Course Overview

What COM-FPX1150 Is About — and What It Actually Tests

Course Context

COM-FPX1150 — Introduction to Digital Literacy at Capella University — is a foundational course that runs across five assessments. Each one builds a specific practical skill: searching for job information online, communicating professionally in Microsoft Word, organizing time with digital tools, managing files and folders, and finding credible research through the Capella library. The course is not just about knowing how to click around on a computer. It tests whether you can use digital tools critically and communicate what you find in a clear, organized, professional way.

The five assessments are graded against five course competencies. Two of them — Competency 1 (using digital tools to complete tasks) and Competency 5 (organized, grammatically sound writing) — show up in every single assessment. That means if your writing is disorganized or your grammar is rough, you’re losing points in every part of the course, not just one.

Competency 4 is the other one that trips people up. It asks you to integrate credible and relevant sources — and the course expects you to apply specific information literacy strategies to evaluate those sources, not just paste in a link and move on. Knowing the SIFT method and being able to explain why a source is credible is tested directly in Parts A, C, D, and E.

5 Total Assessments
5 Course Competencies
3 Job Sites Used
6 Files to Organize (Part D)
🔍

Online Job Search

Use O*NET, Indeed, and CareerOneStop to find and evaluate job postings. Report on skills and credibility.

📝

Word Letter

Format a business letter in Microsoft Word. Write about plagiarism risks and digital literacy — using a provided template.

📅

Time Management

Use a time management calculator, prioritize six tasks, and organize them in a digital calendar with a mandatory work event included.

📁

File Organization

Build a folder structure with three subfolders, sort six downloaded files correctly, and document everything with screenshots.

📚

Library Research

Find one library article and one Internet article about current trends in your chosen career field — both from the last 12 months.

✅

Source Evaluation

Every assessment asks you to explain why sources are credible. This is not optional — it’s scored directly.

Assessment 1

Part A — Online Job Search Report: What You Need to Do and How to Do It

Part A has two sections. Part 1 is about O*NET and one job posting. Part 2 adds Indeed and CareerOneStop, then asks you to evaluate those companies. Both sections feed into a 2–3 page double-spaced report. It sounds like a lot, but the structure is actually fairly straightforward once you know what each piece requires.

Part 1: Choosing a Career and Using O*NET

Pick a real career — something you are working toward or genuinely interested in. You will use this same career across other assessments in the course, so make it something meaningful, not something random. O*NET OnLine (onetonline.org) is a free database maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor. It maps out skill requirements, technology tools, education levels, and projected growth for hundreds of occupations. Search for your career there, find a specific job listing, and then copy the link.

When you summarize the technology skills, do not just list them — explain in your own words what each skill actually involves and how your education or personal background connects to it. The scoring guide rewards genuine reflection here, not a copy-paste from the O*NET page.

1

Identify Your Career and Explain Your Choice

One paragraph, personal and specific — not generic statements about “helping people”

State the career clearly by its occupational title. Explain why you chose it — your background, your goals, or a real connection to the field. The scoring guide checks whether you actually explained your choice, not just named the job. One sentence is not enough. Two to three sentences connecting the career to something specific about you — your current work, your degree path, a personal experience — is the right level of detail.

2

Navigate O*NET, Find a Posting, and Link It

Provide the direct URL — do not just name the site

Go to onetonline.org, search for your career title, and pull up the occupation page. Read the Technology Skills section carefully. Copy the URL of the specific O*NET occupation page you are working from and paste it into your report. Then write a brief job description in your own words — what the role does, who employs these professionals, and what environment they typically work in. Keep it to three to four sentences. The assignment is not asking for a formal job description; it is asking for your summary of what the job involves.

3

Summarize Technology Skills in Your Own Words

Connect each skill to education or personal experience you actually have

Pull the technology skills listed on O*NET for your occupation. Then — and this is where many students lose points — write what each skill means in practice, not just what it is called. For example, if the role lists “Microsoft Office Suite,” explain which specific applications matter (Excel for data management, Word for documentation, PowerPoint for presentations) and connect that to a class you have taken or work experience you have. Personal experience is explicitly mentioned in the scoring guide, so do not skip that part.

