About the Skills Programme

The Occupational Skills Programme Basic End User Computing (SP-240201) is a QCTO skills programme at NQF Level 3 (30 credits, 300 notional hours; curriculum 900238-000-00-00). It prepares you to use computing devices and the basic workplace applications competently and safely: switching devices on and off and managing files; using the internet and email securely; and creating basic word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations that meet the fundamental standards of purpose, structure and quality.

Opening a spreadsheet is easy. What employers need is people whose work is right, findable and safe to rely on — saving work where it will survive, checking a total before trusting it, choosing the right channel and checking the recipient. This course teaches both.

What you will learn

• Computing devices in an organisation, the input–process–output flow, reading a specification, and the costs and licensing of devices and software
• What an operating system does, what an end user must be able to do with it, switching on and off safely, and why information is worth more than the machine
• Word processing: good business writing, business documents and templates, formatting, styles, proofing and printing
• Spreadsheets: cells, formulas and BODMAS, SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, COUNT and ROUND, VAT both ways, and bar, line and pie charts
• Presentations: the rules of a readable slide, themes, graphics and copyright, speaker notes and handouts
• Digital communication: choosing the right channel, protocols, networks, using a browser and the cloud safely, and your legal duties under POPIA, ECTA and the Cybercrimes Act
• Applying it at a workstation: safe set-up, securing your device and files, and producing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and emails

Who should enrol?

• New and returning employees who use a computer at work
• Administrators, receptionists, clerks and assistants
• Anyone who needs a recognised foundation in workplace computing

Entry requirement: an NQF Level 2 qualification. Recognition of Prior Learning for access is available.

Certificates

Tonex Certificate of Completion: pass the post-course assessment with 70% or more. This is a Tonex certificate and carries no NQF credits.

QCTO Skills Programme certificate (30 credits, NQF Level 3): also requires the ten workbook activities, the Knowledge Summative Assessment, the seven practical skills observed in a supervised computer laboratory, and the supervised Final Integrated Supervised Assessment (FISA). Tonex, as the QCTO-accredited provider, conducts the FISA and submits learner results to the QCTO for approval for certification. These assessments are in the separate course Practical Assessment and FISA – Basic End User Computing SP.