Every student should be able to set up and maintain his or her own personal computer, peripheral devices, and software. This includes routine, periodic installation of operating system and anti-virus software updates, the setup and maintenance of an Internet connection through a local Internet Service Provider, and the installation and maintenance of application software. One should know enough computer-related terminology to obtain and follow directions provided by technical support personnel. Every student should be sufficiently familiar with the computer being used to:
- locate, move, copy, and rename files on that computer.
- send, receive, and manage electronic mail with and without attached data files.
- navigate the World Wide Web using a web browser.
- upload and download data files to and from other computers on the World Wide Web.
- read and post messages on a web-based 'bulletin board'.
- create, import, edit, save, and export to available formats documents in a word processing application (like Microsoft Word), a spreadsheet application (like Microsoft Excel), and a presentation application (like Microsoft Powerpoint).