Uses of Computers I

Objectives of the course (preferably expressed in terms of learning outcomes and competences): Familiarization with Computers in a MS Windows environment and basic applications such as MS Office

Course contents: Introduction to Computers. Familiarization with PCs and peripherals. Introduction to Operating Systems, emphasizing MS Windows and its Graphical User Interface. Presentation of the Internet and its applications. Use and management of electronic correspondence. Specifically: Structure of computers, Peripherals, Network equipment, Operating systems, Network communication, Graphical User Interfaces, Security and Authentication, File management, File distribution, Search engines and use of the Internet, Search of academic sources over the Internet, Web, Mail. Windows applications. Introduction to MS Office and OpenOffice. In-depth view of MS Word as a word processor, MS Excel as a spreadsheet application and MS PowerPoint for presentation management. Specifically: Basic operations in MS Word, Text input, Formatting, Tables, Importing pictures and graphics. Basic operations in MS Excel, Functions, Autocomplete, Cell Formatting, Basic operations in MS PowerPoint, Presentation advice and best practices, Effect additions and multimedia.