The vocational data processing course exists to teach problem-solving techniques to high school juniors and seniors. A variety of problems are posed. The information needed to solve these problems is made available in a variety of sources including the textbook, lectures, other students, reference manuals, and computerized information. Students must learn to identify the information they need and then find this information in the appropriate sources.
An essential skill for solving problems is skill in reading. Finding specific information in reference material and in the problem statement is the primary kind of reading required. Students need to look up specific topics, follow instructions, and apply general examples to specific circumstances.
Another important skill is productive interaction with others in the workplace. Students need to learn from more advanced students and then teach less advanced students. In particular, second-year students are required to train first-year students in using the computer. In addition, various assignments require students to depend on each other for data or for services necessary to complete the assignments.
This training occurs within the context of business data processing – hence the name of the course. Students learn to solve problems taken from real business and administrative experience. Furthermore, the student experiences the range of different problems which can arise within a single, coherent area of endeavor.
Students are first given problems in data entry. These require little prior familiarity with the computer system and help the students become familiar with the machinery and typical kinds of data. Data processing history and concepts are introduced at this time. Also, data entry students create data files used by more advanced programming students and enter programs for the more advanced students.
As students advance, they learn to operate the computer system. In this position, a student finds all other students in the class to be dependent on the quality and efficiency of his or her work. Students also learn to run programs and to use utility programs to manipulate files. The data used is often the data which the student keyed as a data entry operator. In this way the students are encouraged to see the ways that various operations in the data processing department are interrelated.
It is only after students have had experience with entering and manipulating data and with running programs that they begin to write their own programs. A structured approach to program design is emphasized in order to develop problem-solving abilities. The first language taught is COBOL. (COBOL is more naturally structured than BASIC or RPG. Also, all students are equally ignorant of COBOL, which would not be true of BASIC.) Students continue to use the data and skills from previous parts of the course when testing their programs.
In the second year, students learn more advanced programming, RPG, BASIC, and are more responsible for organizing their own studies.
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