Class 1, October 28th:
We covered basic first class material and had a long discussion about computer learning experiences that others had had in the past. We covered some basic vocabulary and also looked at how to use the mouse and keyboard. The ladies worked on excercises to type out a sentence in notepad and used paint to draw a picture.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7( Deanee, Margaret, Florence, Dawn Skidmore, Rihab El Sayed, Rozalia Kiss, Genevieve)
Computers Used: 7
Class 2, November 4th:
The second in a series of 6 classes, this one proved to be quite challenging. The women did two excercises - one to learn how to use cut, copy and paste and another to learn about formatting functions. Overall, the women learnt a fair bit and seemed to pick up some new things. They like having things explained to them in simple terms and tend to ask a lot of questions - which is great.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8( Rose, Deanee, Margaret, Florence, Dawn Skidmore, Rihab El Sayed, Rozalia Kiss, Genevieve)
Computers Used: 8
Class 3, Nov 11th, 2009:
In today's class we worked on an excercise to practice their cut, copy and paste skills, as well as doing a small presentation on openoffice impress. The cut, copy paste excercise required them to rearrange the days of the week in a document. Many of them found it quite hard but learnt a bit through trying the excercise.
Class 4, Nov 18th, 2009:
Today was a more theoretical class. I'm always apprehensive about delivering these kind of classes since its important to make the students understand the value of understanding the structure and parts of a computer. Most times, I've found that telling them that these are the things you need to look for when you buy a computer is a good way to get their attention. Interestingly, explaining the fundamental computer structure and how programs are run and swapped in and out also helps them to understand the concept of folders, files and programs a little better. Hopefully, this is what we achieved today. We also looked at some functions on the control panel - again, this is a winner with some of the women, especially the older ones who are thrilled to find out they can make the font larger on their screen.
Class 5, 25th November, 2009:
We discussed the internet today and had a look at how it works, and how you would use it to search for information. The class also learnt about bullets and numbers and worked on a spreadsheet excercise we had not completed earlier on.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
TBC5
Class 1, October 13th:
Our final course at Toongabbie started off on October 13th and was well attended. The group comprised of women from the local area - many of them long time residents but completely unfamiliar with computers and eager to learn. We covered some basic computer parts and how to use the mouse. It was a good class and a nice group of women!
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7( Lorraine, Carmen, Margaret, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Therese Grech)
Computers Used: 7
Class 2, October 20th:
We covered some basic material on files and programs as well as talking at length about edit functions. The women worked on doing an excercise involving cut, copy and paste functions. The class was a little small due to many absentees but I hope the people who came learnt a little.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 6( Therese Grech, Margaret, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Selvarani)
Computers Used: 7
Class 3, October 27th:
The class worked on formatting functions today. Many of the women completed two excercises and some of them just about managed to squeeze in one. Overall, a successful class. Yet again, this group is starting to enjoy the classes a lot and tends to go off the beaten path to discuss random things - which is good.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 6( Therese Grech, Margaret, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Selvarani)
Computers Used: 7
Class 4, November 3rd:
The class worked on formatting and tables today. Some of the class have gone ahead and completed a number of different activities - others are still struggling but are persistant and never stop moving forward.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 (Therese Grech, Margaret, Carmen, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Selvarani)
Computers Used: 7
Class 5, November 10th, 2009:
We looked at two new programs today - open office impress and calc. The ladies enjoyed these small excercises. We also did an activity to practice cut, copy and paste and most of them found themselves stumbling over this one.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 (Therese Grech, Margaret, Carmen, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Selvarani)
Computers Used: 7
Class 6, Nov 18th, 2009:
An interesting class where we covered control panel functions and looked at how we could create folders. We started with a discussion of the conceptual and physical layout of the computer followed by a few configuration changes in windows. This was followed by a simple excercise to create folders. Rather, it is intended to be simple but seems to always confound people. I'm not sure if its just not being taught well enough or its a genuinely difficult concept to handle.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 (Therese Grech, Margaret, Carmen, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Selvarani)
Computers Used: 7
Class 7, Nov 24th, 2009:
It was an odd class. I probably talked more than I should have. We discussed various programs, files and how they are related. We also talked about computers, the way informatoin is structured and accessed on computers and how this is having an impact on society at large. A lot of the ladies in this group found this interesting. We even ended up discussing whether the future generation will have sufficient social skills since many don't have as many opportunities for human interaction as their predecessors. This was followed by a short time spent on doing some excercises which people had been unable to complete at an earlier time.
