Tell an ICDL-story and win a trip to Barcelona!

Still on a mental vacation but here’s an interesting competition!

Haven’t completed the ICDL yet? Apply for our courses, write a story and send it to http://ecitizen.icdlonline.net/ . Quite thin on materials but an interesting competition on a interesting subject :-)

Next week I’ll start with the blogging again!

On summer vacation!

Both our school and I have summer vacation but you are still able to apply for next terms courses here.

Our learning vision

Stockholm College is mobilizing individuals learning to the benefits for themselves, their families, local communities and society in general. We are doing this by offer a virtual community with Open Educational Resources (OER).

Our idea is that Information and communication technology (ICT) in education empower people to create and participate in knowledge publishing and virtual communities. Virtual communities as blogs, wikis, podcasting and Open Educational Resources build collaboration with different kind of stakeholders and civil societies. We work with these tools in our courses in order to reinforce your learning.

We are also interested in finding several local entrepreneurs, organisations and institutions to work with in several countries. We want to develop our knowledge in e-learning about whom, how and what different countries, organisations and individuals interests are.

From our official homepage.

This is just a course blog for our ICDL and ICDL advanced courses.

Quality survey 1 Spring 2007

Our philosophy is that everything can be improved. All it takes is to see the possibilites. On regular basis do we different mesurments to get indication on our weak and strong sides.

Below you´ll find our quality accurances. We do them twice on every semester for the students (external survey), and once every semester for the staff (internal survey). It´s in pdf format.

Quality survey 1 Spring 2007

Read more about our school and our different ICDL courses at http://www.stockholmcollege.se/

U.S. Government Bans Vista, Office 2007

Microsoft (MSFT) has run into trouble with a major customer over Vista: The U.S. Department of Transportation has banned Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 2007, InformationWeek reports. The newly revealed policy forbidding installation of Microsoft's latest software has been in place since mid-January.

From Business 2.0

We at Stockholm College also think Office 2007 isn’t as good as Office 2003. Therefore we still have our ICDL courses mainly in Office 2003. But of course you are able to use any office product you prefer.

Read more about our ICDL courses.

About ECDL / ICDL Certification

The European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), or The International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) for countries outside of Europe, is an internationally recognised qualification, which enables people to demonstrate their competence in computer skills.

MKFC Stockholm College offers you the possibility to attend the ECDL/ICDL
courses at home. We offer you a study environment on Internet through our eLearning
platform Edulink. We provide you with course material, test banks and assignments
with feedback from your classmates and a tutor. After studying and practice you perform
the certification test at a national test centre.

ECDL / ICDL raises the level of IT and computer skills and allows you to be
more productive at home and at work.. ECDL / ICDL also improve job prospects by providing an internationally recognized qualification. You can read more about ICDL at the ECDL Foundation.

The full ECDL/ICDL consists of seven modules and ECDL and ICDL start consists of four optional modules.

* Module 1: Information Technology

* Module 2: Using the Computer

* Module 3: Word Processing

* Module 4: Spreadsheets

* Module 5: Databases

* Module 6: Presentations

* Module 7: Information and Communications

Read more at our school www.stockholmcollege.se

Office Zealots, a place for office enthusiast

"Have you experienced the warm glow of satisfaction that is possible when you combine your technical know-how with the functionality of Office to solve problems or eliminate a manual process? At Office Zealot, we have been avid fans of Microsoft Office for many years now. We have been promoting Office as an important platform for developers and working with users to squeeze more productivity out of Office. For that reason, we are happy to be your hosts here at OfficeZealot.com. OfficeZealot.com is your source for relevant, focused and practical developer information pertaining to everything Microsoft Office".

Any reasons why you wouldn’t go there?

Stockholm College

Stockholm College is a school that offers you the possibility to attend courses from anywhere you want, you only needs a computer with internet access. We offer you a study environment on internet through our learning platform Edulink which provides course material, tests and assignments with feedback and discussion from classmates and teachers. All our courses are in English.

Our Key Challenges and our courses consist of five areas where ICDL is one.

