This unit will build computer skills. We’ll focus on solving problems and communicating effectively using basic tools and, especially, the Internet.

This unit is presented from a public/nonprofit perspective and is designed to teach students how to develop, use and align meaningful measurement data to support planning, budgeting, improvement, etc. The unit also introduces students to the logical model - a general framework for describing and measuring work in organizations. The unit supports the general concepts and recommendations of Baldrige, Managing for Results Government Performance and Results Act, and Government Accounting Standards Board. It is highly recommended (although not required) that students take Performance Measures before Understanding and Displaying Data.

This unit demonstrates a simple, practical approach to using simple tables and charts to analyze data, enhance decision making, and communicate performance, accountability and success. The unit uses a computer classroom and involves a lot of hands-on work actually creating spreadsheets, tables, and charts using the student’s workplace data. It is highly recommended (although not required) that students take Performance Measures before Understanding and Displaying Data.

The advent of the Internet has brought about a radical change in the way knowledge is collected, validated, and disseminated, and it has changed the learning environment for people all over the world. In this intensive weekend workshop, we’ll examine those changes, looking particularly at new ways of defining such terms as “expert,” “community” and ‘knowledge.” We’ll explore the implications of these changes on media, education, development, and science. We’ll also examine new ways of organizing and searching information that depend on user-defined categories and tags.