Part 2: Indeed, CareerOneStop, and the Credibility Evaluation

Go to indeed.com and careeronestop.org. Find a job posting relevant to your chosen career on each site. Paste both URLs into your report. For each posting, write a brief description and note any specific technical skills it mentions.

Then — and this is the part most students treat too lightly — evaluate the credibility of the companies in those postings. The assignment references the SIFT method and lists specific questions to ask yourself about each one. You need to actually apply those questions and write your answers. See the dedicated SIFT section below for how to approach this well.

💡

Part A Report Length and Format

The final deliverable is a 2–3 page double-spaced report. That is not a lot of space. Be specific and concise — do not pad with filler sentences. Each section of Part 1 and Part 2 should be clearly labeled so your instructor can see you addressed every requirement. The scoring guide for Competency 5 checks whether your writing is organized and uses proper grammar, so proofread before submitting. A short, clean report beats a long, disorganized one every time.

Assessment 2

Part B — Business Letter in Microsoft Word: Formatting, Content, and What Actually Gets Graded

Part B is a business letter. Capella provides a template in .docx format — you download it, fill it in, format it correctly, and submit it. The technical skill being tested here is basic Microsoft Word formatting. The content skill is your ability to write clearly about digital literacy and plagiarism. Both matter for your grade.

The Formatting Requirements

Two formatting rules are explicitly stated in the instructions, and both are scored under Competency 1. Get them right because they are easy points.

What to Do

  • Right-align the company name and date at the top of the letter
  • Left-align the addressee name and the full body of the letter
  • Delete all bracketed instruction text from the template before submitting
  • Use Word’s spell-check to find and fix spelling errors
  • Save the file as Lastname_COM-FPX1150_A2_letter.docx
  • Write in a professional but direct tone — this is a letter to a colleague

What Not to Do

  • Submit the template with bracketed placeholder text still inside it
  • Center-align the body text — that is not standard business letter format
  • Ignore the file naming convention — instructors notice incorrect file names
  • Write in an overly academic tone — this is supposed to read like a professional letter to a colleague
  • Skip the spell-check step — the instructions explicitly require it

The Four Content Areas You Must Cover

The letter has four required content areas. Each one maps to a specific competency in the scoring guide. Do not skip any of them — even a brief treatment of a required area is better than leaving it out entirely.

1

Risks of Plagiarizing from Digital Sources

Scored under Competency 5

Explain what can go wrong when someone uses digital content without proper attribution. This includes academic consequences (failing grades, expulsion), professional consequences (reputation damage, job loss, legal liability), and the practical issue that digital content is easier to trace than many people assume — plagiarism detection tools are standard in both academic and professional environments. Be specific. A sentence like “plagiarism can hurt your career” is too vague to score well. A sentence like “submitting an unattributed report to a client or employer can result in termination and, in some industries, legal liability under copyright law” is more grounded and direct.

2

How Plagiarism Impacts Future Career Success

Part of the Competency 5 content requirement

Connect plagiarism risk directly to the professional world your colleague is entering. In most knowledge-work careers, reports, presentations, emails, and documentation are created using information found online. Claiming that work as original — or failing to attribute sources properly — undermines your professional credibility. Some industries (law, healthcare, education, journalism) have especially serious consequences for this. Tie your explanation to the career context your letter is addressing.

3

Define Digital Literacy with Concrete Examples

Scored under Competency 4

The assignment makes a specific distinction: digital proficiency is using tools well; digital literacy is using tools to communicate well, evaluate online information critically, and ensure proper attribution. Do not conflate the two. Your definition should make that distinction clear, and your examples should be concrete. Digital literacy skills include evaluating the credibility of online sources before citing them, using paraphrasing correctly rather than copying text, using citation tools properly, and recognizing misinformation in professional research. Give two or three specific examples that would resonate with a working professional, not just an academic.