Class Hours: 1.5 hours
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 (Therese Grech, Vamini, Selvarani, Dianne, Terry, Lorraigne, Margeret)
Computers Used: 7
Our final course at Toongabbie started off on October 13th and was well attended. The group comprised of women from the local area - many of them long time residents but completely unfamiliar with computers and eager to learn. We covered some basic computer parts and how to use the mouse. It was a good class and a nice group of women!
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7( Lorraine, Carmen, Margaret, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Therese Grech)
Computers Used: 7
Class 2, October 20th:
We covered some basic material on files and programs as well as talking at length about edit functions. The women worked on doing an excercise involving cut, copy and paste functions. The class was a little small due to many absentees but I hope the people who came learnt a little.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 6( Therese Grech, Margaret, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Selvarani)
Computers Used: 7
Class 3, October 27th:
The class worked on formatting functions today. Many of the women completed two excercises and some of them just about managed to squeeze in one. Overall, a successful class. Yet again, this group is starting to enjoy the classes a lot and tends to go off the beaten path to discuss random things - which is good.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 6( Therese Grech, Margaret, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Selvarani)
Computers Used: 7
Class 4, November 3rd:
The class worked on formatting and tables today. Some of the class have gone ahead and completed a number of different activities - others are still struggling but are persistant and never stop moving forward.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 (Therese Grech, Margaret, Carmen, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Selvarani)
Computers Used: 7
Class 5, November 10th, 2009:
We looked at two new programs today - open office impress and calc. The ladies enjoyed these small excercises. We also did an activity to practice cut, copy and paste and most of them found themselves stumbling over this one.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 (Therese Grech, Margaret, Carmen, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Selvarani)
Computers Used: 7
Class 6, Nov 18th, 2009:
An interesting class where we covered control panel functions and looked at how we could create folders. We started with a discussion of the conceptual and physical layout of the computer followed by a few configuration changes in windows. This was followed by a simple excercise to create folders. Rather, it is intended to be simple but seems to always confound people. I'm not sure if its just not being taught well enough or its a genuinely difficult concept to handle.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 (Therese Grech, Margaret, Carmen, Vamini, Dianne, Terry, Selvarani)
Computers Used: 7
Class 7, Nov 24th, 2009:
It was an odd class. I probably talked more than I should have. We discussed various programs, files and how they are related. We also talked about computers, the way informatoin is structured and accessed on computers and how this is having an impact on society at large. A lot of the ladies in this group found this interesting. We even ended up discussing whether the future generation will have sufficient social skills since many don't have as many opportunities for human interaction as their predecessors. This was followed by a short time spent on doing some excercises which people had been unable to complete at an earlier time.
Class Hours: 1.5 hours
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 (Therese Grech, Vamini, Selvarani, Dianne, Terry, Lorraigne, Margeret)
Computers Used: 7
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
WAS2
Class 1, 4th August, 2009:
We started a new course at the Emerton WASH house today. This is an initiative with a new partner organisation and the first class went very well. We covered the usual first class material and worked on the notepad and paint excercises (opening and saving files). The participants were from diverse backgrounds and it was a pleasure to work with this group.
