Lesson 1: Municipal Officers Internet Training


Center for Rural Studies		UVM Extension Service
207 Morrill Hall		RR 4, Box 2298
University of Vermont		Comstock Road (Berlin)
Burlington, VT 05405-0106		Montpelier, VT 05602-8927

	2001 Lesson 1

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WELCOME TO THE FIRST TOWN OFFICER TRAINING FOR THE

INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

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WHAT IS This Training?

This electronic workshop is designed to teach new "Net travelers", especially Vermont Town Officials how to travel around the rapidly expanding (and often times confusing) "Information Superhighway" without getting lost and provide you with a comprehensive overview of electronic communications. Where ever possible, we will point to resources and concepts specific to the needs of town government. The syllabus for this course and the certification information is found at the end of this message within the section entitled Certification Program.

WHAT SORT OF INTERNET ACCESS DO I NEED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TRAINING?

All you need is e-mail (although it would be nice if you also had full dial-up WWW access). Since a number of participants only have e-mail access, the workshop sessions will teach you how to use the tools of the Internet directly and also how to use these same tools using nothing but e-mail.

HOW LONG WILL THE TRAININGS LAST?

The training for the Information Superhighway workshop will last about fourteen weeks. However, the workshop is entirely self-paced so you can go through the workshop in as little or as much time as you want! Each week a new lesson will be e-mailed to you. Do not send homework to the Listprocessor (listserv@list.uvm.edu). You will receive an error message. Instead, mail any questions or homework to us at crs@uvm.edu . Thanks.

WHEN DO THE TRAININGS BEGIN?

Monday, April 23, 2001.

Starting this week, I will e-mail you one lesson each week for fourteen weeks. The lessons will also be found at: http://crs.uvm.edu/tocp/training2000/, so that you can use the web to view these documents at any time.

The training syllabus for the complete class is at the end of this message.

But "EEEK!," you may exclaim. "I'M GOING ON A VACATION, HAVE TAXES, ELECTIONS, APPRAISALS DURING THAT TIME! WHAT SHOULD I DO"?

Enjoy your vacation.....live with the rest. The lessons will be sitting in your mailbox when you return, and you can then go through the workshop at your own pace.

A NOTE FROM PATRICK CRISPEN: the originator of this course, before they were edited for Vermont Town Officials

"WELCOME! Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that over 62,000 people from 77 countries would sign up for the first three Roadmap workshops. I guess there may be some truth in the "Roadmap is the Woodstock of the Internet" comment that someone recently sent me :)

My goal for the 'original' workshop was to not only teach you some of the basic skills that you will need to travel on the Information superhighway, but also to teach you who you can turn to for help if you ever get lost. So, I guess its time for your first dreaded HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT ("oh nooooooo!!!")! "

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At the end of these lessons you will be able to assist other users and to direct them to resources to address their needs.

Your First homework assignment:

FIRST:

Get a three ring notebook and keep it next to your computer. Keep ALL notes that you take from tech support and instructions you receive over the phone. These should be kept in reverse order...the newest ones in the front....

SECOND:

I want you to find the name and telephone number of your local Internet provider. Your local Internet provider is the school, company, or organization that is giving you access to the Internet (ISP tech support)

I also want to you find the telephone number and e-mail address of some person (or group of people) at your local Internet provider that will be there to answer your questions. If you are lucky, your local Internet provider will even have a "Help Desk" staffed with people paid to answer your questions.

That's your first assignment. Find the name and telephone number of your local Internet provider, and find the name, telephone number, and e-mail address of either your local Internet provider's help desk or someone who works for your local Internet provider, local geek or student who can help you if ever have any questions.

Now, what do I want you to do with this information? Well, you need to e-mail your answers to crs@uvm.edu. On the subject line of the message, write "Lesson 1" You will need to put your first and last name, town office held and what town you are from at the top of each e-mail message.

Town Officer Connectivity Project - Internet Networking Skill Objectives:

The following questions and statements will be used to evaluate participants' understanding of Internet services and network usage. The training modules listed in the following section of this document, 'Training Components' will be used to convey the knowledge and skill needed to respond to these statements. At the end of the training program, you should be able to respond to the following statements.

I. Hardware

Identify common communication hardware components and explain the use and/or function of each component

A. What is a modem and what does it do?

B. Identify the com port(s) / serial port(s) on a computer

C. Awareness of expanded connectivity opportunities: ISDN, digital conferencing, microwave, cable, etc.

D. Sketch a standard configuration between wall phone jack, modem, and telephone

II. Software

Explain the use and/or function of each component

A. Identify a web browser and describe its function(s).

B. Describe a potentially effective search for WWW pages that relate to 'dog ordinances' or other relevant search.

What are three words (terms) that are used in web searches and explain the their uses in advanced searches

C.Identify several WWW services that can be used to locate individuals

D. Identify an e-mail application and describe its basic functions.

E.Describe the functionality of list servers (discussion lists).

