Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Finally, some foundations of the surf school were documented as follows:
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The target group is older people (60+) who have no skills or experience in using a PC
or using the Internet. They are interested and keen to see and to learn how to handle
the Internet. This is the reason why motivation of the end user is not a major topic within
this course.
•
The content of the training should clearly focus on the Internet services World Wide
Web (WWW) and electronic mail (email). Today, these two services build by far the
most applications of Internet technology. Rather than giving a detailed introduction
“How to use a PC,” the content of the training should focus on skills that are absolutely
necessary to handle a browser.
•
The training should focus on “doing” rather than “showing.” The participants should
spend most of the time using and handling WWW and email. The trainees should
practice using WWW and email as much as possible.
•
One direct consequence was that each participant should sit in front of one terminal
and that the groups should be rather small (eight to 10 people) in order to give good
and intensive support by the trainer.
In detail, the participants should learn the following:
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To recognize structure and diversity of the Internet
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To realize and understand examples using the WWW
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To recognize possible and useful ways of using the WWW
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To handle the WWW in general
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To use search engines, catalogs, metasearch engines, etc.
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To understand electronic mail as an Internet service
•
To handle incoming and outgoing emails
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To lower their shyness while testing and using newer technologies
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To start and finish working with a PC, handling a browser
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To use the keyboard and the mouse as input devices
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To know important components of a PC to be able to make buying decisions
•
To know the connections between PC and telecommunication networks
•
To understand the different roles of Internet Service Provider, Internet Presence
Provider, and Internet Content Provider
To support the participants, a detailed handout (booklet) should be prepared and
produced to prevent the participants from writing tips and tricks during the training sessions.
Teaching Program of the Surf School
While developing the program, it became clear that some topics have to be taught in
rooms with advanced technology; otherwise online banking, animations with flash technol-
ogy, and three-dimensional graphics would be too slow on medium-sized PCs. For that
reason, these topics should be presented in a larger classroom with all participants and the
other topics in several smaller PC laboratories, with eight to 10 people in each group. Finally,
