On 6/30/2011 4:27 AM, Marc Paré wrote:
Based on my experience as a K-12 teacher a decade ago, I know that
kids do not bother to read texts, even if assigned as homework. So,
users will do as much as they can on their own before consulting the
online help or user guides.
One reason for low book sales is that much fewer users will bother to
read books nowadays.
Gary
Hi Gary
Some schools do operate on a set programme, for example, at my primary
school, although I teach French Second Language, I am in charge of
teaching Word (Writer) basics to grades 4-5; PowerPoint (Impress) to
grades 6,7 and until a couple years ago, our previous grade 7 teacher
was in charge of teaching Excel (Calc) to grades 8 and advanced macros
in preparation to high school. The "Getting Started Guide" would be a
great addition to any Library collection for student referral/reference.
In my experience, there is still a small segment of the student
population that do read manuals and they usually pass on their
knowledge to others in their class.
I have thus far taught for 18 years as Math, Science and Technology
consultant (primary and secondary schools); classroom teacher;
computer classroom specialist and French Second Language specialist at
various times during these years. I am presently off on disability for
crushed spine and complications but hope to get back to class soon.
Cheers
Marc
Late in my (engineering and other things) career, I taught at both
public and private K-12 schools, last teaching back in 2001. All of the
schools were long computerized by then. During the computer labs, most
of the kids were "taught" by teachers, who only a few months earlier
typically taught subjects as social studies and the like and were most
often only a day or three ahead of their students in subject matter--if
that.
Most kids then learned office-suite apps mostly by intuition because
those apps were designed that way from day-1. At one middle school,
during the computer labs I dropped in on my kids on occasion. Once, one
kid asked me to help him with a simple problem. I first inquired what
the on-line help suggested. He did not even know (primarily because lazy
teachers often do not teach such useful things...) that there even was
any on-line help. So, I interrupted the class (although the
newly-ordained computer-lab--previously an older social-studies teacher
at the school--teacher initially objected) so that they all knew about
how to use on-line help from the Help menu.
At another school--a private K-5 school where I taught the fifth grade,
at one half-day in-session (kids go home early those days) the
administration was discussing ways to save money, if possible. Waking up
from a short nap, I suggested that the school fire the young woman who
taught their computer labs because she was incompetent. To my surprise,
that suggestion was instantly accepted, and the teachers were ordered to
teach their own classes in the computer lab.
One little snag though. Not all the teachers then were computer
literate. So, I took over some of the computer labs and had those
teachers teach (or baby-sit) my fifth grade class during those times.
I again assert that people most often will not employ user guides, or
even the on-line help, and will usually ask somebody else for help, as
any problems occur.
Gary
--
Gary Schnabl
Southwest Detroit, two miles NORTH! of Canada--Windsor, that is...
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