In simple terms, IT LITERACY is a term that describes a person's knowledge in the use of Information Technology tools. The advent and advancement of technology particularly in this 21st century requires people to be able to keep up with the emerging trends. In fact, a harm that might happen to a person at this age is the inability to effectively use technological tools for solving everyday needs. These tools have both positive and negative impacts but one must be able to make use of the positives to make life better.
What are some of the basic IT Literacy skills to possess?
You can talk about word processing, presentation design, basic operations in excel, photography, the ability to hold an online meeting, and social media marketing and interactions.
All these areas will be briefly covered for a detailed understanding of the required literacy skills in IT nowadays. IT tools or software for consideration are Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Excel, mobile devices, Zoom, and some social media platforms.
First of all, the skills will be thoroughly dealt with one after the other and so we begin with the number one on the list.
This particular skill has become a very important one unlike in the past where there were secretaries or typists doing the typing jobs for people and businesses alike. Now, the manuscripts and documents have to be self typed and formatted or editted nicely for their intended purpose. Typing is in levels and it is expedient to learn typing the right way for speed and accuracy. To learn typing, use Mavis Beacon, Typing.com etc.
The Interface and basic operations
The interface when Word is launched showing the preset templates.
When launched, a lot of preset templates are there like Blank document, Blog post, Adjacency letter etc. Select may be the blank document to create a new document.
The interface has different tabs. They include:
File - Let's save files, open documents, and export options.
Home - Provides options like font size, font style, font type, creating lists, styles of paragraphs, text color, and more. Use the mouse to hover over the individual buttons in a group to see the name and function.
Insert - Helps to insert drawings, shapes, and images into a document.
Page layout - This is for selecting document size, margins, and more.
References - A feature that allows referencing research documents appropriately.
Mailings - Gives a means to address a document in a standard fashion for whoever has to receive it.
Microsoft Word is not difficult to use once you get to practice and see what every tool or button in there does. In word processing, you can type reports, letters, CVs, resumes, assignments, and a whole lot more professionally and save as either word file or PDF(Portable Document Format). The file formats include: Word Document (doc), PDF, Web page, Plain Text depending on the need.
All these being said, this software is also used for basic illustrations and even flyer designs because it has shapes and other features that are creatively used to create some of these stuff.
Using basic shapes available in Microsoft Word, this illustration was created showing a young boy gathering rubbish.
The versions of Microsoft Powerpoint also determine some advanced features which include recording yourself present in front of the pc. In addition to the skills to get in designing professional slides for a presentation, a good public speaking skill is another crucial skill to consider because how information in communicated is as important as the message or the information. Learn more on how to do an effective presentation. - Basic operations in Excel or computations
Microsoft Suite has a bunch of these programs as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Excel, One Note, Skype, and Outlook.
Launch the application and the first to appear is a list of templates like - Blank Workbook, Billing Statement, Sales Report, Time Card etc.
The view when Excel is launched shows an endless list of presets or templates for a quick turnaround on projects. The search bar at the top is useful to get more personalized templates.
Some of the templates can even be searched using the search bar at the top. The templates are very useful when a document is to be created but you don't have enough idea about the form it needs to take. Let's open the blank workbook and go through some basic operations.
The tabs in excel have been shown in the above image with a red bounding box
Now, you will see the file tabs at the top and the worksheet. It is divided into cells or better still rows and columns. The rows are numbered numerically and the columns alphabetically.
An active cell: This is the current cell in which an operation is being carried out. This is the name: Cell A1 - You can see the name in the Name Box(Right above column A in the image above)
Formula Bar - A very long horizontal bar that shows the formula been used for a current operation.
Simple Addition in excel
Number to add 20, 50,100
- Type 20 in A1
- 50 in A2
- 100 in A3
In A3 type '=SUM(A1:A3)' result =170
How to do a simple addition in Excel
It can also be done alternatively using the Autosum which is in the Home tab.
There are endless list of operations or things to do with this software like doing sales report, sorting files or data in ascending and descending order, finding averages, minimum and maximum value calculations etc.
Don't be surprised to see this as a skill in IT literacy because many people have become visually literate and are able to read meaning into images. This is a clear reason to pay attention to an image you put out there so that it is intentional to achieve a purpose.
Smartphones have made it much easier to take pictures but know that it is not all the pictures are good ones.
Keys to note
- Enough lighting
- File size
- Resolution and sharpness
Photography is dependent on good lighting for great results so look out for an environment well-lit enough to take a picture. Get some tips on photography. Insufficient light will produce a poor image because the building block of the camera to effectively create a good image is light. If an image is to be posted on social media and websites or generally online for users, the file size has to be small preferably in kilobytes (KB). This makes it load faster when viewing them online. It is the reason why some websites do not retain viewers because they have to wait too long to get what they are there for. Resolution and sharpness are other key aspects worth considering. Some people take pictures and they are very poor in sharpness. For a smartphone, it might be difficult to get really accurate sharpness except with advanced ones but try this to rectify that. It was so obvious that during the pandemic, many meetings and conferences including classes were held online and even now many meetings are being organized on Zoom among other platforms. To do this, you need to install Zoom which is free and you only need to search it and install it. After installation, sign up with your email, and create a password. Keep password secure for login next time the application is to be used. With Zoom, a person can join a meeting as a participant using the link shared by the host of the meeting and you can even do a presentation of yourself, record and share.
In a meeting, there is a feature that allows for recording, reacting to meetings, sharing screens, and a lot of other possibilities.
How to record yourself doing a presentation on Zoom
Open zoom. Go to New Meeting.
A pop-up menu (join audio) helps you test the speaker and microphone or join with computer audio.
To share a screen, click the 'share screen button' and proceed to share your screen. Click 'More' and select 'Record on computer' for the presentation to be recorded.
Proceed to present and once you are done, end the meeting by clicking the 'End' button at the bottom right corner.
The presentation will be recorded immediately on your computer.
One great tool has been excessively misused by many social media but others too are making the most out of this. With social media platforms, professionals are awarded jobs or contracts helping to grow remote working. Unfortunately, this journey requires wisdom, knowledge, and patience to be successful but don't worry we are here for you.
Do you know people who sell and buy on Facebook and WhatsApp? How is it done?
Well, the how is vast and can't be all broken down here. With WhatsApp, and its prominent feature like the status you are able to put your product images out there which can drive some useful returns. One factor that can boost sales is brand identity and exceptionality among the lot. Businesses with different branches all over have social media accounts for which people are hired to manage as a way of making the work easier and improving productivity.
What are the skills needed?
Proficiency in grammar
Copywriting
photography skills
Time management
Social media users are very particular about receiving feedbacks on time hence a marketer on social media must have a way of getting back to costumers or clients on time with good feedback.
IT literacy is a basic skill every hiring manager or recruiter has as a basic necessity for any role. It only makes firmer what advancement in technology requires. This is a reason why young children in elementary schools are being equipped with literacy skills in computing so that as they mature they become highly competitive in skillsets.
Can a person be a literate in IT without any tool or device in IT?
This question is a difficult but easy one to answer because there are a lot about these tools that can't be taught or learnt at just a sitting. A constant use and manipulation of the tools exposes a person to the possibilities available to harness for solving problems. A smartphone or a laptop, desktop are great devices to learn IT literacy for anywhere at anytime.
Comments
Post a Comment
Share your views on this insightful content