4

Why Digital Literacy Matters Professionally

Part of the Competency 4 content requirement

Explain the practical value of digital literacy in a professional setting. This is not about grades — it is about what employers expect. According to research from the Pew Research Center, digital skills are among the most important skills professionals believe they need to develop, with a large majority of workers saying they regularly need to learn new technologies on the job. Being digitally literate means you can navigate new tools, evaluate the information you find, and communicate your findings with proper attribution — all of which are things employers actually observe and assess.

Assessment 3

Part C — Time Management Calculator and Digital Calendar: What the Assignment Actually Requires

Part C has two sub-parts. Part 1 is about estimating your time and prioritizing six tasks. Part 2 is about putting those tasks into a real digital calendar with screenshots, then writing a reflection. The most common mistake students make is treating the calendar step as optional or doing it casually. Screenshots of your actual calendar — showing all six tasks visible in weekly view — are a direct scoring requirement.

Part 1: Time Management Calculator and Task Prioritization

Go to the Time Management Calculator the course links to. Enter realistic estimates for how you spend time each day — sleep, work, class, commuting, eating, family obligations, and so on. Take a screenshot of the completed calculator. The screenshot itself is a submission requirement and is scored.

After the calculator, identify six tasks: two academic, two career, one personal/family — and note that one of the two career tasks is pre-specified. It is an in-town work retreat that takes up Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (6 hours) and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (4 hours). Those slots are already claimed. Everything else has to fit around them.

Prioritize the six tasks from 1 to 6 using one of the frameworks from MacKay’s article “The Everything Is Important Paradox.” You must name which strategy you used and explain your ranking logic. This is not freeform — the scoring guide explicitly checks whether you explained your rationale.

⚠️

The Work Retreat Is a Test Point, Not Just a Calendar Task

The mandatory in-town work retreat is specifically designed to test how you handle a scheduling conflict that disrupts your normal weekend. The reflection section asks you to describe how the retreat impacted your time organization approach and how you used critical thinking to work around it. That means you need to actually grapple with it in your written reflection — not just mention it once and move on. Explain how you rearranged or adjusted other tasks because of it. That is what earns points under Competency 2 and Competency 3.

Part 2: Digital Calendar — Screenshots and Reflection

Use Google Calendar, the iPhone calendar app, or Microsoft Outlook. Add each of the six tasks as appointments with specific start and end times — not just labels. The Saturday retreat runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Sunday retreat runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Both need to appear in your calendar.

Take a screenshot showing the full weekly view with all six tasks visible. Add it to your report document. Then write your reflection. The reflection is not a summary — it is an explanation. Address these four things directly:

1

Explain your time organization strategy and how it drove your ranking

Name the MacKay strategy you used. Explain why it made sense for your specific mix of tasks and life circumstances — not just what the strategy is in theory.

2

Note which resources informed which parts of the process

The library article you found and the MacKay blog post are both resources. Be specific about what each one contributed to how you thought about the task.

3

Describe how the work retreat affected your approach

What did you have to move, skip, or compress because of the Saturday and Sunday blocks? How did that constraint change your priorities? The assignment is checking whether you actually engaged with this challenge.

4

Reflect on how you evaluated the credibility of your library article

This connects to Competency 4. Explain what made the library source you found credible and relevant — not just that it came from the library, but why the specific article was a good fit for this task.

Assessment 4

Part D — File Organization: Folder Structure, Screenshots, and Digital Tool Selection

Part D splits into two distinct tasks. The first is purely technical — create a folder structure and sort six files into it correctly, then document everything with screenshots. The second is more reflective — choose two digital apps and find credible tutorials for them. Both feed into a 2–3 page report.

Part 1: Building the Folder Structure

Open your Documents folder. Create a new main folder named Student_Life_YourLastName (replace YourLastName with your actual last name). Inside it, create three subfolders: Tutorials, Writing Resources, and Policies. Then download the six provided files and move each one to the correct subfolder.