F. Describe several processes of transferring files from your computer to a remote one.

G. Identify the location of the modem settings on your computer and how to change them.

Internet Service Providers

H. Identify the differences between internet service providers such as: America On Line, Prodigy and Microsoft Network; and service providers such as: SoVerNet and Together Networks; I-100, Plainfield By Pass, Kingdom.Com and PowerShift

Access, Use, and Navigate Electronic Communication Resources

I. Describe the steps required to access your e-mail using a computer that has a different ISP.

J. Describe concerns over computer virus protection and identify locations for obtaining "shareware" virus protection software. Understand process of virus protection

K. Identify the steps needed to enter special dialing codes to access telephone dial tone to make a connection from your modem.

L. Explain the functions and purpose of the various parts of an E-mail message

Mail Header
Body
Signature File

M. Describe the difference between newsgroups and discussion lists

N. Identify common netiquette issues when using newsgroups, discussion lists and e-mail

O. Identify resources for locating newsgroups and discussion lists

P.Describe the process of file compression and decompression using various "Zip" software packages

Create Municipal WWW Sites

Q. Identify page format

R. Identify common formatting tags

Font size; appearance, justification
Displaying images and graphics
Creating links to other documents, locations in current document and direct mail

S. Understand the considerations of file size and the effect of download time

T. Describe the process of designing the structure of a web site

U. Have an awareness of policy considerations for locality, copyright, editing published information and accuracy disclaimers

Training Opportunities with the project:

A. Group training sessions at Municipal Officers Management Seminars and Town Officers Educational Conferences in Fall 2000 and Spring 2001.

B. Small group training sessions at county clerk meetings or other venues.

C. In-office training sessions offered by trainers.

D. E-Mail based training course.

Course Syllabus:

Lessons

Lesson 1 Welcome

Lesson 2 Using Discussion Lists

Lesson 3 Modem Usage

Lesson 4 Levels of Internet Connectivity

Lesson 5 E-mail

Lesson 6 Net Etiquette or Netiquette

Lesson 7 Newsgroups

Lesson 8 Internet Security and Viruses

Lesson 9 FTP

Lesson 10 Browser Use and Tools

Lesson 11 WWW (Part 1)

Lesson 12 WWW (Part 2)

Lesson 13 Internet Searches

Lesson 14 The Future...

Appendix A

The project seeks to offer training in topics that relate to Internet Use. However, the below skills are ones that should be acquired by any professional in today's work environment. Review these to see what you might be missing.

Computing Skills which support Computer Networking:

Computer Hardware:

Identify common hardware components appropriate for specific tasks
Explain the purpose, operation, and care of common hardware components

Computer Application Software

Identify the types of application software and explain their purpose and use
Select application software appropriate for specific tasks
Use reference materials, such as on-line help, vendor bulletin boards or World Wide Web (WWW) sites, tutorials, and manuals available for application software
Care for and maintain application software
Import and export text, data, and images between software programs

Operating Systems, Environments, Utilities

Describe an operating system and give examples
Use operating system commands or functions
Organize files and directories

File and Database Management Systems

Explain the nature and interrelationships of bytes, fields, records, and databases
Describe search strategies and use them to solve common information problems
Sort and retrieve data from files and databases

Applications of Information Systems to Organizations

Explain the purposes, functions, and common features of word processing software
Explain the meaning of common word processing terminology
Compose, organize, and edit information using a keyboard
Use touch keyboard techniques and work processing software to create, modify, store, retrieve, and print documents
Proofread and edit documents for accuracy and content, and for correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation
Explain the purposes, functions, and common features of database software
Explain the meaning of common database terminology
Explain the purposes, functions, and common features of spreadsheet software
Explain the meaning of common spreadsheet terms
Explain the meaning of common presentation and multimedia software terminology
Scan or acquire digital images, edit them, and prepare them for distribution via the WWW

Keyboarding

Develop touch keyboarding techniques at acceptable speed and accuracy levels
Enter and manipulate data using the touch method on a 10-key keypad

System Security

Identify risks to information systems, data, communication systems and applications
Apply procedures used to restart and recover from situations such as system failure and viral infection

Ethical Issues Pertaining to Information Systems

Identify and explain property, privacy, access, and accuracy issues pertaining to information systems, including the impact of these issues on individuals and organizations
Understand software piracy issues

For assistance or questions with this training material, email: crs@uvm.edu