Appropriate Technology

Our local community education course catalog just arrived. This online course caught my eye:

HOW TO USE THE INTERNET – THE BASICS

This is a course for “newbies” to the technological world of the Internet. It is a self paced, basic, online course that is easy to follow. Topics covered are: Introduction to Cyberspace, Vocabulary and Practice, Netiquette, E-Mail, Search Engines and How to Surf.

Am I just naive in thinking that “newbies” might not be familiar with the term “newbies” (or the term “netiquette”)? And I am all for the use of instructional technology, but is an online (only) course the best way to teach the basics of email and surfing the web?