Computer Skills for Africa blogs

Become an ICDL expert

john — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:18:22 +0000

What do you need to do to become a Microsoft Office expert?

An ICDL expert has completed all four Advanced ICDL Modules. The advanced modules for ICDL consist of Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Databases, and Presentations.

You can complete these modules using any software. At CS4A we encourage you to complete the modules using Office 2007.

5 Reasons why you want to become an ICDL expert

Your work will become more organised and efficient.
You will learn to be more productive.
You will become more capable of confidently exploiting the full potential of the software.
Expert at producing attractive, professional-quality outputs
You receive an internationally recognised certificate.

How to become an ICDL expert

Step 1

You need to show that you will have no problem passing ICDL core. You can write a diagnostic test at our Newcastle branch. If you achieve over 65%, you can do Advanced ICDL for that module. Diagnostics only cost R25 per exam. The cost will be subtracted from your Advanced Module costs if you sign up with CS4A.

If you already have an ICDL certificate you can start immediately with Advanced ICDL.

Step 2

Sign up for an Advanced Module. You can download an enrolment form. Please fill in all the required fields. The advanced module costs R1800 per module. This includes 5 hours of private tuition with our qualified facilitator. Your registration, manual, and exam costs are included in the price of the course.

You can also pick up a copy from our Newcastle or Dundee branches. In Newcastle go to 18 Harding Street and speak to Nadiksha or Sibu. In Dundee our branch is at Dundee High School. Sharlene is your contact person.

Step 3

Make payment by depositing the full amount in our bank account. The details are on the form. You can also pay by cheque or cash at one of our branches.

Step 4

Pick up your manual and start studying. Exams are one hour in length. You can download practice exams from the ICDL website.

Step 5

To become an expert you need to pass all 4 advanced modules. Simply sign up for each module and pass all four exams.

Worldwide recognition of your Microsoft Office skills awaits you when you sign up to become an ICDL expert. Contact us to find out more or download the enrolment form and start learning now.

link:

Youngest ICDL Expert in South Africa

Advanced ICDL

I am your PoE (guide to SAQA assessments).

greta — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:10:33 +0000

picture:

The time span between completing a Portfolio of Evidence and receiving your certificate is a worry. Like all candidates, you are anxious to know your results; even when you know the results, you still want to get your certificate ASAP!

While we do everything in our power do make the whole assessment process as painless and smooth as possible, some parts of it are out of our control.

The assessment tools have to work. They have to comply with SETA requirements. They have to be efficient as far as time and cost is concerned, but they have to walk the walk.

This is the trip of the PoE (portfolio of evidence).

The evidence collector makes sure the PoE is complete.

The assessments administrator captures all the candidates’ info from the PoE into a dbase. The assessor judges all the evidence in the PoE and compiles a report. The assessments administrator gets the PoE back and sends it on to the moderator. The moderator checks the whole group of PoE’s and compiles a report.

The assessments administrator submits the results online.

The SETA verifies the results, captures them into the national dbase and sends the endorsement to the Training Provider.
The Training Provider organises the certificates and voilá, you are invited to the graduation!

Every step involves a bunch of people, takes times, and is potentially hazardous! Please be advised that patience is required, but it will be rewarded! Join us at the next Graduation!

What everyone ought to know about PowerPoint - from zero to hero

john — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:51:25 +0000

What's causing your audience to fall asleep during your presentations?

As a public speaker, I see far more than my fair share of presentations. Worse, a lot of them are
from people getting paid to give them — and they're horrible. Horribly produced, horribly
ineffective.

~ Seth Godin

Imagine producing effective presentations that really speak to your audience. Presentations that
inspire, motivate, and energise your staff, clients, and potential clients.

PowerPoint for the powerful

Learning PowerPoint at Computer Skills for Africa will help you improve your PowerPoint skills. The
course starts on Thursday 15 October at 17:00 with the basics and will lead you on to our Advanced
PowerPoint course.

7 Reasons you should do this course

Produce better presentations with more impact.
Plan & design more effective presentations.
Create advanced charts or graphs.
Task based — so you learn tasks rather than just functions.
Understand the key principles of planning & designing presentations.
Valuable statement of mastery of computer skills.
Increase your prospects for employment or promotion.

Costs

The course usually costs R2675, but if you sign up before 12:00 on Thursday 15 October we will give
you R175 off. Giving you the opportunity to become a PowerPoint hero for only R2500.

