Like I said yesterday, I have over five degrees. Five shiny paper diplomas with my full name in cursive. Yet many of the skills that have mattered most in my professional life were not learned in a college classroom.
I learned them on the job—sometimes because I needed to get my own work done and sometimes because it was my job to help someone else get theirs done. While working in IT technical support, I had to troubleshoot the everyday problems people encountered in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Supporting those applications required me to earn Microsoft Office Specialist certifications in all four. Some of those skills came from formal certification training. Many came from using the software, getting stuck, solving problems, and helping other people solve theirs.
In other words, I learned by doing. That is also what students do in ITE 152. Unfortunately, the official name of the course is “Digital Literacy.” I have never liked that name. It sounds like robots have taken over an elementary school.
“Digital literacy” is also too vague. It obscures the practical value of the course. A better description would be “Technology Skills for Office Work” because we teach students how to use the productivity and collaboration software they are likely to encounter while applying for jobs and working in professional environments.
The course is opinionated about its tools: we teach the Microsoft suite. Google, LibreOffice, Apple, and other alternatives exist, but Microsoft applications remain standard equipment in many medium-sized and large organizations.
More importantly, we do not merely talk about the software. Students use it. They create and format documents. They organize and analyze information in spreadsheets. They build presentations. They manage files, communicate, collaborate, troubleshoot problems, and learn how to figure out unfamiliar features.
Employers often expect workers to arrive with these abilities, even though many students have never received systematic instruction in them. I did not learn all of them in school either. In some cases, I had to develop them while being paid to support other people who didn’t know how to use them.
I earnestly believe this will be one of the most useful courses you take in college. What you gain is not simply a set of concepts but a set of practiced habits. By the end, you will have built muscle memory and procedural know-how—practical, bill-paying skills that help you create polished work, solve everyday problems, and present yourself professionally.
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