There is a difference between teaching students how to use a product and teaching students through the use of a product. The latter intentionally teaches them t

There is a difference between teaching students how to use a product and teaching students through the use of a product. The latter intentionally teaches them transferrable skills. The former does not, and runs the risk that any change in the product (nevermind using a different product) will leave the student without the necessary skills to adapt. The approaches to teaching can vary quite wildly. My mother was doing some resume padding when I was in middle school, so I got to compare what they were teaching with what my school was teaching. They were teaching rote skills with a separate book directed towards each product, which is to say Word had a book full of screenshots illustrating procedures and WordPerfect had its own book full of screenshots illustrating procedures. They were not laying down the foundations for transferrable skills, nor did they expect students to pick it up. In contrast, my middle school was using obsolete computers and had no expectation the software would be used in business. The emphasis was directed towards laying out and formatting documents instead, which had a much longer lasting impact.