Hi, Gary and All On Thu, 2011-06-30 at 18:50 -0400, Gary Schnabl wrote:
> 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... > > Technical Editor forum <http://TechnicalEditor.LivernoisYard.com/phpBB3/> > > I have seen too many people who would not use any help or user guide to find any information. Also, once most users can do their tasks they rarely ever move beyond that point. -- Jay Lozier [email protected] -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to [email protected] Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