File NameCorrect SubfolderWhy
University Policy 3.01.01: Academic Integrity and Honesty Policies It is a university policy document
University Policy 4.01.01: FERPA and Learner Directory Information Policies It is a university policy document
Navigate the Courseroom Tutorials It is a how-to guide for using the Capella courseroom
Capella Microsoft OneDrive ePortfolio Job Aid Tutorials It is a job aid — a step-by-step guide for a tool
Paper Formatting Example Writing Resources It supports academic writing and formatting
Purpose Lit Review Example Writing Resources It supports literature review writing

Take four screenshots in total: the main folder (open, showing the three subfolders), then each subfolder open showing its contents. Insert all four into your Word document. Write a short paragraph about how easy or difficult the process was and how file organization helps you as a student and professional. Do not overthink this paragraph — it is a brief, honest reflection, not an essay.

📌

How to Take Screenshots That Actually Show What’s Required

On Windows, press Windows key + Shift + S to open the Snipping Tool — drag to select the area you need. On Mac, press Command + Shift + 4 and drag. The key is to capture the folder in an open state so the contents are visible. A screenshot of a closed folder icon is not enough. The instructor needs to see the actual files inside each subfolder. If your screenshots are blurry or cropped in a way that hides file names, retake them.

Part 2: Digital Tool Selection

You need to pick two apps — one from Office 365 (or an open-source equivalent) and one mindfulness or stress-management app. For each one, you need a tutorial or help resource from a credible online source, with the link included. Then you need to explain three things: why you chose each tool, why the tutorial is credible and relevant, and how you plan to use each tool to increase your productivity and digital confidence.

The credibility explanation is where a lot of students write vague statements like “it came from a reliable website.” That is not enough. Apply the information literacy strategies from the course — look at who created the content, whether it is current, whether it is from the official source for that tool (Microsoft’s own tutorial site for Office apps, for example), and whether the information is accurate and well-organized. State those specific criteria in your explanation.

Assessment 5

Part E — Library and Internet Research on Career Trends: Structure and Standards

Part E brings the course together. You pick a career field (the same one from Part A works well here), find two articles about emerging trends or current research — one from the Capella library and one from the Internet — and write a structured 2–4 page report analyzing both. Every source you use must have been published within the last 12 months.

Finding Your Two Sources

For the library article, log in to the Capella University Library and use the database search. The “Search Tips From a Seasoned Searcher” article the course references gives you a strategy for narrowing results. Use keywords that combine your career field with terms like “emerging trends,” “future of work,” “current research,” or “2025 workforce.” Set the publication date filter to the last 12 months. Choose a peer-reviewed article if you can find one — it scores better on the credibility explanation.

For the Internet article, use Google or another search engine. Look for publications from professional associations in your field, government sources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or established industry publications. A blog post from a random website will not meet the credibility standard the course expects. Aim for something from a recognizable, authoritative source.

What the Written Report Must Cover

For each source, your report needs four things. Do them in order for each article — do not mix the two articles together or the structure becomes hard to follow.

1

Summarize the main points of the source

One paragraph per article — in your own words

Write a genuine summary of what the article argues or reports. Do not copy sentences from the article. Put it in your own words, then note specifically which aspects of those main points connect to your personal interest in the career field. The “personally of interest” part is explicitly in the scoring guide — a generic summary without that connection will not score full points.

2

Explain what you learned about an emerging trend or current research

Cite specific details from the article to back it up

This is not a repeat of the summary — it goes one level deeper. Identify the specific trend, shift, finding, or development the article is reporting, and explain what it means for someone entering or working in that career field. Use specific details from the article (a statistic, a finding, a named trend or framework) as evidence. Vague statements like “the article shows technology is changing the field” will not satisfy the requirement to cite specific details.

3

Explain why the source is credible and relevant

Name the specific information literacy strategies you applied

This is the most directly graded part of Part E for Competency 4. You need to name the specific evaluation criteria you used — currency (published within the last 12 months), authority (who wrote it and what qualifies them), accuracy (is the information verifiable and free from errors), purpose (is the source trying to inform, or sell, or argue a position?). These align with standard information literacy frameworks like CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose) or the SIFT method. State which criteria you applied and what you found when you applied them to each source.

