TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM

The Basics

This curriculum guide was written with Microsoft Windows® XP-Home98 and Microsoft Word 20020®. Many of the keystroke commandsO will work with other Windows operating systems such as Windows 985® or Windows 2000NT®. will work with the same keystroke commands. The same is true if you are using a different word processor such as Word Perfect. Most of thThe commands reviewed in these computer lessons are Windows commands and are not dependent on any specific assistive technology. You cannot be a good JAWS or WindowEyes user until you understand Windows.  With that in mind the first 13 lessons focus on keyboard commands built into the Windows operating system.  

Lessons 14-17 deal more with the Internet and JAWS. The keystrokes listed in these lessonshere are in most cases JAWS specific. commands. If you are using a different assistive technology program, you will need to review that program’s own reference manual for keystrokes needed to navigate on the Internet.

** Keystroke commands have the following form. A key needing to be held down will be underlined:

Ctrl-z means you need to hold down the Ctrl-key and press the z key.

** A comma separates commands that can beneed to be completed sequentially:

Alt, f, p, Enter means you would press and release the Alt-key, press and release the f-key, press and release the p-key, and press and release the Enter key.

There are several things that are important to remember when working in the Windows environment and with these lesson plans.

1. There are at least 3 ways to complete each action on the computer: a mouse click, shortcut key, and moving through the Menu Bar. Teach your students each action by movinggoing through the Menu Bar. At some point, they may choose to print a document by using the shortcut, (Ctrl-p) instead of going through the Menu Bar, (Alt, f, p, Enter). That is perfectly acceptable. I use the Menu Bar approach because it is consistent in almost all Windows applications and allows students to explore all options available in the menu options.
2. If a key needs to be held down that key will be underlined followed by the letter key.
3. A comma separates commands that can be completed in sequence.

keyboard layout