Blog #2-Software
The five most important software applications each student should know to help them succeed in school and/or work are (from highest to lowest ranking) educational games, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and software that relates to digital camaras. I think educational games should be a basic application to use for children before and during the earlier school years (Pre-K through 5th grade). I think it’s important to make learning as much fun as possible, and if that means converting education into a game that a child can have fun and learn from at the same time, then it is an extremely important tool. As the student gets older (around 6th grade), and research is a bigger part of the curriculum, Word is a very important tool to learn and should be taught around this timeframe. This is usually when students start handing in reports and papers, and should have a basic knowledge of Word at this point, being that it will probably be the most often used tool. For the high school years, PowerPoint should be taught to students because class presentations and speeches are used more, and it is a program that is not very difficult to learn. Plus, it is also a tool that can be used frequently in the college years, as well as later down the road in different occupations. Excel, like PowerPoint should be taught in high school because it can be used for various mathematic applications, charts, and other areas in different occupations. I know where I work now, we use Excel like crazy. It’s used in conjuction with Access and by itself, and is a huge help with calculations. Lastly, with digital photography becoming more advanced and popular, I think it’s important to teach the basic properties of editing software (cropping, special effects, etc.). Digital photography is being used for so much today, it can be incorporated into anything. I also think this is an important tool to teach during the later high school years, and is a valuable program because it encourages creativity as well. I believe these five programs should all be taught in school (and before college, as you can see). They will all be very helpful for every student’s future.
