CENTURY 21 JR. INPUT TECHNOLOGIES AND COMPUTER APPLICATIONS is a new text by Hoggatt, Shank, and Barksdale for grades 6-8. This text is targeted for an introductory course in middle school that teaches computer basics, the Internet, keyboarding, handwriting recognition, speech recognition, Tablet PCs, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), Microsoft OneNote, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database, programming, and Web pages.
The Instructional Design provides step-by-step guidance for student learning, with activities labeled as Learn, Practice, and Apply. Units are divided into chapters which are then divided into daily lessons.

The projects within the text are generic for different versions of Microsoft Office for Windows (XP and 2003). Screen illustrations will be shown from Office 2003, thus providing maximum flexibility.

Special end-of-chapter activities cover Career, Business, and Academic topics. For example, the About Business feature covers activities about entrepreneurship, economics, ethics, and workplace trends and issues. The Career and Life Skills Success Builder feature covers activities about careers, leadership, and teamwork. The Academic Success Builder covers a math review, communication and reading review, and youth organizations.