Google Docs, ESRI Technology for Colorado Middle Schoolers

Deb Hooker who works for the Poudre School District in Colorado writes in the Coloradoan about the new computer curriculum the be launched next year.

Beginning with the 2009-10 school year, most sixth-graders will take a new nine-week Web 2.0 technology course that includes units on researching on the Web; Internet safety (appropriate use and ethics); data analysis; introduction to programming; Web site design; geographic information systems, or GIS; and Google Docs (collaborative Web-based office tools).

Seventh-graders may also choose to take an additional 18-week computer gaming and digital technology class that expands on the sixth-grade class, including units such as digital video production and video game programming.

The new courses involve using free, open-sourced software available on the Internet. Recently, representatives from Google and the Environmental Systems Research Institute, or ESRI, trained PSD middle school teachers and school technology coordinators on how to use tools such as Google Docs and GIS software.

I think may be some confusion about what “free, open-sourced software” is. Still, this sounds like a great start to preparing students for the Web 2.0 world.