Job Discussion Forums

[biffinbridge]

As most of the more experienced teachers on this forum will probably agree, teachingis equally about what you do outside the classroom. Lesson plans, report writing, timetabling etc etc are part of what most of us consider to be the 'hassle' of the job , but in a modern world employers are increasingly shying away from hand written stuff to online forms and the like cos 'it's more professional'. In my experience, many EFL practitioners don't know how to do even simple things once they're sitting in front of a screen.'Jim, knock us up a register' gets a pale response and a look of despair. 'Sally, have a look on the database and tell me how many Young Learners are beginners' provokes a response of tears and hot flushes cos Sally is too old to have had any formal training in Access.

So, do you think the schools you have worked at have given you adequate training in PC skills relevant to their needs?

And while you're considering that,can anyone tell me why our beautiful companywide database has some sort of glitch and occasionally, but not consistently throws the status ID numbers out of synch for no apparent reason but still adds up the total correctly? None of us can figure it out and it's got to be us as Microsoft Office 2007 can't be wrong.

[Glenski]

At my conversation school, we had an ancient Macintosh (the box model) with constant errors and no Internet access. Training? Zip.

At my private HS, there was no training on any computers at all. We got a lesson in haphazard Japanese/English on how to use the LL room, but since none of the foreign teachers ever were required to use it, and the instruction guide in badly translated English was useless, it didn't matter. To use the computer rooms, no training, so we had to constantly pull in the IT staff or a spare teacher to explain the simplest login procedures (and on up).

At my university, no training. One was expected to know how to open email (Outlook), use Word and Excel. The CALL room had a training session all in Japanese (which I missed because of the school's bad scheduling), and no follow-up has taken place in 2 years.

IMO, most teachers should know how to use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (or their Macintosh equivalents) to create and present lessons and to keep track of grades and such. My co-worker has a PhD and is completely flummoxed over the simplest detail on his brand new Mac. He constantly has his students helping him read and send his email, for one thing, and he has severe problems with losing track of his regular work processing files.

[soapdodger]

I have never been given formal computer training by a school, ever. To be honest I think alot of private schools are consciously or otherwise afraid that technology is going to kill their little cash cow one way or another and don't want teachers or students to have much to do with it, and in addition it all costs money - that funny stuff you only see round the owner, not the school!

[Serious_Fun]

[biffinbridge]

...yeah sorry forgot...Access.

It's fine creating the new tables, but the datasheet has got quite big now and we've noticed that the ID status has become non sequential here and there and its the programme that allocates the number. Several people are using the DB, so the someone has done something wrong...all we want to do is correct it and stop it happening again. If you try and type in a correction the programme gets upset. What's weird is that the final totals are all correct.

BTW, my PC skills are average and self taught. I posed the question because I've seen a lot of teachers really struggle as I have done at times, when confronted with new challenges. Yeah, people can do simple things like fill in tables and send an e-mail but ask a lot of people to do a really snazzy register, timetable etc and it just looks a mess.
I'm good with Word, Access, Publisher and Outlook, I've used Excel and a few other special BDs in jobs outside ELT, but I feel it's one area I could definitely improve and a lot of people I've talked to have agreed.
Inside the classroom I'm quite proficient with CALL and have used a number of programmes....must admit that I think CALL is a bit of a gimmick though and a much better tool for self access.

I guess a lot of people focus on their classroom skills because that is where they are judged by students and during observations.

[Stephen Jones]

I presume you are using Autonumber for the ID field. When a row is deleted the number goes with it. That is why you can have 97 rows but the last row is number 103.

The fact that you mention the datasheet being too large is worrisome. You shouldn't be seeing a datasheet. One of the norms of data entry is that data entry is never done directly to the table but through a form which links to a query (what is called a view in SQL server). And using an .mdb file for a company-wide database is asking for trouble.

Must leave now. I've got a Flash workshop starting in five hours.

[ls650]

Hmm. I have a bachelors in computer science and am about as "computer literate" as one can be, and I have absolutely no idea what 'Jim, knock us up a register' is asking for. Are you trying to get a cash register pregnant?

In my experience, computer ability amongst TEFLers varies widely; some of my co-workers have been very computer-saavy, while others consider computers to be pure black magic.

[biffinbridge]

Stephen you are right...we do fill in an individual form, but sometimes it's easier if you're looking at the datasheet as it's right in front of you and the easy thing to do is edit it there and then.

Someone told me not to worry about the numbers being out of sequence because it doesn't change the price of fish.