Class 3, 18th August, 2009:
A very interesting class that yielded completely different results from the earlier one. We now have an excercise called "Things to try" which is a document with a jumbled list of days that needs to be ordered, copied and listed with numbers and bullets - and formatted a bit too. The class struggled a bit with this excercise. Although we had a brief presentation with snapshots explaining what needed to be done - most of them found it confusing once we went back to the document and started to do the excercise. Often, the interest/enjoyment or the struggle becomes collective - a group activity if you will. A nice class, and hopefully, they came out realising that the struggle was crucial to the learning process.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7( Helen Brennan, Viole Taleni, Noelene Chapman, Rihad El Sayed, Sonia Precilla, Denise White, Helen Vebosz)
Course Handouts: 6 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7( Helen Brennan, Viole Taleni, Noelene Chapman, Rihad El Sayed, Sonia Precilla, Denise White, Helen Vebosz)
Course Handouts: 6 pp
Computers Used: 7
Class 2, 11th August, 2009:
We worked on programs and files during this class and looked at how to use edit and format functions. We also discussed files and folders and how things are arranged and saved on a computer. This has been a tricky topic to teach most students. While a lot of them pick up the nuances of a single program quite easily most never really figure out how to navigate around a computer with ease. Hopefully today's explanation will help.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8( Helen Brennan, Viole Taleni, Noelene Chapman, Rihad El Sayed, Sonia Precilla, Jaclyn Mitchell, Denise White, Helen Vebosz)
Course Handouts: 6 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8( Helen Brennan, Viole Taleni, Noelene Chapman, Rihad El Sayed, Sonia Precilla, Jaclyn Mitchell, Denise White, Helen Vebosz)
Course Handouts: 6 pp
Computers Used: 8
Class 3, 18th August, 2009:
A very interesting class that yielded completely different results from the earlier one. We now have an excercise called "Things to try" which is a document with a jumbled list of days that needs to be ordered, copied and listed with numbers and bullets - and formatted a bit too. The class struggled a bit with this excercise. Although we had a brief presentation with snapshots explaining what needed to be done - most of them found it confusing once we went back to the document and started to do the excercise. Often, the interest/enjoyment or the struggle becomes collective - a group activity if you will. A nice class, and hopefully, they came out realising that the struggle was crucial to the learning process. Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7( Helen Brennan, Viole Taleni, Noelene Chapman, Rihad El Sayed, Sonia Precilla, Denise White, Helen Vebosz)
Course Handouts: 2 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7( Helen Brennan, Viole Taleni, Noelene Chapman, Rihad El Sayed, Sonia Precilla, Denise White, Helen Vebosz)
Course Handouts: 2 pp
Computers Used: 7
Class 4, 26th August, 2009:
The internet related sections of the class are always a little bit more cumbersome. Todays class focussed on email and we tried to set up all the students on email. It was an interesting class but one that is always a little fragmented since each person has to set up their own email account. A possible solution may be to use pre-configured email accounts for the purpose of teaching e-mail - thus reducing the time taken to set up individual e-mail accounts which may never be used again. To the point though, we did an excercise on openoffice impress to createa a presentation and also worked on sending and receiving emails.
Class Hours: 2 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 8( Helen Brennan, Viole Taleni, Noelene Chapman, Rihad El Sayed, Sonia Precilla, Jaclyn Mitchell, Denise White, Helen Vebosz) Course Handouts: 6 pp
Computers Used: 8
Computers Used: 8
Class 5, 1st September August, 2009:
We did a few different excercises today. The first was to log into email and look up a picture that was sent to everyone's email addresses. Once this was done, the women were introduced to the wonderful world wide web. Although some of them have browsed the net before, this class really ser ved to give them a flavour of the sheer variety of things that they may encounter online. After quite a bit of preparation, the laptops and internet connection were all in good order today and the excercises went rather well. The ladies had a brief look at 131500.com and cityrai.com. Apart from this they also took a look at some different websites - including this blog so that they could see how the course content could be accessed online and a space tennis game on an origami website. It was such a hit and that they wanted me to email the link: Mission accomplished. That sentence says it all. They wanted me to EMAIL them the LINK. sigh. If all this excitement wasn't enough - we did a little bit of work as well. We worked on the Calc excercise to type a list on a spreadsheet.
We did a few different excercises today. The first was to log into email and look up a picture that was sent to everyone's email addresses. Once this was done, the women were introduced to the wonderful world wide web. Although some of them have browsed the net before, this class really ser ved to give them a flavour of the sheer variety of things that they may encounter online. After quite a bit of preparation, the laptops and internet connection were all in good order today and the excercises went rather well. The ladies had a brief look at 131500.com and cityrai.com. Apart from this they also took a look at some different websites - including this blog so that they could see how the course content could be accessed online and a space tennis game on an origami website. It was such a hit and that they wanted me to email the link: Mission accomplished. That sentence says it all. They wanted me to EMAIL them the LINK. sigh. If all this excitement wasn't enough - we did a little bit of work as well. We worked on the Calc excercise to type a list on a spreadsheet.
