Be IT literate!

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Every single teacher, tutor or lecturer should be literate in information and communication technology ('computers' to you and I!).

This means essentially having some basic knowledge of the following:

  1. How to start up, shut down and operate the basic housekeeping facilities of a standard PC
  2. How to use a modern word processor (for writing hand-outs, OHP acetates, etc.)
  3. How to search the Internet for information, print it or save it.
  4. How to use email
  5. How use simple presentation software (e.g. Powerpoint)
  6. How to use a database (storing student and course information, etc.)

... and, preferably know a bit about (in preference order):

If you haven't got simple knowledge of the first six items listed above then I would advise that you need to do some training and get up to scratch. ICT literacy is vital to just about every tutor. Not only is it useful for producing high-quality resources for students, but it also enables you to stay up to date (via the Internet) and manage your work with greater ease. It is also an area that is addressed by the FENTO standards as being an important component of any tutor's skills... and it happens to be valuable for attracting employment!

There are many courses in IT available: OCR CLAIT and the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) are both good basic starting points (I prefer ECDL)... but there are many others available. Contact APTT for further advice, or go to our Links and check out the prospectus pages of local providers.

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Copyright Bob Groves 26/12/2000