Solid computer skills are so important for children to learn in this modern age of technology. The new Digital Savvy course from CompuScholar, Inc. provides excellent instruction in fundamental computing knowledge and skills.
CompuScholar, Inc., formally known as Homeschool Programming, offers seven different course options, which include:
These courses are designed especially for homeschool families and individuals who want to acquire sound computer skills in this digital age. The courses are written for middle or high school students, are delivered online and take up to one year to complete, as children can complete their lessons at their own pace. Due to this being an online computer course, students will need to access a HTML5-compliant web browser and computer running:
- Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10
- Mac OS version 10.7 or higher
Students are taught by instructional videos, reading through text files and completing assigned projects. There are also online quizzes, tests and projects that are graded. Purchasing these courses is easy with two easy options: pay by the month or purchase a year long pass to the particular course you are interested in. When purchasing the year long course, families have the option to add additional students to the same class at a lower fee.
We have been given access to the Digital Savvy course which teaches students about computer systems and common software programs as well as basic photo editing, using social media, creating their own simple web page and email communications as well. This course is aimed at children in grades 6 though 12. Some of the topics covered in this course are found below:
This courses has a total of 25 chapters, with each chapter including several lessons, a project and an exam at the end. In each of the lessons, there is a video to watch, a text to read and a quiz to complete at the end. The type of projects required vary and often you will find one that needs to be submitted online so that the teacher can grade it.
Once logging in, you come to a screen that lists all available courses that you have subscribed too. Once the student has chosen their course, they are taken to another screen which contains the chapters. Once selecting the chapter they are up to, they will come to screen containing all the lessons in that chapter. The number of lessons per chapter can vary, some have only 3 lessons while others have 5 lessons.
After watching the lesson video, which opened in another window, our boys went on to read the lesson text. Sometimes they read the text a couple of times to make sure they understand what was being taught before heading on to complete the lesson quiz.
With the lesson quiz, you are allowed 3 attempts. The quizzes are made up of multiple choice questions that are corrected when you have completed it, clearly showing the correct and incorrect answers as you can see above.
At the end of each chapter, after all the lessons are completed is an activity and a chapter exam. Some of these activities are to be submitted and marked by the teacher. As we are homeschoolers and our boys are not in a class, I just graded their work on their computer which avoided them having to use the submit button.
As a parent, I was given access to the teachers area for my kids. In this area, there are all sorts of helpful information such as how to grade your child’s work and how to help your child through their chosen course as well as videos to help you use your account more effectively.
So far this course has provided our boys with lots of practical and useful knowledge about this amazing technology that we use every day. The information provided in this course is invaluable and are taught in a very methodical way which is easy for children to learn and remember. The website is also set up in a way that is easy for the students to access and navigate their own way around.
We have loved our time using this new Digital Savvy course from CompuScholar, Inc. and look forward to learning more from them in the coming months.
Note: For those of you who are concerned about your child having to open and use social media accounts, you don’t need to worry. This course provides information on how to use this sites, but does not actually have your child use them.
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Monday Memory Verse: Luke 7:5