SMS3.3

Our class today endeavoured to try out a few different applications and tools. The students worked on the typing tutor as well as using an application for mouse clicking. They also worked on an online quiz which helped them move through a test - a skill that many of them need to learn. In addition to this we also did the excercise on edit functions (Cut, copy, paste).

The class turnout today was significantly lower. This was a little disappointing but I'm hoping this was a one off event and that things may return to normal next week. However, with the school holidays fast approaching, we'll have to see how things turn out.

Class Hours: 2.0
Instructors: 1
Participants: 4 ( Amal, Gamalat, Finda, Gemeila )
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 4

MRC2.7

We've finished all but one class in this series. It's been a productive course with a number of people learning a fair amount and progressing well. Today, the class opened email accounts and tried sending a few emails. Once they overcame the difficulties in logging in and remembering cryptic passwords, things were a lot smoother.

We also revised some of the previously visited concepts and most of them were sent links in their response emails which they then followed to browse the news (most of which was focussed on the unfortunate spate of attacks in Mumbai).

Class Hours: 2.0
Instructors: 1
Participants: 5 (Madelina Ary , Tarekgn Russoom, Mohamad Aria, Yordanos, Mary)
F:M : 3:2
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 5

WAS1.4

I had my fourth and final class with the Liberian Womens group at the WASH house in Mt Druitt today. The women worked with the typing application for the first few minutes before we got into discussing fonts & formatting. I asked them to do the excercise that involves typing and formatting the Australian National Anthem.

Although this is a small group, they are very quick learners and I always end up feeling that I should have packed more into each class in order to accelerate their learning.

This group was hoping that I would be able to come in for a few more weeks. Unfortunately, I don't really think this is going to be possible due to transport and time constraints. This is rather unfortunate and I hope I can work something out so that I can do a few more classes with them early next year.

Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1
Participants: 6 (Annita, Joyce King, Nanseh, Marie Layweh, Marie, Babygirl)
Course Handouts: 2 pp
Computers Used: 5

SMS3.2

We had our second of eight classes for the Darfuri Womens group between 12.30 and 2.30 at SydWest Multicultural Services Inc. today. This is a truly engaging group and I'm constantly stretching myself so that I can help them progress faster. I tried a different format of class today since a big part of teaching this group is to encourage them to stay focussed on their activity.

I have done a number of different things in our first two classes. During the first class I had emphasised the importance of reading, writing, listening and speaking as paths to learning. I have also structured the class so that each student is expected to do at least some of each. I also write on the whiteboard in order to slow down the tempo and to emphasize certain key words.

Today I explained a concept or idea and then asked them to execute a small activity to back it up. For e.g, we discussed point and click and then clicked the start button to open the Start Menu. We discussed menus and then went back and used the start Menu to open the all programs menu. We discussed program windows and then they were asked to open a program. I did something else that I had not done with earlier classes which was to ask them to open multiple windows and getting them to use the minimize, resize and close buttons. I think we built a good foundation by doing these mini activities and I repeatedly used these words so that by the end, if I said minimize your window - they were quite happy to do so - which was remarkable and heartening.


Once again, Alice stayed around and helped with the class - she is proving to be very competent and capable. Hopefully, she will be helping out with next Thursdays class as well.

Class Hours: 2.0
Instructors: 2
Participants: 9 ( Amal, Aisha, Almarina, Safia, Gamalat, Finda, Fatma, Nagwa, Gemeila )
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 7

MRC2.6

In our 9.30 am class the students were introduced to the concept of the internet, browsers and webpages. This is the first time I have really taught this module and had students carry out the activities such as accessing a url and using a search engine. Before class, I also loaded a typing application (Courtesty James). It basically displays different letters and provides students a timed interval where they should try to type in the letters. Some of the students loved it and improved showed significant improvement after playing with it for about half an hour. Some were indifferent.

Alice has been helped out with this class today and did a very good job.

Class Hours: 2.0
Instructors: 1
Participants: 5 (Madelina Ary , Tarekgn Russoom, Mohamad Aria, Yordanos, Mary)
F:M : 3:2
Course Handouts: 5 pp
Computers Used: 5

TBC1.8

Today was our final class for this course. The classes at Toongabbie Community Centre were independently run by inherIT with all materials and resources being provided by the organisation. Our students did an activity of their choice today in order to consolidate their learning.

As Kumuthini said: Today, I was finally able to open the file on my own and start typing and then save it. I could not do any of this before.

