IT-phobics go back to school, without ever leaving home

IT-phobics go back to school, without ever leaving home

It’s easy to be IT-phobic when everyone 5 years old and upwards, appears to be adept at the internet, e-mailing, social networking, even shopping at their favourite supermarket without leaving the comfort of their own homes. Yet it’s so easy to have been among one of the many tens of thousands who were left behind when the IT revolution overtook the world during the past 25 years.

Stay at home mums who had babies and families in the 1980s and 1990s find themselves left high and dry when it comes to IT. Designers who were used to the old `cut and paste’ system suddenly found their scalpels and spray glue had replaced by computers. Secretaries who were adept at word processors, can now be foxed by word processing, book-keepers who enjoyed their long-hand, double entry ledgers are faced with strange and impersonal looking on-screen spreadsheets.

A lack of IT skills can be just as embarrassing as admitting to a hygiene or health problem! Yet it’s even easier to do something about it, without even leaving the comfort of your own home.

Not surprisingly one of the world’s most successful companies, Microsoft, is behind one of the most successful ways of getting people back into work place technology, with its `Microsoft Office Professional (MOS)’ qualification. A qualification that can actually be studied in the privacy of a student’s own home, without others checking how long it takes to achieve each stage of the course and with absolutely no pressure to keep up with classmates.

Taking a home study IT computer course will train and equip even the most IT-phobic with all of the office computer skills necessary to streamline returning to the automated office or understanding the automated family. It gives trainees competency in using the suite of Microsoft office products that include Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It sounds impossible, but the course takes students right back to basics, from a simple introduction to computers and computing, right through the hands-on skills used in offices and homes today.

This is typical of the many practical and vocational IT qualifications that are available for home study, many of which are backed by the big players in today’s IT industry. Those looking to get into a more technical IT environment will find courses for PC engineers, web designers and programmers, while bookkeepers can get right up to date with the International Association of Bookkeepers computerised accounting exams, by training on a home study course tailored to achieve those qualifications.

Home study computer courses require little more than a PC, the ability to read and understand the requirements of the coursework and a huge amount of commitment. No-one is there to nag you to hand in your homework! You can study in your own pace and at your own time, without constantly having someone look over your shoulder to see how you’re getting on.

Most home computer courses work on a series of marked assignments, conveyed between the distance learning organisation and the student via a combination of the postal system, e-mail and the internet. Tutors have students studying in numerous locations, most of whom will never ever meet each other, though e-learning and Live Internet Training all provide greater interaction between students and home study colleges these days than in times past.

So there are ways to shake off IT phobia without ever leaving home and home study is one way in which even the most technologically inept students can catch up with their children or grandchildren.

Article Source: http://www.cursebustersound.com/article

Mary Stuart-Miller is author of this article on Distance Learning. Find more information about Home Study here.

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