Preface

Why craft a book on business technology essentials? I (your author) have a lot of years of business technology job experience, and I have taught at a couple of community colleges. Over time  I have experienced changes in the emphasis on business technology at college. It used to be an integral part of basic business courses at the college level; however, in the past few years, an assumption seems to have been that because people use smartphones, they are skilled in workplace computing skills. That because people engage on social media and visit aggregated news sources, they are accessing accurate and unbiased information and thinking critically with it. That because there are so many lifestyle-related apps, people are prepared with academic and workplace self and time management skills. And, most recently, that because people engage with generative AI chatbots and workflow steps, they are fully informed and trained in specific skills that require good writing, communication, and information integrity.

Yet I and other instructors encounter waves of learners who don’t have basic keyboarding or productivity application experience, or an ability to discern accurate and unbiased information, or work-ready communication and time management skills, or the ability to present their own ideas and conclusions without generating them through an generated AI conversation content. There are likely a number of reasons for this; one tends to be the sheer amount of information being thrown at us, and not necessarily enough organized and guided pathways to access, sort, and manage it in academic / training settings.

So, therefore this book has come to exist. Business Technology Essentials provides a survey of computing and digital coverage and skills necessary to engage in academic settings and in the work market. This includes a survey of practical computing skills; coverage about digital citizenship; application practice in utility and productivity programs; and overviews on various business technology-related issues like privacy, security, workplace preparation, etc.

This book is not an exhaustive reference manual, and much of the coverage is about the high points and fairly generalized. Technology and digital citizenship changes too fast and too much for static text and specific examples to be useful for very long. This book will not be able to list every permutation or version of everything, or every insight, or every piece of hardware or system tool. A learner or instructor will always find something that has been left out or become current in the moment. The author is not a generative AI bot, and can’t aggregate and interpret every piece of available information on the whole Internet.

Instead, this book is designed to prompt discussions of main points to help instructors and learners have a starting point for debates, reviews of current needs and topics, and practices of workplace computing skills. It will have only a few specific references to information sources and tools, as a nod to what seems to be currently long-term reliable sourcing and access (like US Government data sites).

However, it is recognized and expected that instructors will tailor the overview aspects of this textbook with needed actual in-the-classroom examples they research as part of their own curriculum-building. Instructors may choose to change the order in which the information in this book is currently presented, based on the length of their course offering and/or the needs of the topic(s) at hand. They will make their own videos, and look for additional current demo videos, tutorial links, and other study aids like LinkedIn Learning and free open-learning academies, workshops, and student-learning tools. Great examples and issues can be discovered in educator publications and professional development groups. Self-study learners can use their preferred search engine and unbiased information-finding tools to look for relevant examples (especially after covering the chapter on Communications Media Accuracy). Worker Retraining advisors can suggest avenues for learners to pursue in workshops and practices.

This book attempts to focus on analyzing and solving business-related problems in efficient ways; they are not the only ways. Learners can approach the objectives with detailed steps in the “Try Me Activity”, and try things out in the “Quick Task” options. Learners should be challenged to use critical thinking to solve real world scenarios, because what is all this for if not to help enhance one’s education and workplace future?

This book also attempts to have a personal feel and occasionally some quirks in humor. Who wants to be totally bored and pedantic, anyway?

Suitable Learners

This book can be used by:

• Adult Basic Education (ABE) learners.
• I-Best business and technology programs.
• Worker retraining programs at colleges and employment service centers.
• Learners at community colleges, training programs, and high schools.
• Professionals as a quick review of business technology information and skills.
• Self-study learners.
• Anyone else with an interest in the covered topics.