How to register

Fill in this contact form or phone 087 808 6187

Bring the coupon below to our office and speak to John.

link:

Advanced ICDL

Youngest ICDL Expert in South Africa

Coupon

Forget the past and move forward to the future!

nadz — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:37:32 +0000

New Project Approaching for YOUNG MINDS from the age of 4.

Develop confidence with a computer; develop mouse skills, keyboard skills.

This computer course improves areas of weaknesses e.g.: Numbers, shapes, words, language, maths, and visual literacy.

Introductory Offer! R35 per hour or R200 per month.

Great advantages

More information next month.

Splashing News

nadz — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:28:37 +0000

UNISA students has the solution to ICDL.

Computer Skills for Africa has offered a super promotion to all UNISA students.

Limited Offer! One Workshop + 4 Exams R370 instead of R1090!

Book Now!

Please include your logbook number in the subject

link:

ICDL Exams

ICDL Workshops

Durnacol students complete General Computer Practice

nadz — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:19:34 +0000

Zaaheda Docrat, Monica Mbatha, and Nomusa from Dannhauser, has completed the General Computer Practice Course in 3 Months!
Age is just a number if they can do it so can you!

It is not about being computer literate only, but it’s about showing what you are capable of doing, and what you are worth!
Lessons available at the Skills Innovation Hub!

Limited Offer! Attend a free workshop and you will be credited a discount of R200.

There are 3 times available to suit your needs.

09:00 – 11:00
15:00 – 17:00
17:00 – 19:00

Phone Nadiksha on 087 808 6187 to become computer literate.

link:

General Computer Practice (GCP)

July Graduation

11 things they don't teach you in ICDL

john — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:56:57 +0000

Ok so you’ve got your ICDL and you’re ready and able to do anything on a computer.

Wrong!

Many of the skills you learn can be applied directly to your work. But there is some stuff missing, here’s my list:

How to design impressive looking documents
Use picture editing software
Programming
Data organisation
How to clean your computer
Saving files on a network and opening files on a network
Fixing computers
Thinking for yourself
Integration
hat chart are you supposed to use
Publishing
How to learn these skills

How to design impressive looking documents

ICDL teaches you to use the tools, not how to use them to create documents or spreadsheets. You are given all the tools, and you know how to use them, but you can’t create original documents. The skills that you learn from ICDL teach you to manipulate existing documents — they don’t teach you to create original professional documents.

Example: ICDL teaches you to change fonts. You don’t learn that it is dangerous to mix many fonts in a single document. ICDL graduates often do too much to make a document look impressive, because they know how to do something. Graduates need to be taught to keep it simple.

ICDL textbooks encourage complicating documents. Tasks in the textbooks teach you to make words underlined bold and italic. This is completely unnecessary. If you want to emphasise a word, please use only one method to highlight the word or phrase, and never use underline.

Use picture editing software

Fantastic, you can use word, excel, PowerPoint, access, internet explorer, and outlook, but can you edit a picture? Can you upload a picture to a website? Do you know how to change the lighting of a photo?

If you’re a recent graduate of ICDL, the answer is no. ICDL does not teach any form of graphic manipulation.

MS Paint is not a graphical editing programme. It does not have any redeeming characteristics. Use Inkscape or the Gimp if you can’t afford Photoshop. They’re free and open source.

Programming

Most people don’t need to know how to programme. But why not programming? Is it really that difficult for the lay person to understand?

Data organisation

ICDL teaches you how to delete files, change their name, move them about, but it does not teach you what the best practice is for naming files or creating folders.

File systems exist to help you organise data. But there must be a million ways to organise files. Do you add a date first to the file name? Must the filename be written in uppercase or lowercase? How many subfolders are too many? What do you think is the best method for keeping your computer uncluttered?

Do you have thousands of files in a folder called stuff, because you have no idea where else to put them? How many folders do you have in My Documents called “New folder”? Be honest.

How to clean your computer

Everyone really should know how to clean a computer monitor, mouse and keyboard. Common sense does not work as well as you might think. Some detergents can do more harm than good. Surely you should learn how to clean a computer properly.

Saving files on a network/ opening files on a network

Why is this not a skill?

ICDL is supposed to prepare people for working in an Office environment. Offices use networks extensively. Surely it would be beneficial for us to learn how to use a network.

