by Dr.Liew

Created on: January 03, 2009

Since personal computers were developed and popularised, they have become important tools in making life easier for human beings in conducting their daily work and activities . With the help of computers, we can perform our tasks faster and better. Computer is especially efficient in number crunching; it can process data billion times faster than human being does. Computers today have artificial intelligence, because not only they can perform mathematical calculations, they can also perform much more complex tasks like words processing, translation, database management, managing communications through networks, handling multimedia applications and games, architectural design and more. Computers are also widely used in the education sector to assist learning. Educators around the globe are using computers to teach their students. With the advent of the Internet, people are able to learn at home through the use of online courseware. Therefore, computer literacy is a must for students today in order to acquire knowledge. It is even so for adult students as they often learn online without the physical presence of their lecturers or teachers.

Some people might wonder are books in printed form still relevant in this ICT age? Do books still play an important role in education? To me, the answer is a big "YES". Books are still popular and still are important sources of knowledge for academic studies. However, in this Internet age, a lot of books are being converted into digital form and distributed in electronic media like the CD ROM and the Internet, which make knowledge more easily accessible and affordable too. So, there is no question that computer literacy is a must for adult education; the question is to what extent should adult know about computer? There are many levels of computer literacy, from basic skills like using the computer as a typewriter, surfing the Internet, burning DVD, downloading files, playing online games to more advanced skills like computer programming, graphics design, hardware maintenance, website development and much more. To make things easier for adults to learn how to use the computer, I think they just need to learn some basic skills. I would recommend that they should know the following skills:

(i) Basic windows skills like looking for a file in a particular folder.

(ii) Words processing using MS Words or other text editors.

(iii) Spreadsheet like MS Excel for automated calculations.

(iv) Scanning and Printing

(v) Surfing the Internet using

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