4

Conclusion: How you will use this for your professional journey

Specific, forward-looking — not a general summary

The conclusion asks you to explain how the information from both articles will inform your future career planning. Be specific — name an actual skill, trend, or development from the articles and say concretely how it changes what you will do to prepare. For example: “The article on AI integration in healthcare administration confirms that data analysis skills are increasingly expected in non-clinical roles, which reinforces my decision to complete the data management elective in my current program.” That kind of specificity is what earns full marks on Competency 5.

Information Literacy

Evaluating Sources with SIFT: What the Course Expects You to Do

The course references the SIFT method — developed by Mike Caulfield — as the framework for evaluating whether online information and companies are credible. SIFT shows up in the grading criteria for Parts A, C, D, and E. Knowing it is not optional.

Framework — Credibility Evaluation

The SIFT Method for Evaluating Digital Sources

S Stop — Pause before sharing, citing, or trusting. Your first reaction to a source is often wrong. Slow down and check before you proceed. Pause first
I Investigate the source — Find out who is behind the content before you read it. Who wrote it? What is the organization? What is their track record? Check the author
F Find better coverage — Do not rely on one source. Look for how other credible sources cover the same claim or story. Consensus strengthens credibility. Cross-reference
T Trace claims, quotes, and media to their original context — A lot of online content strips context from original sources. Find the original and read it yourself. Go to the source

For Part A, when you are evaluating the credibility of the companies in the Indeed and CareerOneStop job postings, work through SIFT: Can you find the company easily with an independent Google search? Does the company have a real website with a physical address, contact information, and an established web presence? Does the information in the posting match what you find about the company elsewhere? Is the posting free from obvious errors or suspicious language?

The goal is not to be a professional fact-checker. It is to develop the habit of pausing and checking before you trust — especially when the stakes are professional or academic.

— Core principle of digital literacy in professional contexts

For Part E, when you explain why your sources are credible, you are doing SIFT in writing. Walk through what you checked: who wrote the article, what organization published it, when it was published, whether the information aligns with other credible sources, and what the purpose of the publication is. That kind of specific evaluation is exactly what Competency 4 is looking for.

Common Errors

What Students Get Wrong in COM-FPX1150 — and How to Avoid It

These are the patterns that show up repeatedly in COM-FPX1150 submissions. None of them are about the course being unfair. They are all about not reading the scoring guide carefully enough.

Practices That Score Well

  • Address every sub-question the assessment instructions list, even briefly
  • Use specific names, statistics, or details from sources — not general summaries
  • Apply SIFT explicitly and name the criteria when evaluating credibility
  • Include all screenshots in the document — not as separate files
  • Use correct file naming conventions for every submission
  • Write reflections that connect to your actual life and plans, not generic statements
  • Name the specific prioritization strategy you used in Part C — do not just describe your calendar
  • Delete all bracketed placeholder text from the Part B letter template before submitting

Common Scoring Losses

  • Pasting source text verbatim instead of summarizing in your own words
  • Forgetting to include the link for each job posting or online resource
  • Describing what digital literacy is without giving concrete, specific examples
  • Taking screenshots of closed folders — instructors need to see the contents
  • Treating the work retreat in Part C as a footnote instead of a substantive planning challenge
  • Finding sources older than 12 months for Part E — currency is explicitly checked
  • Submitting a report without a title page or reference page when both are required
  • Writing a reflection that simply restates what you did rather than explaining why