Fixing computers

You should certainly not be learning how to change a hard drive or replace RAM. You can definitely learn how to fix a printer or faulty keyboard. How to plug in all the parts of a PC into the correct sockets will also benefit everybody.

Thinking for yourself

Great, you passed ICDL. Can you decide what search terms to use on Google. The exam tells you what to do. Graduates have simply copied search terms from questions. How does this show that a student understands how to use a search engine?

Any student of ICDL will tell you that in order to pass, all you need to do is read the question properly. The answer is in it. You don’t have to think about why you’re using that particular search phrase or why you’re using that formula. Smart people are still more valuable than people who only follow instructions.

Integration

You study each ICDL module in complete isolation. When you’re doing word you don’t use excel or access to import data for a mail merge.

Why not?

It makes more sense to use a database to store data. Making a word document behave as a database is surely not good practice. But ICDL teaches you to do just that.

What chart are you supposed to use

The pie chart is overused. Stop using it to present data. It probably has a purpose, but I can’t think of one.

ICDL graduates don’t know either, but they know how to create a pie chart, and so they do.

Students need to learn when to use what chart.

Publishing

Why can’t I choose CMYK colours instead of RGB or HSL? Ok so this is more of a rant against Microsoft. But really, if you pay R4000 for some software you expect it to work.

Maybe ICDL should include a section on colour theory or at least a section on the difference between colours on a screen and colours printed on a printer. Everyone will benefit from this information.

How to learn these skills

Once you’ve got your ICDL, you really need to do Advanced ICDL. It is a fantastic course. You learn how to be an Office Rock Star.

The course is structured in such a way that you can easily learn on your own. Study from home and enjoy private tuition to help you improve your skills to help you pass your exam.

The course material will improve your productivity at work and you’ll be an Office Rock Star!

link:

Advanced ICDL

ICDL Expert

Pastel Accounting

george — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:25:32 +0000

Pastel Accounting is a qualification that is well recognized in the business world. All you need is a small amount of a financial background and a bit of PC knowledge and you qualify for a qualification in Pastel. We offer two courses which both follow SAQA unit standards.

Pastel Intermediate is the first qualification. You will learn how to set up a company, add inventory, customers and suppliers. Once your company is set up you will then process transactions. This course ends with a bank recon.

Pastel Advanced requires you to already know Pastel. This course deals with advanced functions in Pastel, for example consolidating a company, processing an RD cheque and mail merge to name a few.

For anyone who is serious about furthering their education, Pastel should be first on their list.

link:

Pastel Intermediate

Pastel Advanced

The age of the Personal Computer

sharlene — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:35:46 +0000

Get up! Smell the fresh air… have a cup of coffee, brush your teeth, have a shower, time to start your day… But how in an excited and advanced electronic age we live in?
Get computer literate!

The word “computer” is often heard in today’s dependant society and world.

Computers have become an easy to use device for some; a lot of us can’t go without them, while others are still computer illiterate.

A computer is an electronic device that executes a number of tasks for example: Using the internet for information, distant studying, internet banking, communicating via email and various other reasons.

The privilege of accessing a computer is a magnificent benefit to all individuals and thus computers play an eminent role in our everyday lives… You’re never too young or too old to learn. Get computer literate!

link:

General Computer Practice

Computer education is our future

sharlene — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:21:15 +0000

As generations were brought into this world, so was technology. Computers have now become a need and not a want in today’s society. We, being the human race, have not only become dependant on computers but to a point computers are essential in today’s society. Computers have become a way of life and assist in making life easier.

They reduce the time drastically that it would take to complete a certain task manually, allowing one to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Computers are not just devices consisting of a monitor, keyboard and CPU. Computers are the future of tomorrow as they also assist society in living their lives.

Without computers, society would be a total chaos resulting in major destruction to society. Apart from getting information from the internet, computers now have the ability to even control certain aspects of life. Computers are important as they alert one about the weather, help people to control finance, control the distribution of major resources and, in fact, the list is endless.

School is the place where we learn and study so that we can pursue a career one day.

At Dundee High School our learners are very privileged to have a Computer Centre with 45 computers where our learners get the opportunity to be computer literate. In class we are taught the basics of Computer Literacy following the ICDL Syllabus.

An extra course, the world-recognized ICDL programme, is also offered with high quality exams every term. This is a great advantage to have when leaving high school one day with an ICDL qualification before entering university.

COMPUTERS ARE OUR FUTURE!

link:

High School Curriculum

Letter from Dundee High School Headmaster