[ILUG] [Slightly OT] TCP / M$

[Declan de Lacy Murphy]

I run an ECDL centre and I completely agree with Tim. ECDL requires people
to spend more time spent on learning to do a mail merge and create access
databases but at the end of it saving a file is still something that they
spent 10 minutes max on during week 1. It is really best suited to people
who have mastered word and want to start using excel or powerpoint (all of
which can at that stage be done in one weekend).

It's true all the documentation out there for ECDL is exclusively directed
towards M$ Office, if anyone wants to write some linux ecdl course books
I'll start using them.

The name really does suck though - I have had customers who were well
educated and in their forties who wanted to know would we be using a
steering wheel - no kidding!!!

By the way you could just as easily teach ECDL using star office as you can
using MS Office - actually I think I might do that sometime.

Declan


----- Original Message -----
From: Tim O'Donovan <tim.odonovan at sun.com>
Cc: <ilug at linux.ie>
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2001 11:53 AM
Subject: Re: [ILUG] [Slightly OT] TCP / M$


>
> Paul McCourt wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 09, 2001 at 05:51:31PM -0400, Wesley Darlington mentioned:
> > >Yeah. Everything about it annoys me, though - each of the words
`computer',
> > >`driving' and `licence' makes me grind my teeth in anger. `Computer'
> > >because it's only about windows, word and excel (AIUI, in practice
> > >at least), `driving' and `licence' because it isn't a darn licence
> >
> > Go easy now, ECDL unlike popular belief is not M$ cetric its actually
> > generic enough to be used on any platform and any well capable word
> > processer, spreadsheet, database, presentation package or internet
browser.
> > What happens is that the examiners/teachers decide what to use and what
> > would be more saleable for the students.  Bear in mind though that the
> > students are mostly either 35+ or 18- who were dupped by the ESB into
> > getting a 'Bargin' computer.  These tests ensure that they see the
> > functinality of the various applications.  And to make them more
sale-able
> > out in the workplace they use the most comman office suite and most
comman
> > operating system that employers have.  And best of all gets them
actually
> > using those machines instead of playing solitare.
> >
>
> My mother did the ECDL, and I had a look at the course book - She can
> now
> produce these brilliant presentations in powerpoint, write fancy letters
> in
> word, but she still has difficulty in renaming a file, finding a file -
> all the simple stuff like directory navigation etc.  There should be a
> much
> bigger emphasis on how to use the damn thing - and it's exclusivly
> Windows
> based, which isn't much good for the Linux cause. (although, I'd never
> expose
> a newbie to Linux...)
>
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