All courses are given in the office of Tauʻolunga komipiuta in Fasimoeafi.
All courses feature extensive own practice on a computer.
All students receive private tutoring. Everybody proceeds at own speed, no need to wait for others.
Tutoring in Tongan or English.
An examination at the end of most courses gives the students a clear overview what they have learned. A cerificate can be issued on successfull completion.
This is really an introductory course, suited for beginners who never have seen a computer before. An introduction in the use of the computer, switching on, switching off, mousing around, the ideas of desktop, windows, folders, files, open, save, backups and so on. Then follows a more in depth look at wordprocessing, in which it is stressed that the way of working on a computer and on a typewriter are two very different things. Some elementary graphics is also included.
Main topics: open, close, save, quit; page setup, print; cut, copy, paste; using different fonts, styles, sizes, text colours; working with multiple windows; working with folders; working with different disks. Wordprocessing: headers, footers, pagenumbers; left & right margins, new paragraph indent, line spacing, new page; spellings check; find, replace; correct use of 'return'; use of stylesheets; footnotes; correct use of 'tab', construction of tables; use of invisible/control characters. Drawing: drawing of lines, rectangles and other shapes; use of the shift key for constraints; polygons, curves, beziers; fill in colour, gradients and patterns; apply line colour, patterns, thickness, and arrows; use of groups; paintings.
This course is ideal to be taken after the first introductory course, as the acquired skills will be more or less those required by computer operators in many businesses and government departments.
Spreadsheets have not changed for the last 20 years. So either they were far ahead of their time, or they are completely obsolete now. Yet they are still used (and often misused where a database should have been taken). The student will construct a spreadsheet with the usual calculation fields and analyse data using the proper charts.
Database programming was always considered very difficult. In fact programs which still use SQL, or Access, do not dispell this thought and are to be avoided. The database program used here is Filemaker pro, whose graphical interface makes databases much more transparant, and yet with its relational properties still makes for very powerful applications.
Main topics spreadsheet: entering data in cells; application of numerical formatting; creation of sum, count and other formula fields; making a typical tables with vertical and horizontal totals; making different types of charts like bar-, pie-, and line diagrams, 2 and 3 dimensional, as well as adding final decorations. Database: adding, changing, removing of records; finding, sorting, AND/OR conditions; defining fields in simple flat database; defining calculation fields, defining summary fields for grand total and subtotals; system design of relational databases, 1 to N, N to 1 relationships, N to N relationships.
This course can be taken after the first introductory course. It is especially useful for artists, but less so for people looking for just an office computer job.
A computer can help in creating amazing graphics, which by hand would be impossible to do or take ages to complete. There are two main streams to distinguish. The first is line or vector graphics, which are best for artwork which consists of shapes, like lines, boxes, circles and text. Many logos fall in this class. The other is raster graphics, which in fact is an advanced retouch of photographs. The student will see that the two streams have complete different ways of work, and will have to combine them in a final examination artwork.
Main topics: differences between vector graphics & raster images; RGB & CMYK colour models; printer & scanner parameters, scanning pictures at appropriate resolution; foto retouch; vector graphics: lines, bezier curves, fills, blends, text along path, import picture, symmetry operations; raster graphics: brush, pen, clone tools, colour & brightness adjustments, filters, use and creation of masks, feathers, drop shadows, etc.
Making webpages is an art on itself. Although pictures and texts still make up the main bulk of a webpage, mainly using tables for the wanted layout, the incorporation of links, and the proper setup of a site using stylesheets will feature prominently in the course. A graphical layout program will be used, but still the student will make at least one page written in purely HTML. Understanding TCP/IP, domains and how to upload the pages to a server is also part of the course. Depending on the interest and zeal of the student and the time left over, one or more special topic like frames, javascript, forms, Flash, SVG… may be included.
Main topics: elementary understanding of HTML and XML, server/client principles, http, ftp; design of a webpage with text & graphics, links, and what more of the newest gadgets; uploading to the internet server.
The students taking this course know already how to make pictures and how to write text. Now with desktop publishing tools they will properly layout out a publication and prepare it for the printing press, using eps'es and tiff's and so on, and most important nowadays: pdf's. The final examination is a project in which they will produce their own little newspaper or hyperlinked ebook.
Main topics: proper use of available tools in destop publishing programs.
Making a presentation of this same newspaper on the screen, using Powerpoint or related programs, is a complete different experience. Now the element of time is coming into play, more comparable with making a slideshow or even a movie. Also here the final examination is a self produced presentation.
Main topics: proper use of available tools in presentation programs.
After having decided upon a suitable topic (like a television commercial), first the student will record some needed video footage. Basic camera skills will be introduced, but this course is not intended to go deep into recording tricks. The footage will be edited, non linearily, in a computer using Apple iMovie or Final cut pro. Some special effects may be added, using Adobe After effects. At this point the student may make a VHS video tape of the final result. Optionally the movie may be edited for use and burning on a DVD with some simple menus. There is no final examination, the quality of the whole project will be judged.
Main topics: shooting of video footage, editing it into a movie, applying special effects, production of a DVD. The pricing of the course may depend on the subtopics selected and the depth persued. (iMovie: T$200, Final cut pro: T$300, DVD burning: add T$50)
On request. Options are: SQL databases and PHP on the web, beginners programming in C; advanced programming in Object-C (C++); ...
