allow you to get to the heart of your own subject matter, but it also leaves the teaching of the many facets of technology to the experts.
hulljs - July 19, 2010 at 12:02 pm
I haven’t read all the comments, but I really like jmeloni’s July 15th comment. I’d only add to be sure students realize that software “help” is greatly improved. Not only should they use the specific application’s “help”, but also use the internet. Sometimes googling for on a specific question or problem is the fastest way to get an answer. It’s almost magic!
cheaptrick - July 19, 2010 at 6:50 pm
These are all good suggestions, but I will add two.1. I created my own writing assignment template (1 page) that includes the header, the heading, and the font size and style. Savvy students make copies and have the template ready for each assignment. After two or three, they know how to do it themselves.2. Show them how to save a document in rich text format so that their work can survive various systems and the instructor can insert comments within the document (as opposed to pdf).