Computer maintenance and useful applications for creating teaching resources (NCTE/T4)
Overview
The aim of the "Computer maintenance and useful applications for creating teaching resources" course is to enable teachers to develop their own teaching resources to meet their own particular needs. Designed by T4 in collaboration with NCTE for the post primary Design and Communication Graphics and Technology syllabuses, this course has relevance to teachers in the primary sector also.
| Duration | The course is modular and can be between 7.5 hours and 15 hours (3 - 6 sessions of 2.5 hours duration each) |
|---|---|
| Skill Level | Basic |
| Sector | Post-primary, Primary |
| Target Audience | While originally designed for post primary teachers of technology subjects, in particular teachers of Design and Communications Graphics and Technology, the course is also of interest and relevant to primary teachers |
| Prerequisites | Basic ICT skills and experience of using the Internet |
Course Content
Course content
The course will demonstrate how a number of IT applications can be integrated to produce interactive resources to suit the individual learning styles of their students. As teachers use a desktop/laptop as a teaching tool, the basic maintenance and care of this hardware will also be an aspect of this course.
Unit 1 - Basic maintenance and care of desktop/laptop computers
While it is not feasible for teachers to maintain the computer hardware, it is feasible for them to maintain the system and application software. Computers get slower over time. This is due to a combination of factors, all software related. With regular maintenance, it is possible to keep computers running at their optimal speed. This unit will deals with issues such as storage maintenance, scheduled tasks, disk imaging and malware.
Unit 2: Creating worksheets using MS Word 2007
This unit will deal creating worksheets using MS Word. A number of other applications will be used in the creation of the material such as SolidWorks and image capturing software. Converting worksheets to Portable Document Format (pdf) using freeware where appropriate will also be addressed.
Unit 3: Creating worksheets using MS Publisher 2007
Microsoft Publisher gives you the opportunity to combine images, graphics and text in ways that will suit the production of most worksheets for the technology subjects. It is also a useful application for the production of design portfolios, reports, etc.
Unit 4: Creating PowerPoint presentations (1)
A PowerPoint presentation is a collection of electronic slides which can contain text, tables, graphics, pictures, sound and video. This first of two units explores:
•Creating slides containing text, tables and graphics
•Custom animation of slides
•Animating presentations
•Creating master slides
Unit 5: Creating PowerPoint presentations (2)
The second unit in creating PowerPoint presentations will focus on the following:
•Inserting SolidWorks eDrawings
•Inserting Movie and Sound files
•File management issues
Unit 6: Creating AVI files for on-line tutorials
Video tutorials are a very powerful communication tool which allows users to watch and learn at their own pace. These tutorials give an over the shoulder view of the tasks being carried out in a clear and logical manner for learning. This unit explores the creation of video tutorials and basic editing.
