Homeschool Happenings: CompuScholar ~ A Review

My high school daughter has been working through Digital Savvy from CompuScholar, Inc.. This program is available for both Mac and PC. Does your student need to improve their computer skills? Well, this program is perfect for reviewing the basics in order to prepare your student for further more in depth computer information technology courses. This is a school year long course (equivalent to two semesters). Digital Savvy is geared for student in grades 6-12.

This course syllabus will give you a great overview of what your student will learn in the Digital Savvy course. Your student will cover topics such as:

operating systems
managing files and folders
hardware and software
networking
online safety
computer security
Word processors
spreadsheets
presentation programs
databases
editing
social media
e-mail
website design
computer programming
careers in computers

Lesson Text

There are 25 chapter in the Digital Savvy course. Each chapter contains hands-on "Work With Me" activities as well as chapter quizzes, tests, lab assignments and supplemental lessons. The lessons include step-by-step instruction as well as videos.

Each student will set up their own account. There is a separate teacher account where you can track your students progress. The teacher account provides lesson summaries, teaching objectives, suggested order of activities throughout each chapter, and discussion questions. All student accounts are self grading so there is no need to worry about grading!! The projects and activities do require the teacher to grade.

Teacher Menu

Over the years my daughter has learned to use different programs, applications, and computer related stuff on an as needed basis. She has never taken a computer class. Though she knows many basics this program has been great for filling in the gaps. She has learned so much from Digital Savvy. At first she was not thinking that the program was going to be useful but as she worked through the chapters she has found the program quit helpful. My daughter was even more excited when she found out that I would give her high school credit for completing this course.

Chapter Contents

The layout of the program is very user friendly. Students with minimum computer knowledge can easily follow that is being taught. The quizzes throughout the chapter ensure that the student is understanding as well as completing the required work. There is lesson text available to read or reference that is basically a script of the videos. This option is definitely great for students that learn better by reading rather than hearing. I would highly suggest that your student watch the videos even if they choose to read the lesson texts. At the end of each chapter your student will complete the chapter test and chapter project.

As well as being extremely informative the videos and graphics are quite entertaining. I really like that CompuScholar incorporates student projects in order to put into practice what is learned in each chapter.

Video

We are diehard Mac users. Many of my children has absolutely no experience with PC's. I do believe that is it important to learn about both operating systems but it would be nice if CompuScholar gave the user the ability to focus more on the particular operating system that they use. With that said, getting basic understanding of PC's was great. Learning Mac's and PC's are like learning two totally different languages. Both are important to have basic knowledge of and without this course my daughter would not have had this exposure.

Quiz

As a parent I was very grateful that sections on computer security and safety were included. We can tell our children the dangers behind social media and computer safety but sometimes when it comes from a neutral source it is better received and believed.

I will most definitely be having several of my other children work through this course. I would also highly recommend Digital Savvy to homeschoolers and educators.