Software Training Extra Credit - Klosterman

            This evening I went to a software training through the DoIt tech center about Excel on Microsoft Office.  The course taught me many different secrets to make Excel run more smoothly and easily for me but also taught me how to use some of the more advanced systems like solver.  The instructor went through everything at a pace that was sufficient to help some of the older folks who were completely computer illiterate understand and follow along with what he was trying to teach.  If I would ever have to use excel in any way I would feel much more comfortable and confident in my abilities now that I have taken the course. 

            One thing I noticed while I was there was the lack of people that were in attendance.  There were only about 7 of us total that were there to take the course.  Originally I thought there would be a huge demand for them to actually put on a course.  As more and more jobs require you to be able to navigate on the computer in a timely manner, I would imagine there would then be a larger number of people who would want to take the course.  Possibly though, that was the case several years ago.  Now, however, there has been a large enough generation that has grown up with technology right at their fingertips that they do not need a separate course to help them learn how to use it.  They have been using it all their life and do not know anything different and thus have a solid knowledge base of a computer, at least of things businesses would typically ask you to know how to use.  Therefore, I believe these classes provided by the university are slowly becoming irrelevant.  The university students, whom are the only people who the classes are offered to, have grown up with this technology all their life and are knowledgeable of the information already, leaving them with no need to go and take these classes.  I believe the university will soon cease to offer these classes as the money they are putting into training the employees and actually having them give the workshops is not worth it anymore.  Sure, this was a great idea several years ago when a lot of the material was new and not a lot of students fully understood how to use it.  In this day and age though, most college students are already tech savvy enough where they know how to use the materials offered through the workshops, or if they don’t, are savvy enough to figure it out on their own.  Therefore, I see these courses as something that will soon cease to be offered by the university on a regular basis but possibly only on demand, if even at all.