Computer software and technology training have been part of our society’s public education system since the 1980s. However, technology-training standards have just (in the past ten years) become required, established and codified as other subjects, such as math. For instance, after completing High School, most students are expected to have basic mathematics and some algebra skills. What about computer skills-level expectations for the software you are learning in this class? Were computers “in” after you graduated high school?

READ THIS DOCUMENT.

VIEW ALL OF THE RELATED WEBSITES BY SCROLLING AND CLICKING ON THE NUMBERED LINKS ON THE LEFT, OR IN THIS DOCUMENT.

SEE LINK # 8 TO TAKE A BASIC COMPUTER QUIZ, WITH INSTANT FEED BACK FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. DON'T BE DISAPOINTED IF YOU DO NOT SCORE WELL, YOU MAY HAVE NOT HAD THE TRAINING YET.

Visit the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) Technology Applications Curriculum website to understand the development of standards and what you may or may to have missed.  http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/ta/curric.html 

To see the basic requirements for Technology Application credit to graduate from a Texas High School, implemented in 1997 visit the TEA - Technology Applications Graduation Credit website: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/ta/tagradcred.html 

How has software taught in this class been integrated into public high schools? For a good description, read the summary on the Regional Educational Laboratories (REL Network) web page, or scroll to the bottom the page to find the link to the original article: http://www.relnetwork.org/news/2005-07/08-mcrel.html 

What are educators and researchers coming up with for training in new technologies? Get a brief description of how this conversation is taking place online from REL Network, and a link to monitor these online discussions at: http://www.relnetwork.org/news/Sept03/07-AEL.html 

Now that you understand that the technology instruction in this class has it’s own history and development in the schools, where do you fit in the technology training timeline?

Educational curriculum links also list pertinent information for you, the learner. To see more on workforce training visit the Resource Center Technology in Education (R TEC) website at: http://www.rtec.org/category.cfm?cat_id=21 

Find links for adult learners  such as http://www.readiowa.org/workplacemath/contents.html to brush up on your math skills.