To some of us, this may seem elementary, but the students - especially the ones who need more help, appreciate that a patient and considerate environment is provided for them to learn despite their difficulties. As some of them pointed out, this is not the case in many normal classes.

Since this will be my last post on this set of classes, i'd like to mention how we went about setting up this class. inherIT has rented a room in the Community Centre from Holroyd Council. Some publicity material was distributed through the SydWest MCS as well as at Blacktown library. We also did a few mailouts in the neighbourhoods surrounding the centre. Overall, I would say we did very little pulicity, however our class did fill up. Our aim was to take upto 8 students but certain classes ended up having upto 10 and some only 6. Every Monday and Tuesday, we have taken our own laptops and set these up. Towards the end, the students were able to set up and dismantle laptops on their own. Some of the teachers and participants were picked up and dropped. We did not print materials but provided folders with activities of varying levels that the students were free to use and they were given notebooks and encouraged to take notes. Some of the participants photocopied the notes for their own use.

Overall, this has been what I would consider a good first step and the students are extremely keen to have more classes and progress further. Most of those who attended today were looking forward to Jan/Feb when I have promised to kick off classes once again.

Now that I have made these promises, it is going to be a huge effort to revamp and restructure the material based on the experience with this group. I am especially skeptical about the usefuleness of the material for people who have trouble reading and need to think of how to help these people to progress a little better.

Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 2 (Genifer + Geetha)
Participants: 6 (Lynne, Kokhila, Rebecca, Kumuthini, Abuk , Madelina)
Course Handouts: None
Computers Used: 5 (+1, Lynne bought her own laptop)

TBC1.7

We had another rather lively class today. Most of the students worked on different activities based on their own interests. The ones who have progressed have done so remarkably well and spent much of today helping out the others in the class. They are comfortable doing various functions and using different applications on the computer. There are a number of them who are still struggling and for whom my current teaching methods were not effective. Veering away from typing intensive activities is probably going to be a key focus area when I concentrate on course development during December/January.


Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1
Participants: 9 (Lynne, Eamon, Kumuthini, Kokhila, Ariet, Rebecca, Hakima, Rawda, Abuk )
Course Handouts: None
Computers Used: 6 (+1, Lynne bought her own laptop)

SMS3.1

We kicked off yet another set of classes at SydWest Multicultural Services Inc (Formerly Blacktown Migrant Resource Centre). These classes will run between 12.30 and 2.30 every Thursday and is primarily for the Darfuri womens group at the centre.

Many of these women have come from rather difficult circumstances and in many cases, have limited literacy and numeracy skills. It will be a challenge to engage these women and provide them a useful learning experience. The first class however, did go rather well.

We covered basic computer parts, keyboard layout and mouse clicks. The students typed in their personal details on the computer and saved their work. Most of them seemed very happy with the class.

It was definitely the largest class I have taken till now but a really good one since the women seemed very enthusiastic and we built up a good rapport. Unfortunately, I failed to take a photograph during this class since I was too engrossed in juggling the 10 women.

Class Hours: 2.0
Instructors: 1
Participants: 10 (Grace, Amal, Aisha, Almarina, Kadhiga, Safia, Kamalat, Jackline, Finda, )
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 7

MRC2.5

The morning class at the MRC (Future posts will refer to the MRC as SMS or SydWest Multicultural Services) today covered powerpoint. We also had a brief discussion of the concepts we covered in previous classes so that the students could recollect what they had done earlier.

We had one new student and since she was early I ran through some of the material covered in earlier classes and will do so once again in the next class.

The students are gradually getting acclimatized to the idea of opening and using other applications and quite a few of them found it interesting to play around with powerpoint/impress.

Class Hours: 2.0
Instructors: 1
Participants: 6 (Madelina Ary , Tarekgn Russoom, Mohamad Aria, Nagwa Lino, Nahid, Yordanos)
F:M : 4:2
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 6

TBC1.6

Our third week of classes came to a close today. We have one final week where students will be encouraged to consolidate their learning and do something independently. Overall, it has been a fascinating experience and one that has resulted in a few different learning outcomes. Some of the students have progressed rapidly and have even completed advanced excercises in excel and powerpoint (or OpenOffice Calc and Impress respectively).

