Bush PC Training

Computer solutions for Australia's rural and remote communities.
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Bush PC offers a variety of computer training classes from introductory to advanced levels, available in your town or village. The classes are three hours in length and focus on hands-on activities that enable students to achieve the goals of the class in a single training session.

All classes are available to groups or individuals. However, in order for all students to gain maximum benefit from the class, we prefer a maximum of 6 students for group classes. We provide comprehensive notes for students and 2 instructors are present for every class.

For group training, we need to locate a place where the classes can be held, and computers for students to use. This could be a school room, an Internet centre, a Telecentre or even someone's house. You know your community better than we do. You need to decide what sort of classes you need and organise the students.

Our standard classes are:

Microsoft Office Introductory Classes: Word Excel PowerPoint Publisher
Microsoft Office Advanced Classes: Word Long Documents Excel Access FrontPage
Internet Classes: The Internet Outlook Express Web Publishing
General Topics: Introduction to the PC Computer Maintenance
Custom Classes: Burning CDs Working with Images

We can also customise classes for your specific applications or needs.

Class Outlines

Microsoft Office Introductory Classes

Although these classes are designed for the novice, students need to have used a computer and have basic mouse skills.

Word

The basics of word processing are covered in this class, including creating new documents, saving documents, opening existing documents, entering and formatting text, moving around in a document, cut, copy and paste, using spell check, inserting Clip Art, print preview and printing.

Excel

Spreadsheets can do more than just add up numbers. This class introduces the basic terminology of spreadsheets and covers topics such as how to enter, edit and format data, perform calculations, insert rows & columns, move and copy data, use AutoFill, produce a basic graph, view large worksheets, add comments, and some of the basic concepts of printing spreadsheets.

PowerPoint

The aim of this class is to provide students with enough skills to enable them to create an animated slide show with a music accompaniment. It includes entering and formatting text, inserting and formatting images, formatting frames and backgrounds, setting slide transition, animating slide components, and adding sounds and music to the presentation.

Publisher

In this class we use Publisher to create a flyer. It includes inserting, editing and formatting text, inserting and formatting images, inserting WordArt, moving, resizing and deleting objects, adding frames and borders, and working with multiple frames.

Microsoft Office Advanced Classes

These classes review and build on existing knowledge, allowing students to access the more powerful features in the Office suite.

Advanced Word

Building on the basics of word processing, this class moves on to topics such as creating and formatting bulleted/numbered points, formatting columns, inserting and formatting tables and pictures, inserting headers and footers, using the spell checker and thesaurus, and creating templates.

Long Documents in Word

In this class we use some of the more complex features of Word to create long documents including using styles, creating automatic numbering for chapters and sections, working with headers and footers, using sections, including captions, automating the table of contents, adding footnotes and endnotes, and cross-referencing.

Advanced Excel

This class builds on the basics of Excel and covers formatting cells, sorting data, using multiple sheets, inserting headers and footers, repeating row/column headings/graphics on each page, hiding rows/columns, formatting page breaks for printing, using formula and functions, and recording macros.

Access

This is an intensive class and students must be familiar with other Microsoft Office applications. In this class we introduce the concepts and terminology of databases and go through the process of creating a simple database using Microsoft Access. Topics covered include creating and editing tables, identifying primary and foreign keys, setting relationships, entering and editing records, creating forms, performing search queries, and producing and editing reports.

FrontPage

This class covers the basics of using FrontPage to build a web site including creating and saving pages, entering and editing text, using styles, inserting tables, using the Views bar, setting navigation and adding navigation buttons, using themes, and inserting images and hyperlinks.
The Web Publishing class provides a useful follow-up for those needing to make their web site available online.

Internet Classes

The Internet

The fundamentals of the Internet are introduced in this class including viruses, Internet addressing, basic navigation through web sites using Internet Explorer, using favourites, and setting your home page. We then move onto issues such as subject indexes and search engines, using multiple windows for browsing, temporary Internet files and cookies, the types of programs available on the Internet, downloading programs, and what newsgroups and chat rooms are.

Outlook Express

The basic operations of Outlook Express are covered in this class including sending, receiving and forwarding email, creating folders to save and organise your email, using the address book, viewing and saving attachments, using drafts, and recognising and avoiding viruses.

Web Publishing

This class extends the FrontPage class by discussing the issues involved in publishing and maintaining a web site including domain names, web site hosting, URLs, dealing with junk mail, how search engines work and how they recognise your site, and copyright issues.
Our website service combines both the FrontPage and Web Publishing classes with other direct assistance to ensure you are able to quickly complete the process of creating a website and maintain it into the future.

General Classes

Introduction to the PC

Designed for the novice computer user, this class includes topics such as how computers store information, basic skills for working with Windows, using Windows Explorer to manage and organise files, and using context menus and the control panel.

Computer Maintenance

This class is aimed at students who have basic skills with their computer but want to understand more about how it works including what viruses are and how to protect against them, using context menus, what memory is and how it works, organising, moving and copying files using Windows Explorer, understanding scandisk and defrag, using the control panel, installing and uninstalling programs.

Custom Classes

The content of the following classes depends on what software and hardware you have access to. Consequently, we may require prior access to your systems to tailor the classes to your particular system.

Burning CDs

In this class we cover all the issues involved in burning CDs including how CDs actually store information, the differences between music and data CDs, autorun and bootable CDs, colours and speeds of CDs, compatibility issues, buffers, CD-R vs. CD-RW, multiple session CDs and using CDs for backups.

Working with Images

This class focuses on understanding how computers deal with images and includes the properties of images, image colours, file sizes and file formats, resolution, how to scan images, image processing applications, and issues involving printing images. We can also include use and operation of a digital camera (where applicable).