Class Hours: 2 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 6( Helen Brennan, Viole Taleni, Noelene Chapman, Sonia Precilla, Denise White, Helen Vebosz) Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 6
Class 6, 8th September, 2009:
Our final class today. It was a real eye opener. The women whizzed through an excercise to type out a recipe in OpenOffice Writer. They also read and responded to an email asking for feedback. They sent some e-cards and we did a quick brush up of things done in past classes. The feedback was very positive overall. The women have enjoyed this course a lot and felt that the content was useful. Many were surprised that they were actually able to use the computer with some confidence. They never thought they would get this far. I did however warn them that any skills learnt wont last forever unless they use them!
Class Hours: 2 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 6( Helen Brennan, Rihab El Sayed, Noelene Chapman, Sonia Precilla, Denise White, Helen Vebosz) Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 6
Computers Used: 6
Class 6, 8th September, 2009:
Our final class today. It was a real eye opener. The women whizzed through an excercise to type out a recipe in OpenOffice Writer. They also read and responded to an email asking for feedback. They sent some e-cards and we did a quick brush up of things done in past classes. The feedback was very positive overall. The women have enjoyed this course a lot and felt that the content was useful. Many were surprised that they were actually able to use the computer with some confidence. They never thought they would get this far. I did however warn them that any skills learnt wont last forever unless they use them!Class Hours: 2 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 6( Helen Brennan, Rihab El Sayed, Noelene Chapman, Sonia Precilla, Denise White, Helen Vebosz) Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 6
TBC4
Class 1, 4th August, 2009:
A new course kicked off at the Toongabbie Community Centre. We had a few students who had attended the shorter holiday classes come back for the basic course. Our first class was quite interesting. Most of the people in this class have access to a computer at home and we were able to discuss various topics as we went through computer parts, keyboard layout and mouse usage. We also did two excercises. one to open and save a notepad file and another to do the same in paint.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 6 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Maree, Millie, Christine Nichols, Anne Woodley)
Course Handouts: N/A, Computers Used: 6
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 6 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Maree, Millie, Christine Nichols, Anne Woodley)
Course Handouts: N/A, Computers Used: 6
Class 2, 11th August, 2009:
We worked on edit and format functions. We also discussed topics related to folders, files and how to use windows explorer to find and locate folders and files.
Class Hours: 1.5, Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 7 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Maree, Millie, Christine Nichols, Anne Woodley, Kerrie), Course Handouts: N/A ,Computers Used: 7
Class 3, 18th August, 2009:
A lovely class with a lot of progress. The ladies worked on close to three excercises. One will have to start to generate new material for the last few classes of this series. They worked on a general excercise to practice edit and formatting functions and then went on to do some work on OpenOffice impress OpenOffice Calc.
Class 3, 18th August, 2009:
A lovely class with a lot of progress. The ladies worked on close to three excercises. One will have to start to generate new material for the last few classes of this series. They worked on a general excercise to practice edit and formatting functions and then went on to do some work on OpenOffice impress OpenOffice Calc.
Class Hours: 1.5
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Maree, Millie, Chritine Nichols, Anne Woodley, Kerrie)
Course Handouts: N/A
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Maree, Millie, Chritine Nichols, Anne Woodley, Kerrie)
Course Handouts: N/A
Computers Used: 7
Class 4, August 25th, 2009:
This was a difficult class since we have zoomed through to the last few activity sheets and we are still in Class 4. I keep wondering where these classes are most lacking and I know deep inside that it is with respect to files and programs. The question constantly arises - how much should a person understand what files and programs are? More importantly, how do you bring about this understanding. The students in this class can now typ
e out beautiful documents, format them and save them quite well. When I asked them to open three files and save them with different names in two different folders - this was a leap into the quantum world - many got lost. We had successfully put a dent in their slowly growing confidence. No harm though, we have another 4 classes to see how we can improve the understanding these ladies have of a computer and how they can go about dealing with them more effectively.
