TBC3

Class 1, 5th May, 2009: We started a new class at the Toongabbie community centre. We had 9 women in todays class and it progressed quite well. We did a round of introductions and worked through the parts of the computer, mouse usage and keyboard layout. We had a slight shortage of laptops but we are going to have 9 next week.

Class Hours: 1.5

Instructors: 1 (Geetha)

Participants: 9 ( Li Xiai, Barbara, Emily, Amirthavalli, Linda, Thema, Clare, Liberty, Rose)

Course Handouts: 4 pp

Computers Used: 6

Class 2, 12th May, 2009: In our class today, we worked on opening and saving files as well as typing in a notepad and using paint. We had 8 students and 8 working laptops which was good. The students found the class interesting to some extent. However, there is still some thought and work required to see how the classes can be made more collaborative. Although the students interact with the instructor - there is a not much cross learning and it is going to be an ongoing challenge to work out how to foster this. We also had two women walk in today - which was both interesting and worrisome. There is obviously scope to have this as an open centre - and perhaps some thought needs to go into establishing a more permanent walk in centre.

Class Hours: 1.5, Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8 ( Li Xiai, Barbara, Emily, Amirthavalli, Linda, Clare, Liberty, Rose)
Course Handouts: 0 Computers Used: 8

Class 3, 19th May, 2009: We had a special guest in todays class. Antonina is doing some research on how computer literacy classes can be made more effective and accessible for migrant communities. She talked to the group briefly towards the end. During class, we worked on cut copy and paste. We briefly discussed the formatting functions although we have yet to do the excercise related to this.
Class Hours: 1.5, Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8 ( Li Xiai, Barbara, Emily, Amirthavalli, Linda, Clare, Liberty, Rose)
Course Handouts: 0 Computers Used: 8

Class 4, 26th May, 2009: We had a really good class today. So mumuch so that one student lost track of time and was surprised when i said we would have to wind down. We used a new resource today - a dummmy internet page with links to show people how to navigate their way through webpages. This was reasonably effective. Students also went through the excercise on fonts and formatting. Overall an effective class and all eight regulars turned up. They all really like the class and thats quite heartening.

Class Hours: 1.5, Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 8 ( Li Xiai, Barbara, Emily, Amirthavalli, Linda, Clare, Liberty, Rose) Course Handouts: 0 Computers Used: 8

Class 5, 2 June, 2009: What can I say? This class just gets better everyday. The students are learning a lot and enjoying themselves tremendously. I tend to go off on a tangent and teach them all kinds of things. We even discussed the space that different files occupy and how we could check if our computer had enough space or not. They used OpenOffice Impress to create presentations. They also started on a few internet related activities. Jacksonpollock.org was a firm favourite as was origami space tennis.

Class Hours: 1.5, Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 8 ( Li Xiai, Barbara, Emily, Amirthavalli, Linda, Clare, Liberty, Rose) Course Handouts: 0 Computers Used: 8

Class 6, 9 June, 2009: Unfortunately the internet connection refused to work today. As a result, we ended up doing more word processing and spreadsheet activities. The students enjoyed the experience overall and we also did a recap of the things learnt to date. In the absence of the internet connection, we may have a look at photos and downloading photos from cameras next week.
Class Hours: 1.5, Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 8 ( Li Xiai, Barbara, Emily, Amirthavalli, Linda, Clare, Liberty, Rose) Course Handouts: 0 Computers Used: 8

Class 7, 16 June, 2009: We had a sketchy internet connection today so the students managed to try out a few of the activities online. Many of them also typed up a recipe to share with the group. We're trying to put together a recipe book to be published towards the end of the year. It might be a nice activity to encourage the students since there would be a definite outcome for their work. Many of the students are quite interested in the mobile phone and photo editing courses coming up and seem to be quite interested in continuing on with different classes.

Class Hours: 1.5, Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 8 ( Li Xiai, Barbara, Emily, Amirthavalli, Linda, Liberty, Rose) Course Handouts: 0 Computers Used: 8

Class 8, 23 June, 2009: Our group here has become like a ladies club. The ladies come. They learn. They enjoy learning. And they are all coming back for more. We have two short classes coming up in the next few weeks - one for mobile phone help and another for photo editing. A lot of these ladies would like to come back. We are slowly reaching the stage where these ladies see this is a regular Tuesday morning commitment and would like to see it continue. This is an interesting trend - one that was anticipated but now that its happening - is food for thought.

Back to todays class. As a finale, we ran through what we have learnt over the last few weeks. There was a simple excercise that got the students to practice multiple functions in a simple excercise. We also had a small raffle where students were asked to make their own tickets by writing down as many computer related word that they could. It seemed to be a nice way to get the students to put down their thoughts - some of them - although very quiet - really surprised me with rather accurate and detailed explanations.

Class Hours: 1.5, Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 6 ( Li Xiai, Barbara, Amirthavalli, Linda, Rose, Clare) Course Handouts: 0 Computers Used: 6