Are you as comfortable using a computer mouse as you are using a pen? Most of us do not reach that level of comfort around computers until many, many years later. Computers have come a long way. Most of us know very little about computers except to surf the web, check our E-mails and send messages. Really, what else do we need to know about computers?

Why is being Tech Savvy Necessary for Online Education Programs?

Being tech savvy does not mean you need to know how use every single piece of software you may encounter. It could means just having some sort of level of comfort around them and knowing just the basics to get by like; how to open a file, how to save a file, how to use a word processing program, and how to send and receive email.

Do I need to have Computer Skills to Succeed in Online Education?

The answer is no. Even though computers are the standard part of an online education you do not need to be tech savvy to succeed in online education. You need to however, have some basic knowledge of computers, but anyone can succeed in online education without computer skills. Some of the necessary skills you should acquire are: Windows, Word, Email, Internet Explorer and PowerPoint.

Windows is the operating system that Microsoft Office runs on. You need to know Windows so that you know how to maneuver your way around the screen. Knowing Windows will help you to select objects in a document, close or open a program, click and drag objects on a screen, and various other basic computer skills.

Knowing how to use word is also something you should be able to do. Most of the documents that you will be creating for your online education program will be in Word such as, to take notes, write papers, open and type a document, copy-and-paste, select an object and close and save a document. Look at Word as a pen, an eraser and the sheet of paper you use to write your document on. These are essential things that you would normally use just about every day to do most of your assignments in a traditional brick-and-mortar educational environment, but for online learning, Word is all you’ll need.

E-mail is another computer skill that you need to know for your online education. You will need to know how to write an email and how to send it. Knowing how to use your E-mail is extremely important, because this is a tool you can use to communicate privately with your instructor and your fellow classmates.

Surfing the World Wide Web is another computer skill that you need to know in order to be somewhat successful at an online learning institution. You will have to do a fair amount of navigation, so you will need to know how to navigate online from one place to the next by using Internet Explorer, Netscape or some other Internet search program.

You may need to know how to use PowerPoint as well. You may have to do an online class presentation which will require the use of PowerPoint. You never know when you might need to use it in an online class, so be prepared.

Although you do not need to be tech savvy for an online education program, you should at least become familiar with these basic computer skills listed above.