e out beautiful documents, format them and save them quite well. When I asked them to open three files and save them with different names in two different folders - this was a leap into the quantum world - many got lost. We had successfully put a dent in their slowly growing confidence. No harm though, we have another 4 classes to see how we can improve the understanding these ladies have of a computer and how they can go about dealing with them more effectively.Class Hours: 1.5 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 7 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Maree, Millie, Chritine Nichols, Anne Woodley, Kerrie) Course Handouts: N/A
Computers Used: 7
Class 5, 1st September, 2009:
The class today started off rather slowly. I was really quite apprehensive about this one because I decided that I was going to teach the women about the physical and conceptual layout of computers. Files, Programs, OS and the Hard disk, RAM and CPU. It started with me saying a lot and them just looking. UNtil we started discussing capacities and speeds - and then they were alert.... this is exactly what the electronics store sales guy had been going on about as they tried to nod along as if they understood. Anyway, we discussed a lot of different things but more on the computer science side. They enjoyed it and I was happy to be teaching this to a group. It really is a crucial part of making people TRULY technology aware. They may not become geeks, but a better understanding would probably increase patience and their inclination to keep using a device or to take up a new one. We also did an excercise with folders and files - creating them and moving around. The women just about got the hang of it - but barely.
Class Hours: 1.5 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 6 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Millie, Chritine Nichols, Anne Woodley, Kerrie) Course Handouts: N/A
Computers Used: 7
Class 6, 8th September, 2009:
The ladies in this class are being patient as a I meander about trying to put together new material for them to learn every week. This class has been a ground breaking one in many respects. The normal class content has been completed in the first 5 classes. Since then, we've been going with the flow. This week saw us looking at the control panel. For the first time, I showed the class how to use the control panel to set desktop backgrounds, change clicking options and speed and also set accessibility options (Larger text). It was useful for them to understand that the control panel provides the user a ton of options to configure their system to their taste and convenience. Again, most women tend to try and use technology as its given to them. Its probably about time that more people took time to configure their system. The double click for instance. You can configure your system for single clicks (even when opening items). I wonder why we double click at all. Its not great for the wrist and it might help if we clicked less. Anyway, lots of new things taught - including how to use formulas in a spreadsheet.
Class Hours: 1.5 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 6 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Millie, Maree, Anne Woodley, Kerrie) Course Handouts: N/A
Computers Used: 6
Class 7, 17th September, 2009:
Based on the class request, we covered GIMP today and learnt how to use it to crop, edit and resize photos. We tried to work through creating folders and moving files and photos into different folders. This seems to be something that a lot of new computer users find difficult. I'm still not certain what makes it hard. You need to arrange things and organize them in a logical fashion and then you need to remember where you put something to be able to go back and find it. Apparently though, its not that easy.
Class Hours: 1.5 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 6 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Millie, Maree, Anne Woodley, Kerrie) Course Handouts: N/A
Computers Used: 6
Computers Used: 7
Class 5, 1st September, 2009:
The class today started off rather slowly. I was really quite apprehensive about this one because I decided that I was going to teach the women about the physical and conceptual layout of computers. Files, Programs, OS and the Hard disk, RAM and CPU. It started with me saying a lot and them just looking. UNtil we started discussing capacities and speeds - and then they were alert.... this is exactly what the electronics store sales guy had been going on about as they tried to nod along as if they understood. Anyway, we discussed a lot of different things but more on the computer science side. They enjoyed it and I was happy to be teaching this to a group. It really is a crucial part of making people TRULY technology aware. They may not become geeks, but a better understanding would probably increase patience and their inclination to keep using a device or to take up a new one. We also did an excercise with folders and files - creating them and moving around. The women just about got the hang of it - but barely.
Class Hours: 1.5 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 6 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Millie, Chritine Nichols, Anne Woodley, Kerrie) Course Handouts: N/A
Computers Used: 7
Class 6, 8th September, 2009:
The ladies in this class are being patient as a I meander about trying to put together new material for them to learn every week. This class has been a ground breaking one in many respects. The normal class content has been completed in the first 5 classes. Since then, we've been going with the flow. This week saw us looking at the control panel. For the first time, I showed the class how to use the control panel to set desktop backgrounds, change clicking options and speed and also set accessibility options (Larger text). It was useful for them to understand that the control panel provides the user a ton of options to configure their system to their taste and convenience. Again, most women tend to try and use technology as its given to them. Its probably about time that more people took time to configure their system. The double click for instance. You can configure your system for single clicks (even when opening items). I wonder why we double click at all. Its not great for the wrist and it might help if we clicked less. Anyway, lots of new things taught - including how to use formulas in a spreadsheet.
