Grade Level: 9-10

Credit: 1-Full Year

Recommended Prerequisite: Keyboarding

This course is designed to introduce students to the Information Technology Industry.  Students will start with an introduction to basic computer concepts such as what a computer is, how it works, and what makes it a powerful tool.  The student will look at the history and structure of the Internet. The World Wide Web will be discussed, including browsers, navigating, searching, and e-commerce. They will also be introduced to other services available on the Internet, such as e-mail, FTP, newsgroups and message boards, chat rooms, and instant messaging. They will learn rules of netiquette and discuss Web publishing.  The students will see how to start and use application software, and then be presented an overview of a variety of business software, graphics and multimedia software, home/personal/educational software, and communications software.  Students will see and learn about the components of the system unit, described how memory stores data, instructions, and information, and discussed the sequence of operations that occur when a computer executes an instruction. There will also be a comparison of various personal computer processors on the market today.  The class will look at various ways in which computers receive data or instructions through various input devices as well as how the data or information is presented for output devices.  They will look at various communication methods, such as data transfer over phone lines using modems, or across different types of cabling using networks.  Finally they will look at computers and software in the enterprise. 

Students that complete this course are also eligible for college credit.

*Williamson County Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, handicap, or age.