R661

Class 1, June 30, 2009:

We launched a completely new class today. We ran what was called a "Mobile Phone Help Centre". All the women who came were in the previous basic computer course as well. The overall verdict: It was great. The students left with smiling, thankful faces. We talked about mobile phone basics: How it works, what are some of the different terms (GSM, CDMA, 3G, Bluetooth) and finally got down to doing some messaging. The group learnt how to use predictive text. They all enjoyed and appreciated the considerably less effort in using this feature once it has been learnt. There was also a lot of group discussion between the participants on what each one knew about phones/plans etc. - it was a great forum for swapping information as well as learning some really "cool stuff". After some apprehension about how such a course could be run, we finally got it off the ground successfully and its a class that could be useful to many others. Many of them were happy that what we learnt will be useful for their daily lives. Next week will see us look at settings, alarms and reminders.

Students: Barbara, Emily, Li xiai, Linda, Rose, Amirthavalli
Instructor: Geetha

Class 2, July 7, 2009

Another interesting class. I have unlocked my

iPhone so its now operational. The class passed it around and tried to play around with it a little. It was interesting to talk to them about the convergence of devices. They were genuinely interested and enjoyed having the forum to discuss

this.

One lady decided that it might be better for her to get the iPhone rather than invest in a laptop/camera and music player so that she can travel with a single device. In terms of content, we worked on tone settings (silent mode), display settings, calender/reminders/alarms and photos. One pair was able to set up a bluetooth connection and send and receive photos.

The photos to the left were taken by the students on their phones.

Students: Barbara, Emily, Li xiai, Linda, Rose
Instructor: Geetha