Class Hours: 1.5 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 6 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Millie, Maree, Anne Woodley, Kerrie) Course Handouts: N/A
Computers Used: 6
Class 7, 17th September, 2009:
Based on the class request, we covered GIMP today and learnt how to use it to crop, edit and resize photos. We tried to work through creating folders and moving files and photos into different folders. This seems to be something that a lot of new computer users find difficult. I'm still not certain what makes it hard. You need to arrange things and organize them in a logical fashion and then you need to remember where you put something to be able to go back and find it. Apparently though, its not that easy.
Class Hours: 1.5 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 6 (Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Millie, Maree, Anne Woodley, Kerrie) Course Handouts: N/A
Computers Used: 6
Class 8, 24th September, 2009: Our final class for this course and it was quite a simple affair. The ladies had a chance to refresh the things we'd learnt in previous classes and have some time going over the excercises we had done before. The class was quite happy with the course overall and would like to know if any advanced calsses are planned.
Class Hours: 1.5 Instructors: 1 (Geetha) Participants: 4(Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson,Anne Woodley, Kerrie) Course Handouts: N/A Computers Used: 4
Thursday, July 30, 2009
SMS10
We had a small class today and our four students worked on the basic first course material. Topics covered: Parts of the computer, keyboard layout and and important keys, mouse usage.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 4( Malini Thevey, Nyanchol, Wahiba Elnour, Finda Gbanda)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 4( Malini Thevey, Nyanchol, Wahiba Elnour, Finda Gbanda)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 4
Class 2, August 6th, 2009:
The afternoon class saw us covering the excercises related to notepad and paint. Some of the women enjoyed themselves and others found the excercises cumbersome. This is a more difficult class as many of the participants find it harder to read english. however, most of them are able to do the work relatively easily once it has been demonstrated.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 6( Malini Thevey, Nyanchol, Judy Fernando, Ashay, Halima Tawoor, Andonusia yel)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 6( Malini Thevey, Nyanchol, Judy Fernando, Ashay, Halima Tawoor, Andonusia yel)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 6
Class 3, August 13th, 2009:
In today's class we discussed files, programs and did an excercise working on cut, copy and paste. The students managed to complete this task fairly easily.
Class 3, August 13th, 2009:
In today's class we discussed files, programs and did an excercise working on cut, copy and paste. The students managed to complete this task fairly easily.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 9( Malini Thevey, Finda Gbanda, Achold dieng, Ashay Deng, Susan Lulun Elias, Mariam Araz, Rebecca Langauaya, Andonusia Yen, Ashay)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 9( Malini Thevey, Finda Gbanda, Achold dieng, Ashay Deng, Susan Lulun Elias, Mariam Araz, Rebecca Langauaya, Andonusia Yen, Ashay)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 9
Class 4, August 20th, 2009:
In today's class we discussed formatting and completed the excercise on fonts and formatting. We also introduced the internet and started to look at webpages and use links.
Class 4, August 20th, 2009:
In today's class we discussed formatting and completed the excercise on fonts and formatting. We also introduced the internet and started to look at webpages and use links.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8( Malini Thevey, Finda Gbanda, Achold dieng, Susan Lulun Elias, Rebecca Langauaya, Mary, Judy Fernando, Nyanchol)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8( Malini Thevey, Finda Gbanda, Achold dieng, Susan Lulun Elias, Rebecca Langauaya, Mary, Judy Fernando, Nyanchol)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 8
Class 5, August 27th, 2009:
The class worked on power point and excel today. Some of the women already seem quite familiar with using the internet but we worked through the 131500 website in order to introduce them to forms and drop down boxes. Its hard to gather whether the women understand why they are doing these things or if they just find it confusing. Hopefully they understood my explanations on the usefulness of knowing how to use forms online.Class 5, August 27th, 2009:
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 6( Malini Thevey, Finda Gbanda, Achold dieng, Mariama Bangura, Wahiba, Nyanchol)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 6( Malini Thevey, Finda Gbanda, Achold dieng, Mariama Bangura, Wahiba, Nyanchol)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 6
Class 6, 3rd September, 2009:
We discussed the physical and conceptual layout of a computer as well as discussing files and folders. with this class, we also had a look at the control panel and learnt how to configure the desktop picture and change the double click speed. Lastly, the class started off on the bullets and numbering excercise.
