Synopses & Reviews
No other book better prepares studentsfor the innovations in Microsoft Office 2007 like the second edition of DIGITOOLS! Part of Thomson South-Western's BUSINESS OF TECHNOLOGY series, DIGITOOLS also teaches the proper way to key and format documents using proven instructional methods, while also emphasizing computer applications, such as word processing, presentations, spreadsheets, and database. Students learn to effectively use the Internet and input technologies, including speech and handwriting recognition.
Review
"The most significant strengths are: emphasis on correct keying and skill building. The course begins by making sure that the students have mastered speed and accuracy in keying. That's a real plus because without the speed, students are constantly looking for letters. The rest of the course follows well with the skill that has already been learned. So now students can concentrate on other matters such as processing documents of various types."
Review
"The most significant strengths are: emphasis on correct keying and skill building. The course begins by making sure that the students have mastered speed and accuracy in keying. That's a real plus because without the speed, students are constantly looking for letters. The rest of the course follows well with the skill that has already been learned. So now students can concentrate on other matters such as processing documents of various types."
Review
"The peer editing activities and teamwork are valuable. In order to make this a more critical thinking experience, you could ask the students to develop a list of criteria to judge someone else's work and then use this when they compare their results. I like the Corporate View and other situations based on a "real" company. The projects that offer choices (like the long-term project) provide for a variety of learning styles and interests. Ethics sections provide real-life situations that are an integral part of everything we do when we use technology. It is also becoming more evident that the teens we teach need more activities that deepen their understanding of ethical situations."
Synopsis
DIGITOOLS -- INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION, AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS, 3E is a half- or full-year course that reflects a new direction being taken in keyboarding. The text not only includes the standard teaching methods for learning to type and format documents, but also covers computer applications such as word processing, presentations, database, and spreadsheet; the Internet; and input technologies such as speech and handwriting recognition.
About the Author
Karl Barksdale is currently an instructor at the Utah County Academy of Sciences and is a former instructor at Farrer Middle school in Provo, UT. He has recently been a consultant for Google. Formerly a Development Manager for the Training and Certification team at WordPerfect Corporation, he obtained a master's degree in curriculum from the University of Utah and applied his degree as the Secondary Curriculum Coordinator for Provo School District. Later he returned to education as a Business Education instructor. Since that time he has authored more than 50 business and computer education textbooks for South-Western Educational Publishing, Course Technology, Speaking Solutions, and other publishers.
Table of Contents
"The general information is great and explained in a manner in which middle/high school aged children should understand. I really liked the Instant Messages and the DigiTips; although Text Messaging is much more popular now, so might want to consider changing the name. The information in both of these was very useful. I really liked teaching the students early on about the importance of good organization of their information as taught in lesson 1-5. This is a skill that is critical in this era of so much information at our fingertips." -- Karla Blowers, Yelm High School, Yelm, WA"The text is up to date with most technology. It reflects the tools that should be used in the 21st Century classroom. If the teachers and students are not familiar with the components already, this text introduces them to the technology that is available and used in and out of the classroom. Chapter 1 beautifully introduces the student to the digital tools and uses; it gets the student thinking of how to use their digital components as tools rather than for entertainment. Another great strength of this manuscript is that it addresses career clusters and collaborative based projects. It is business orientated to give the students an intro to business as well as an intro to DigiTools that are used in the workplace! I think this is the most significant strength of this manuscript. Chapter two covers the Internet more thoroughly than I have seen in any past text. GREAT!" -- Kathleen Goosen, Richey Public Schools, Richey, MT