My ten year old has been asking to take computer classes for sometime now. He’s already pretty computer savvy for his age, but he has been itching to learn even more. While he originally wanted to jump feet first into coding, I felt that he needed to start at the beginning like his father and I did. That’s why when given the opportunity to review the new Digital Savvy course from CompuScholar, Inc., I couldn’t pass it up.
What is Digital Savvy from CompuScholar, Inc.
The Digital Savvy course is has 25 chapters, and is recommended for grades 6 through 12. There is enough material included in this program for it to last approximately 36 weeks of school. The Digital Savvy course is designed to teach students about computers and the applications that run them. Throughout the course, your child/student will learn how to use Office-style applications, explore social media, create a simple web page, and even build computer programs with digital logic.
The Digital Savvy course covers the following topics:
• Hardware, software, and operating systems
• Basic Networking
• Online safety and computer security
• Simpler computer programming concepts
• Exploration of computing career
• And so much more….
Each chapter contains between three to six lessons, and at the end of each lesson you’re child/student will have a quiz and a hands-on activity. Depending on your child’s preference, the lessons can be done by either reading the material, or watching a short video.
On average, we spend around 20-30 minutes depending on the lesson. Also, with the quiz at the end, your student does have the option to take it up to three times if they want a better score.
What do I need in order to complete the class
In order to complete the Digital Savvy course, you simply need a computer, laptop, or tablet that has internet connection. There will be hands-on projects to complete at the end of each lessons. in order to complete those projects, the student will be to have the following operating systems:
• Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10
• Mac OS version 10.7 or higher
How do we use this course
First off, I have to say that this course has been amazing. I have been going through this course with my ten-year old, and I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t realize how rusty my computer skills were getting until we started this course. I haven’t done networking, etc in many years, so I have even been relearning as we go.
We typically cover a chapter a week, unless for some reason he isn’t getting a particular topic. If that happens, then we take extra time to cover that topic. The week usually ends with the hands-on activity, which he always looks forward to!
As I mentioned earlier, you get two learning options with this course (video and reading). We usually watch the video together, and then he goes back through and reads the material. This has been very helpful when it comes to learning the material. Most days, we finish with taking the short quiz at the end, unless it’s something that he wants to study more. In that case, we just move the quiz to the next day.
With my husband being a network engineer, our son has had the opportunity to see several things first hand which has been wonderful. Is is necessary for them to have that? Not at all, but it’s helped him to understand it better since he’s a very hands-on learner. Just our luck, my husband even had some old floppy disks stashed away.
All in all, I find this to be a very solid course, and one that’s perfect as an introductory course when it comes to learning the fundamentals. If your student has already completed a course similar to this, no worries. CompuScholar offers a variety of courses, such as Web Design, Java Programming, Game Programming and more.
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