Class 6, 3rd September, 2009:
We discussed the physical and conceptual layout of a computer as well as discussing files and folders. with this class, we also had a look at the control panel and learnt how to configure the desktop picture and change the double click speed. Lastly, the class started off on the bullets and numbering excercise.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7( Judy Fernando, Finda Gbanda, Achold dieng, Wahiba, Nyanchol, Ashay Rebecca Languaya)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7( Judy Fernando, Finda Gbanda, Achold dieng, Wahiba, Nyanchol, Ashay Rebecca Languaya)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 7
Class 7, 10th September, 2009:
The class completed an excercise to configure various settings using their control panel. They also started work on an excercise to type up a document with tables and text. They found this quite tough but it was heartening to see some of them have progressed considerably since they first started!
The class completed an excercise to configure various settings using their control panel. They also started work on an excercise to type up a document with tables and text. They found this quite tough but it was heartening to see some of them have progressed considerably since they first started!
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 5( Achold dieng, Wahiba, Nyanchol, Ashay, Susan Elias)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 5( Achold dieng, Wahiba, Nyanchol, Ashay, Susan Elias)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 5
Class 8, 17th September, 2009:
During our final class, we went through a whole array of websites. Departing from the norm, I asked the ladies what they were interested in before we launched into the browsing acitivity. It turns out that flight tickets to Africa was the most prominent thing on their minds. So thats what we discussed and looked at webjet.com.au. We also covered 131500, cityrail, the ATO website, seek.com and carguide (For car buying).
By the end of it all, they understood that no matter what theyy wanted informatoin on they needed to search using google or some search engine and then use the links to find what they needed. A good class overall.
During our final class, we went through a whole array of websites. Departing from the norm, I asked the ladies what they were interested in before we launched into the browsing acitivity. It turns out that flight tickets to Africa was the most prominent thing on their minds. So thats what we discussed and looked at webjet.com.au. We also covered 131500, cityrail, the ATO website, seek.com and carguide (For car buying).
By the end of it all, they understood that no matter what theyy wanted informatoin on they needed to search using google or some search engine and then use the links to find what they needed. A good class overall.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 5( Wahiba, Nyanchol, Susan Elias)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 5( Wahiba, Nyanchol, Susan Elias)
Course Handouts: 4 pp
Computers Used: 5
SMS9
We launched a new class today. It was a mixed bag with vastly different levels of literacy accross the class. It was however, a nice class since many of them have a great sense of humour!
We did some first class material and covered parts of the computer, how to use the mouse and worked on typing in personal details into files and saving the same.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8( Mariama Bangura, Ghati Abrahemi, Fereba Momaud, Saleha Momaud, Rebecca Languaya, Susan Simon, Feriba Rahimi, Poopalaretnam)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 8
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8( Mariama Bangura, Ghati Abrahemi, Fereba Momaud, Saleha Momaud, Rebecca Languaya, Susan Simon, Feriba Rahimi, Poopalaretnam)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 8
Class 2, August 6th, 2009:
In our second class, we did excercises in notepad and paint. The students learnt about windows and how to switch between programs on the taskbar. Teaching computer navigation is still proving to be a challenge as people tend to stick to the one method that they are taugh and rarely try to do things in any other way. Overall, it was a productive class.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 11( Mariama Bangura, Latifa paiman, M. Paiman, Ghati Abrahemi, Fereba Momaud, Saleha Momaud, Rebecca Languaya, Susan Simon, Feriba Rahimi, Poopalaretnam, Elizabeth)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 11
Class 3, August 13, 2009:
Another day, another class. Well not quite. It was a class with lessons to be learnt: Do not try to give the students two excercises. If needed, extend one excercise so that students don't feel overwhelmed. Most students worked on the cut and paste excercise today. They also had the instructions to work on a formatting excercise which most of them didn't get around to! Its always a challenge to hold oneself back and not try to teach too fast.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8( Latifa paiman, M. Paiman, Ghati Abrahemi, Fereba Momaud, Saleha Momaud, Rebecca Languaya, Susan Simon, Poopalaretnam)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 8
Class 4, August 20, 2009:
In todays class, we tried doing cut, copy and paste and practiced formatting functions. We also had a look at how to access the internet and search for information.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 4 ( Latifa paiman, M. Paiman, Fereba Momaud, Poopalaretnam)
Course Handouts: 2 pp Computers Used: 4
Class 5, August 28, 2009:
Looking back at this class, its obvious that their sense of humour helps them learn more :). They laugh at my jokes (which helps me teach better) and then they make some of their own. Who said learning about computers is dull and mundane? :). Anyway, the business end of today's class was to work on creating a power point presentation and a list in excel. They did both of these quite well. The interesting part was that one student asked me the difference between Windows and Microsoft Office. I was thrilled and tried to break it down and explain as much as possible and I hope they understood something. It helps so much when people understnad the difference between an operating system and a program... and how that links in with files. The most baffling statement I end up making in classes is "Programs are also files".