ICDL approvment - How does it work?

Depending on your prior computer skills, the ICDL course requires different amount of training. For an average user it probably takes about 30 hours.

Read more on icdl.org

Laptops and ICDL to developing countries

Our school’s mission is that as many as possible should develop their computer skills. Therefore we are running the ICDL course. We are also very glad that both Intel and One Laptop per Child are making efforts on IT skills in developing countries. They are doing so by providing small cheap functional laptops to these countries.

“A classmate PC is a small, mobile learning-assistant educational solution that Intel specially developed for students in emerging markets” “Intel”.

“Our goal: To provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves” One Laptop per Child.

Google Docs & Spreadsheet

There are more and more web services for office software. My personal favourite is Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

You are able to create, edit, share, store and publish documents without using your computers software. This is quite simple but I recommend you to have at least basic skills in some Word and Excel software.

>> Read more

Overcoming Test Anxiety

After hours and hours of preparation you’re finally ready for your ICDL examination. But test anxiety might ruin your day. Here are some nice tips.

“Almost everyone has experienced some form of test anxiety. But some find that anxiety interferes with their learning and test taking to such an extent that their outcome can be seriously affected. ICDL-US wants your ICDL test taking experience prove to be successful”.

>> Read more

Effective and interesting presentations

When it comes to giving a presentation, keep in mind the age old saying “be prepared”! Planning ahead is vital to the overall success of your presentation.

You need to consider presenting the right information, in the right layout, to the right audience in the right amount of time. Concentrate on the purpose of your presentation. Think about the audience, who they are, what they already know and what they want to know. Find out about the venue for your presentation or how people will view your presentation if you are emailing it to them. Think about ways of communicating your message, while keeping the flow steady and interesting. Spending the right amount of time in the planning phase for your presentation will help to ensure that your message is well-received.

Want to learn more?

Read the advanced ICDL module “presentation” with me as your teacher, working language is of course English. Read more at www.icdl.se.

You don’t need to buy Microsoft Office to study the ICDL

Microsoft Office 2003 has a demo for 60 days if you don’t have the programs. That means that you can

• download the demo
• study our ICDL certified material,
• make our practice exercises and train in our question bank

Make the test at a test centre and be certified in ICDL.

>> Download the demo

Of course there are alternatives for Microsoft’s products, see ICDL for open source.

Women and individuals with special needs among the most ‎enrolled in digital literacy programs in the Gulf area during 2006

“ICDL GCC Foundation, the governing body and certification authority of the ‎International Computer Driving License (ICDL) program in the Gulf region, has ‎announced its 2006 results on the implementation of computer skills and digital literacy ‎in the region. The results pointed out that the general level of digital literacy in the region ‎has witnessed a sharp increase.

This has been achieved due to the commitments of the ‎governments in the region to promote civic skills needed in modern society. The results ‎also highlighted that the categories of Women and individuals with special needs have ‎seen a climb in the enrolment in the ICDL’s digital literacy program.”

Read more >>

Accredited centres in your country

Before you decide to study and get certified in the ICDL you need to assure that there’s a accredited centre in your country/region. On www.icdl.org you are able to see if’s there a testcentre in your country. Each continent (except America) also has an ECDL/ICDL homepage.

Africa
Asia-Pacific
Europe
The arab region

If you live in America you find more information at http://www.icdl.org/countries/index.jsp?&pID=103&nID=169

Study the ICDL distance course with both classmates and a teacher

Stockholm folk high school has a long tradition of distance studies and successful courses in the computer driving licence (ECDL/ICDL).

If you’re interested in study the ECDL/ ICDL at home but at the same time with classmates from all over the world and have certified course material this is probably the course for you. Read more and register at http://www.icdl.se/.

Edulink – an e-learning environment for many needs

Edulink – an e-learning environment for the ICDL course

Edulink offers easy-to-use tools for learning and development. Edulink is our educational plattform for our ECDL/ICDL/ICDL advanced students. It has been developed since 1998. Educationfinder uses Edulink for the ICDL. Read moore about Edulink >>