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Common Questions

FAQs: COM-FPX1150 Assignment Questions Answered

What is COM-FPX1150 about at Capella University?
COM-FPX1150, Introduction to Digital Literacy, is a foundational Capella course built around five practical assessments. It develops your ability to search for career information online, communicate professionally in Microsoft Word, organize your time using digital tools, manage files and folders efficiently, and find credible research through the Capella library. The course tests both your technical competency with digital tools and your ability to think critically about information quality — especially how you evaluate whether sources are credible and relevant to your purpose.
What is O*NET OnLine and how do you use it for Part A?
O*NET OnLine (onetonline.org) is a free occupational database maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor. It maps out the knowledge, skills, abilities, technology tools, and work activities associated with hundreds of occupations. For Part A of COM-FPX1150, you search for your chosen career title on O*NET, pull up the occupation page, and use it to identify the technology skills the role requires. You then summarize those skills in your own words, connect them to your personal education and experience, and include the direct URL to the O*NET occupation page in your report.
How do you apply the SIFT method to evaluate job postings in Part A?
SIFT stands for Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, and Trace claims to their original context. For job posting credibility in Part A, apply it this way: Stop and do not just assume a company is legitimate because it posted on Indeed. Investigate — search for the company independently and see what you find. Does it have a real website, a physical address, and a searchable presence? Find better coverage — do other sources (news, Glassdoor, LinkedIn) mention this company consistently? Trace — does the information in the posting match what you find about the company elsewhere? Document your findings and explain your conclusion about the company’s credibility. That explanation is what earns points under Competency 4.
What format does the Part B business letter need to follow?
The Part B letter uses a template Capella provides. You download the .docx template, format it so the company name and date are right-aligned at the top and the addressee and body are left-aligned, delete all the bracketed placeholder instruction text, complete each section with your own writing, run spell check in Word, and save it as Lastname_COM-FPX1150_A2_letter. The content covers plagiarism risks, how plagiarism affects professional careers, a definition of digital literacy with examples, and why digital literacy matters professionally. Both formatting and content are scored separately.
What are the six tasks required for Part C, and how should they be prioritized?
You choose six tasks: two academic, two career, and two personal/family. One of the two career tasks is pre-assigned — it is a mandatory in-town work retreat that occupies Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The other five tasks are your own choices. Prioritize all six using a specific framework from MacKay’s “The Everything Is Important Paradox” article — name the framework and explain your ranking logic. Add each task as a timed appointment in a digital calendar (Google Calendar, iPhone calendar, or Outlook), take a screenshot of the full weekly view showing all six tasks, and write a reflection that addresses how the work retreat impacted your planning approach.
How do you sort the six files correctly in Part D?
The six downloaded files go into three subfolders inside your main Student_Life_YourLastName folder. The Policies folder holds the two university policy PDFs (Academic Integrity and FERPA). The Tutorials folder holds the Navigate the Courseroom PDF and the Capella OneDrive ePortfolio Job Aid. The Writing Resources folder holds the Paper Formatting Example and the Purpose Lit Review Example. Take screenshots of the main folder and each subfolder in its open state so the file contents are visible — closed folder screenshots do not meet the requirement.
Where can I get help with COM-FPX1150 or other digital literacy assignments?
Smart Academic Writing provides support for digital literacy and computer science assignments at undergraduate and graduate level. Whether you need help structuring your Part A job search report, writing the Part B business letter, completing the reflection sections in Parts C and E, or building out the full library research report, our specialists can guide you through each assessment’s requirements. See the computer science and digital literacy assignment help page for more details. Related support for other Capella foundational courses is also available through our undergraduate assignment help service.
Final Thoughts

Approaching COM-FPX1150 the Right Way

COM-FPX1150 is a skills course. Every assessment asks you to do something — not just write about it. Screenshots have to show the right things. Calendar entries need actual time blocks. Source evaluations need named criteria, not vague claims about reliability. Job posting links have to be real, working URLs.

The writing itself does not need to be sophisticated. It needs to be direct, organized, and free of errors. Address every sub-question in the instructions. Use the scoring guide as a checklist before you submit — if a competency is listed and you cannot point to where in your paper you addressed it, add that content before you submit.

Most students who struggle with COM-FPX1150 are not struggling because the material is hard. They are struggling because they skimmed the instructions and missed a specific requirement — a screenshot, a credibility explanation, a named strategy, a correctly formatted file name. Read carefully. Submit complete work. And if any of the five assessments are giving you trouble, Smart Academic Writing’s academic specialists are available to help you work through them properly.