A stiff challenge still remains in trying to address students with minimal literacy skills and consequent learning difficulties. It will require a fair amount of thinking to enhance their learning experience. At present, these students tend to stagnate at the point where they keep typing in different pieces of text in notepad/word. However, since they struggle with English, this may not be the best method and an alternative approach using other tools/applications may in fact lead to more improvement for these women.

Lastly, I would like to comment on the teachers/aides that have helped out during these lessons. Madelina has done some basic set up and tear down and helped some students with basic typing skills. Genifer has helped one or two students with their excercises. She is able to grasp new excercises very quickly and makes a good effort to help them as much as possible. Kamili has taught computer applications in the past and has also helped with a few classes. Going forward, we may look into providing training for teachers so that we can build a stronger set of potential teachers who can deliver future classes and are more aware of the raison d'etre of inherIT

Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1
Participants: 6 (Lynne, Angela Rashid, Eamon, Kumuthini, Kokhila, Ariet )
Course Handouts: None
Computers Used: 5 (+1, Lynne bought her own laptop)

TBC1.5

Our class today was a lot quieter. A few of them worked on power point presentations. Others on Excel and still others on typing and saving files.

Unfortunately, due to a malfunctioning camera, we don't have photos today. In all, we had 7 students today and some of them are making very good progress. Some of the students have finished all the activities that I covered in 8 classes in under 5 classes. Although it does not lend itself to a structured class, having activity sheets and allowing students to progress at their own speed has resulted on a few of them finishing the course content easily.

This has been a bane and boon. On one side, it has forced us to create new activity sheets on a regular basis. On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly difficult to cater to the needs of students without getting into things which are rather advanced and should probably not find a place in a basic computer literacy course.

Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1
Participants: 6 (Lynne, Hakima Kur, Eamon, Kumuthini, Kokhila, Ariet )
Course Handouts: None
Computers Used: 5 (+1, Lynne bought her own laptop)

MRC2.4

Our class today focussed on teaching the group how to use the formatting functions in a document editor. Some of the students used MS Word and others used OpenOffice Writer.

It was good to see that the students wanted me to explain things I had not covered in the notes, including how to align text, how to change the colour or even to highlight text.

Class Hours: 2.0
Instructors: 1
Participants: 6 (Irma Dure, Madelina Ary , Tarekgn Russoom, Mohamad Aria, Nagwa Lino, Surrya)
F:M : 4:2
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 6

TBC1.4

In today's class, we had a total of 11 students! We had 6 laptops and a large excess of people. Some women were asked to work in groups and others were given their own laptops. For the most part, the women did not mind but it is something that needs to be addressed more clearly for future classes. I may not have said this explicitly in the past, but our classes till now have demonstrated that weak students often benefit a lot more from working in groups - so although this is a concern, not one that diminishes their learning. Also, the solution is to get some of them to do some learning excercises without the computer.

Most of our students worked on the bullets and numbering excercise today as well as trying out power point presentation.

I had two new people walk into the class today - due to their friends telling them of the classes. It was heartening but also an eye opener. Although a large amount of research and strategising has gone into defining inherIT's aims and primary objective - there is a certain energy that one derives when you see confirmation of your views/analysis.

It is slowly becoming evident that these classes are a viable and very much needed service. Our primary concern at this point is trying to get the process and model in place. If the classes can become more streamlined, the next step would be getting additional instructors and establishing a few locations where regular classes or learning centres would be open to the public. Perhaps this is a premature discussion but one that I thought to put down today.

Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 2
Participants: 11 (Lynne, Angela Rashid, Rebecca Oman, Hakima Kur, Eamon, Kumuthini, Kokhila, Priya, Abuk, Ariet, Rawda )
Course Handouts: None
Computers Used: 6 (+1, Lynne bought her own laptop)

TBC1.3

We had a productive class today. Our students did varied activities. Most of them completed the activity on formatting & fonts. We also did an excercise to use bullets and numbering.

This class is proving to be very challenging. Many of the participants are more advanced and progressing very fast. They tend to complete two activities a day so I will have to look into planning for the week ahead to make sure that everyone has adequete work next week.

Kamili helped out with the classes today and that eased things considerably. I think its good for the students as well since they are able to learn from different people with different styles. I imagine that listening to the same teacher could be boring.

Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 2
Participants: 8 (Jaqlynne, Lynne, Angela, Rebecca Oman, Hakima Kur, Eamon, Kumuthini, Kokhila, )
Course Handouts: None
Computers Used: 6 (+2, Lynne and Jaqlynne bought their own laptops)