Concept Notes: Day 01

Laboratory Session
Topic: Classroom Orientation and Basic PC Operation

COMPUTER LABORATORY GUIDELINES AND POLICIES)

1. Instructors shall closely monitor the conduct of their students while they are inside the laboratory. The
Instructor shall not be allowed to leave the class during the instructor’s assigned laboratory hours. In the
exceptional event that the instructor must leave the class, the instructor must inform IT Personnel.

2. The student must check the computer unit and its peripherals attached before using it. The student
must immediately inform the instructor if there’s any defect, error or damage observed at the computer
(hardware/software) assigned or if there are any missing peripherals (mouse, keyboard, etc.). The
instructor should immediately report the incident to IT Department.

3. Students are not allowed to bring bags, food and beverages inside the laboratory. Chewing gum,
eating, drinking, smoking, littering are prohibited inside the computer laboratory.

4. Users are responsible for saving their documents on their own flash drives, any information saved or
installed on the systems hard drive will be deleted once the Computer is rebooted (restarted).

5. No one is allowed to alter or delete configuration settings of any computer laboratory equipment.
Tampering, deleting or modifying CMOS/BIOS settings, IP Configuration, system parameters, or system
files stored in the hard disk are strictly prohibited.

6. No student or personnel shall be allowed to attach or detach any peripheral to and from any IT
equipment or devices without explicit permission from the Head of the IT Department. Users are not
allowed also to attach personal devices in any computer laboratory’s network without permission from
IT Department.

7. Accessing Pornographic, Gambling, Hate/Discrimination, torrent and other unsafe sites is strictly
prohibited.

8. Users are not allowed to install, update or download any software in any computers inside the
laboratories. It is also prohibited the users to boot from any bootable devices to run software in any
computers in the laboratory. In cases that there is need to install, update or download software or boot
from other device the instructor must seek for the approval of the head of IT Department.
 Concept Notes: Day 01
Laboratory Session
Topic: Classroom Orientation and Basic PC Operation

9. Playing games are not allowed inside the computer laboratory, this includes video games, card games
and other games. However, in cases of the topic is related to games the instructor must inform the IT
personnel on duty.

10. Anyone who is causing disturbance, trouble and exhibiting hostile or threatening behavior will be
requested to leave the computer laboratory.

11. Proper computer laboratory etiquette must be observed;

a. Ensure that no trash is left behind.

- Basic Computer Operations

Input: Information and programs are entered into the computer through Input devices such as the
keyboard, disks, or through other computers via network connections or modems connected to the
Internet. The input device also retrieves information off disks.

Output: Output Devices displays information on the screen (monitor) or the printer and sends
information to other computers. They also display messages about what errors may have occurred and
brings up message or dialog box asking for more information to be input. The output device also saves
information on the disk for future use.

Processing: The CPU or central processing unit is sometimes called the Control Unit and directs the
operation of the input and output devices. The Coprocessor or the Arithmetic-Logic Unit does arithmetic
and comparisons. The memory or RAM temporarily stores information (files and programs) while you
are using or working on them. The BIOS or basic input/output system controls the dialogue between the
various devices. Keyboard Layout and Data Entry

ENTER or RETURN – Moves the cursor down one line and to the left margin. Enter also process
commands such as choosing an option in a dialog (message) boxes and submitting a form.

DEL or DELETE – Deletes the character at cursor and/or characters to the right of the cursor and all
highlighted (or selected) text.

BKSP or BACKSPACE – Deletes the character to the left of cursor and all highlighted text.

SPACE BAR – Moves the cursor one space at a time to the right SHIFT KEY – Use the shift keys to
type capital letters and to type the upper character on keys with two characters on them

CAPS LOCK – Locks the keyboard so it types capital letters (a light goes on when caps lock is on)

TAB – Moves the cursor five spaces to the right (number of spaces are usually adjustable). Tab moves to
the next field in a form or table (Shift-Tab for previous field).

ESC or ESCAPE - Cancels a menu or dialog box

ARROW KEYS – Moves the cursor around document without changing text FUNCTION KEYS or F
KEYS – Access commands by themselves or in combination with the three command keys; CTRL,
SHIFT, and ALT
 Concept Notes: Day 01
Laboratory Session
Topic: Classroom Orientation and Basic PC Operation

Command or Special Keys

Command keys normally do nothing on their own but work in combination with other keys. Each piece
of software uses the command keys differently though there is a move to standardize some functions.
The Control key or Ctrl is often used to access commands. The Alternative key or Alt is often used to
access menus. The Shift key is used to type CAPITAL LETTERS. As well the command keys are all
used to move through documents and edit text faster and easier. As well many computers have Special
keys design specifically for the particular computer. Apple computers have the Apple keys and Macs
have Command keys. Many keyboards now have a Windows key specifically for Windows 9x and newer
systems. Many older computers also have special keys used for a variety of different functions.

Some Notebook or Laptop keys are left out because of space limitations and they usually have a Special
function key which allows other keys to
double for the missing ones.

Basic Typing Rules

Place one space between each word, after a punctuation mark and at the end of a sentence. Always start a
sentence with a capital letter. Use capitals for names, addresses, provinces and countries, places,
organizations, businesses, associations, schools, colleges, universities, days of the week, months,
holidays, nationalities, ethnic groups and languages.

Learning the keyboard is the first step to learning computers. Learning involves practice. It really is as
simple as that. There are two kinds of typing.

The first is called Touch Typing. The Touch Typist uses the Home Keys asdf for the left hand and jkl;
for the right) and all the fingers on both hands as well as the thumbs for the Space Bar while typing.
There are many commercial and public domain programs that are designed to teach this method.

The other method is sometimes called 'Hunt and Peck' or depending on finger strength 'Search and
Destroy'. This involves using one or more fingers on one or two hands to type. It is a perfectly acceptable
way of using a computer and many people get along fine with this technique. I myself find this an
extremely funny method to watch in action.