FREEDOM RESOURCE COMPUTING SYLLABUS

CLASS OBJECTIVES:

Students will be exposed to two areas of study: Office 2000 courses and PC Troubleshooting & Maintenance. A fee of $15 per semester is required. Ultimately, each student will gain a more thorough knowledge and understanding of the computer with the purpose of sharpening the student's employment skills. All students are required to attend the tech discussion groups held periodically during class hours. Freedom Resource Computing utilizes various accessibility tools where necessary including:

Keyboards with large letters & numbers aid students with low vision.

ZoomText software that greatly enlarges the entire screen and reads back text, even works on the Internet.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software that writes as the student speaks and reads back text.

Microsoft Office 2000- Basic Course:
Students will understand the capabilities of the Microsoft Office Suite:
1. Microsoft Word
· Students will complete one personal letter independently using a Word template and the spell check feature.
· Students will also become familiar with inserting tables, pictures, clip art etc.
· Students will begin to be introduced to the various menus and subsequent commands of the Office Suite
2. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
· Students will demonstrate the ability to send and receive e-mail through Outlook Express, Word, or their Internet Service Provider's (ISP) mailbox.
· Students will create and maintain their own and accounts using services, such as Yahoo or MSN
· Students will learn how to download an insert clip art from various web sites.
3. Microsoft Publisher
· Students will create greeting cards and signs using various formats
4. Microsoft PowerPoint
· Students will produce presentations consisting of at least 4 slides.
5. Microsoft Excel
· Students will demonstrate knowledge of basic spreadsheet principles.
6. Microsoft PhotoDraw/Adobe Photoshop
· Students will import and resize a photograph.

Microsoft Office 2000 - Intermediate Course:
Students will be proficient in the capabilities of the Microsoft Office Suite:
1. Microsoft Word
· Students will create letters independently without the aid of a template.
2. Microsoft Internet Explorer
· Students will learn how to use search engines to find information, copy and store it in a folder
· Students will learn the differences, benefits and drawbacks of "Web based e-mail," such as MSN or yahoo versus installing "proprietary," software such as AOL or EarthLink
3. Microsoft Publisher
· Students will create a pamphlet on a given topic using a template
4. Microsoft PowerPoint
· Students will produce an animated presentation consisting of at least 8 slides with sound.
5. Microsoft Excel
· Students will create a spreadsheet consisting of a personal inventory or checkbook
6. Microsoft PhotoDraw/Adobe Photoshop
· Students will demonstrate knowledge of the various tools to alter photographs.

Microsoft Office 2000 -Advanced Course:
Students will learn Microsoft Integration - how to merge Word documents with Access and Excel docs.

PC Troubleshooting and Maintenance

Objective: The premise of this course will strive to give students the ability to troubleshoot PCs on own their own, without the instructor's assistance. We will cover the following aspects:

Basic Course:

Antivirus software programs:

• Norton AntiVirus and McAfee are just two (2) antivirus software program vendors.
• Typically, today's antivirus software programs, like Norton, update and scan your computer's hard drive automatically but there are those "free," programs like AVG where you'll have to perform these tasks manually.
• It's recommended that scans be performed at least once a week.

Intermediate Course: Using "System Restore," and other tools

• What other tricks do I need to know?

• The "System Restore," tool, dates back to Windows Millennium Edition (ME) and can be used to restore any and all unwanted system software related changes.
• However, this tool should be used with caution because it will even restore recently installed programs; so, if you have installed an update before performing a system restore, the computer will have to re-download and reinstall the update.
• Therefore, along with adversely affecting other programs, such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking, this tool should be used as a last resort, next to, or short of reinstalling the operating system.
• The "Disk Cleanup," tool is to be used when you want to "free up," space on your hard drive, and should be done at least once a week.
• The "Disk Defragmenter," tool can be used to make your system run faster and more efficiently.
• The "Safe Mode," tool can be accessed by pressing the F8 key at system start up, and can be used to delete otherwise "undeletable," files.

Advanced Course: The Bios (Basic Input/Output System)

Please visit http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/BIOS.html for more information.

Creating a new user profile(s) on systems running Windows 2000/XP:

• What's a "user," and why do they exist?

• A "user," is anyone who makes changes to the computer. With the advent of Windows 2000, different levels of users appeared.
• An "Administrator," in the above environment, (Windows 2000/XP), is anyone who has "unrestricted," access to make changes to the system.
• "Restricted," users therefore, is anyone who can use the system, but cannot make changes, such as instilling new programs, without the administrator's approval.

• What about computers with operating systems (OSs), prior to Windows 2000/XP?

• Please visit http://www.commercialventvac.com/~jeffs/OS_comparison. html for more information.
• http://www.microsoft.com/learning/syllabi/en-us/2126bfinal.mspx
• http://webopedia.com/Operating_Systems/

• The Windows Recovery Console can be accessed using your Windows reinstallation disk, and can be used to fix virtually anything not listed in the next section. Once inside the Windows Recovery Console, you'll notice that there are no GUIs (Graphical User Interface) but a list of DOS-like commands soon appears.
• In order to gain access to the Windows Recovery Console, you need to do two things:

• Find and insert your reinstallation disk in the CDROM drive.
• Change your “boot sequence” in the bios; to do this:

• Start or re-start the computer
• When you see the first screen that appears, press delete or F2 depending on the system.
• Scroll down to “boot sequence” and use the pg up/pg down keys to make your selection. You will want to select “CDROM, C, A” so that your CDROM boots first.
• Press “escape” and then “F10” to save the setup.
• Press “Y” and enter to save and restart.

• After inserting reinstallation disk, press any key when it appears on the bottom of your screen. You will see a blue screen for a minute or two, then press “R” for repair when prompted.
• Press “C” to access Recover Console
• Press “1” (or wherever your system directory exists). If applicable, type your administrator password, then type "HELP."
• The system will display a list of commands you can use to correct your problem.
• You can press, “enter” to scroll down and see more commands, or press, “escape” to stop. Type your choice from list and proceed as directed. Type “exit” when done if machine does not automatically restart.