Computer Courses at the College

Classifieds Events and Announcements
1

Interested in taking Computer Courses at the College before the Summer?

Northwest Community College is offering Computer Studies courses during the daytime and in the evenings between Tuesday, April 26 and Friday, June 3. The Career and College Preparation (CCP) Department prepares students to complete their Adult Dogwood, or to complete prerequisite courses for College programs.

There are different levels to choose from, from beginner (020) to intermediate (030), as well as advanced (040) and provincial (050) levels. Courses cover word processing, internet and email, and working with Windows XP. The CPST (Computer Studies) courses also offer instruction on MS Office 2007 applications, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Excel, web page design (XHTML and stylesheets), digital photography and desktop publishing (using MS Publisher). You can develop your computer skills at your own pace on a flexible schedule. We also offer a blended learning option, where you can pursue study online as well as face-to-face.

In addition, there is a new provincial (Grade 12) level course, Introduction to Social Networking (055), that is being offered.

For more information about the course offerings, and about the delivery options, please contact Glenn Groulx at 250-624-6054 ext. 5713, or email a message to [email protected]

2

Is there a particular reason the course is teaching outdated software set to be discontinued in less than 3 years?

Would it not make more sense to update the curriculum to use more relevant technology. I’m not trying to be an ass just mostly curious as to when you will be updating the course material and whether it would be best to wait.

3

[quote=“jesus”]Is there a particular reason the course is teaching outdated software set to be discontinued in less than 3 years?

Would it not make more sense to update the curriculum to use more relevant technology. I’m not trying to be an ass just mostly curious as to when you will be updating the course material and whether it would be best to wait.[/quote]

In another learning instition, I was in this situation with the NT MCSE and half-way through the course I had to move to an entirely new course with an updated Win2000 MCSE which, as you would suspect disrupted the course length and learning track. Consequently leading to a failure to achieve the entire course due to extended course length and running out of money for living costs associated with the extension in course length.

4

[quote=“jesus”]Is there a particular reason the course is teaching outdated software set to be discontinued in less than 3 years?

Would it not make more sense to update the curriculum to use more relevant technology. I’m not trying to be an ass just mostly curious as to when you will be updating the course material and whether it would be best to wait.[/quote]

Just because software is outdated doesn’t mean it’s useless. The idea behind this course is most likely to teach the concepts of using a computer. What you learn on one software package, you can then take with you and apply to the newer software packages that come out. The basics are still the same.

Besides, new software costs money. I doubt that the college has the budget to constantly upgrade their software for 15-20 computers whenever Micro$oft decides to roll out their new Office package.

5

Hi,

The Computer Studies courses are currently offered using Windows XP and Office 2007 till June. Thank you for addressing the need for upgrading the Operating System and MS Office applications. You have made an excellent point.

Is it best to wait to take the Computer Studies courses till the software is upgraded to the most up-to-date?

It depends on your own requirements and current level of skill, and what you plan to use the computer skills for. It depends on what you have at home or at work, and how much experience you already have with computers. Most new PCs and laptops already come pre-loaded with Windows 7. Used PCs might not, so each person’s situation will vary.

Some might argue that it would be nice to have the basics, and learn to use the internet, webmail, typing and basic word processing skills, as offered in CPST 020 and 030, and you can do that using XP and Office 2007. If you already have WinXP on your home system, and you are a beginner, it is nice to learn to use the system you have at home to start with. You can get the fundamentals in both CPST020 for complete beginners and CPST030 for intermediate users.

Even though the systems are not yet updated to the Office 2010/Windows 7, you can also learn to use the social networking applications of the web, such as blogging, social bookmarking and wikis by taking CPST055, and you can also get the basics of desktop publishing, digital photography and web design by taking CPST050.

It also depends on what you can afford. Upgrading to the most updated software is expensive for some people, and many students want to learn how to do basic things to get started, to gain some confidence. For some, it might be their first experience using a computer. They might not want to be asked to upgrade their PCs with software they might never use again.

So again, it really depends on your situation.

6

Stardog, once a decade isn’t anywhere near all the time. I’m sure the college can afford to do upgrades every 10 years.

Computer teacher thank you for the update, I’m sure prospective students will appreciate the opportunity to make an informed choice whether to take the course now or wait until june when the software will be updated.

I’m glad to know you are planning an upgrade in the very near future.

7

[quote=“jesus”]Stardog, once a decade isn’t anywhere near all the time. I’m sure the college can afford to do upgrades every 10 years.

Computer teacher thank you for the update, I’m sure prospective students will appreciate the opportunity to make an informed choice whether to take the course now or wait until june when the software will be updated.

I’m glad to know you are planning an upgrade in the very near future.[/quote]

Just to clarify:

The announcement was to offer the community information about Computer Studies courses offered at the College between April 26 and June 3. The second post was a reply to the question whether to take courses now or wait till the systems are upgraded. I replied that it depends on one’s unique circumstances. No information was provided about upgrades.

8

isn’t win 7 based on XP? I feel that It would be more beneficial to start out with XP.

9

Win 7 is based on Vista

10

Windows 7 is not based on XP it is essentially windows vista sp1 but they decided to call it windows 7 as vista was a major flop.

XP will be end of lifed in 2014 meaning no new updates (including security updates) it is going to die a very quick death. If you are looking to take anything more than a very basic how to use excel/a web browser course I would highly suggest waiting until they have updated their curriculum to use windows 7.