[K12OSN] Curriculum for using OpenOffice.org to teach basic computer skills

[Huck]

http://www.getopenoffice.org  ... has textbooks...

should take care of all the lesson plan stuff for you mostly..

--Huck

Petre Scheie wrote:

> Short version: For those who are using OpenOffice.org to teach basic 
> computer skills, word processing, etc., to high school students, what 
> are you using for curriculum?
>
> Long version: The technical advisory committee for my kids' school, of 
> which I am a member, recently passed a resolution that calls for 
> ninth-grade students to take a mandatory basic computer skills class.  
> The idea is to make sure that all students know how to use a word 
> processor, spreadsheet, search the internet, etc.  (Many of the kids 
> think they know it all, but most don't know as much as they think they 
> do--just like in most other areas, I guess. ;-) )  We have people from 
> the local colleges on the committee and they all say the expectation 
> is that students will already know these things by the time they enter 
> college, and the colleges themselves do not provide any such 
> instruction.  In the original draft of the resolution, it called for 
> teaching the kids Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, among other things.  I 
> succeeded in getting the wording changed to word processing, 
> spreadsheets, and presentations, fortunately.  The next point I want 
> to push is to have the teacher(s) use OOo for the class.  I have two 
> reasons, that everyone on the list will be familiar with: free 
> software, so it can be given out to the students, and freedom to do 
> whatever you want with it.  But I've learned that the key thing in 
> getting the teacher to use a tool for a class is to have a curriculum 
> available; they don't have the time or resources to write their own 
> lesson plans from scratch.  Plus, they already have some sort of 
> materials for teaching MS's office, I'm sure, so to get them to use 
> another tool, the transition must be as easy as possible.
>
> While free, no cost plans would be better, I'm not opposed to 
> something that would have to be purchased; I'm sure the MS plans 
> didn't come free.
>
> Petre
>
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