| It's easy to be IT-phobic when everyone 5 years | | | | Microsoft office products that include Word, Excel |
| old and upwards, appears to be adept at the | | | | and PowerPoint. It sounds impossible, but the |
| internet, e-mailing, social networking, even | | | | course takes students right back to basics, from |
| shopping at their favourite supermarket without | | | | a simple introduction to computers and computing, |
| leaving the comfort of their own homes. Yet it's | | | | right through the hands-on skills used in offices |
| so easy to have been among one of the many | | | | and homes today. |
| tens of thousands who were left behind when the | | | | This is typical of the many practical and vocational |
| IT revolution overtook the world during the past | | | | IT qualifications that are available for home study, |
| 25 years. | | | | many of which are backed by the big players in |
| Stay at home mums who had babies and families | | | | today's IT industry. Those looking to get into a |
| in the 1980s and 1990s find themselves left high | | | | more technical IT environment will find courses |
| and dry when it comes to IT. Designers who | | | | for PC engineers, web designers and |
| were used to the old 'cut and paste' system | | | | programmers, while bookkeepers can get right up |
| suddenly found their scalpels and spray glue had | | | | to date with the International Association of |
| replaced by computers. Secretaries who were | | | | Bookkeepers computerised accounting exams, by |
| adept at word processors, can now be foxed by | | | | training on a home study course tailored to |
| word processing, book-keepers who enjoyed their | | | | achieve those qualifications. |
| long-hand, double entry ledgers are faced with | | | | Home study computer courses require little more |
| strange and impersonal looking on-screen | | | | than a PC, the ability to read and understand the |
| spreadsheets. | | | | requirements of the coursework and a huge |
| A lack of IT skills can be just as embarrassing as | | | | amount of commitment. No-one is there to nag |
| admitting to a hygiene or health problem! Yet it's | | | | you to hand in your homework! You can study in |
| even easier to do something about it, without | | | | your own pace and at your own time, without |
| even leaving the comfort of your own home. | | | | constantly having someone look over your |
| Not surprisingly one of the world's most | | | | shoulder to see how you're getting on. |
| successful companies, Microsoft, is behind one of | | | | Most home computer courses work on a series |
| the most successful ways of getting people back | | | | of marked assignments, conveyed between the |
| into work place technology, with its `Microsoft | | | | distance learning organisation and the student via |
| Office Professional (MOS)' qualification. A | | | | a combination of the postal system, e-mail and |
| qualification that can actually be studied in the | | | | the internet. Tutors have students studying in |
| privacy of a student's own home, without others | | | | numerous locations, most of whom will never |
| checking how long it takes to achieve each stage | | | | ever meet each other, though e-learning and Live |
| of the course and with absolutely no pressure to | | | | Internet Training all provide greater interaction |
| keep up with classmates. | | | | between students and home study colleges these |
| Taking a home study IT computer course will | | | | days than in times past. |
| train and equip even the most IT-phobic with all | | | | So there are ways to shake off IT phobia |
| of the office computer skills necessary to | | | | without ever leaving home and home study is one |
| streamline returning to the automated office or | | | | way in which even the most technologically inept |
| understanding the automated family. It gives | | | | students can catch up with their children or |
| trainees competency in using the suite of | | | | grandchildren. |