Croenen, Godfried wrote:
In Britain (and probably elsewhere in Europe) there is the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL). See for example the page at my University:
http://www.liv.ac.uk/csd/training/ecdl/index.htm
or the general site:
We used to teach this here, but found demand was dropping as more and more of the "digital natives" came on stream.
Cynics might say it is simply about training people to use all the Microsoft Office packages.
They would be right. On the other hand, there's no reason why the same course could not be customized to impart the same skills using e.g. Open Office. It should be all about transferable skills, surely!
Looking at the information there seems indeed to be a much greater emphasis on using desktop packages than on teaching generic IT skills.
Now there's a distinction worth unpacking. I assume that "desktop" packages are also the same as the things I use on my laptop, so what exactly are "generic" IT skills? command line abilities? knowing about the hardware? programming? project management? systems analysis and database design? These seem a bit ambitious for such a course!