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 ( Elizabeth, Latifa paiman, M. Paiman, Rebecca Languaya, Tulasi, Ghati, Poopalaretnam)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 7
Class 6, 3rd September, 2009:
In todays class, we discussed the conceptual and physical layout of a computer and how this figure in making a decision on what kind of computer to buy. We also had a look at an excercise to use bullets and numbering.
It was a fascinating class as the students were quite interested in knowing details such as CPU speeds, RAM and hard disk capacities and upgrading vs buying new computers. It was a useful discussion and hopefully they took away something from this class.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 2 (Geetha + Leticia)
Participants: 5 ( Elizabeth, Latifa paiman, M. Paiman, Tulasi, Poopalaretnam)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 5
Class 7, 10th September, 2009:
We had a very small class today. The students worked through an activity to change various settings on the control panel. They also worked on an excercise to create a document in Microsoft Word with tables. The excercise with tables was fairly demanding and seemed to stretch them considerably.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 2 (Geetha )
Participants: 2 ( Poopalaretnam, Feriba Rahimi)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 2
Class 8, 10th September, 2009:
Another small class but a fair amount of progress. We worked through various websites and tried out different services. 131500, cityrail.com, and english quizzes.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 2 (Geetha )
Participants: 2 ( Poopalaretnam, Feriba Rahimi, Joanne Xie)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 11( Mariama Bangura, Latifa paiman, M. Paiman, Ghati Abrahemi, Fereba Momaud, Saleha Momaud, Rebecca Languaya, Susan Simon, Feriba Rahimi, Poopalaretnam, Elizabeth)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 11
Class 3, August 13, 2009:
Another day, another class. Well not quite. It was a class with lessons to be learnt: Do not try to give the students two excercises. If needed, extend one excercise so that students don't feel overwhelmed. Most students worked on the cut and paste excercise today. They also had the instructions to work on a formatting excercise which most of them didn't get around to! Its always a challenge to hold oneself back and not try to teach too fast.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 8( Latifa paiman, M. Paiman, Ghati Abrahemi, Fereba Momaud, Saleha Momaud, Rebecca Languaya, Susan Simon, Poopalaretnam)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 8
Class 4, August 20, 2009:
In todays class, we tried doing cut, copy and paste and practiced formatting functions. We also had a look at how to access the internet and search for information.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 4 ( Latifa paiman, M. Paiman, Fereba Momaud, Poopalaretnam)
Course Handouts: 2 pp Computers Used: 4
Class 5, August 28, 2009:
Looking back at this class, its obvious that their sense of humour helps them learn more :). They laugh at my jokes (which helps me teach better) and then they make some of their own. Who said learning about computers is dull and mundane? :). Anyway, the business end of today's class was to work on creating a power point presentation and a list in excel. They did both of these quite well. The interesting part was that one student asked me the difference between Windows and Microsoft Office. I was thrilled and tried to break it down and explain as much as possible and I hope they understood something. It helps so much when people understnad the difference between an operating system and a program... and how that links in with files. The most baffling statement I end up making in classes is "Programs are also files".
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 1 (Geetha)
Participants: 7 ( Elizabeth, Latifa paiman, M. Paiman, Rebecca Languaya, Tulasi, Ghati, Poopalaretnam)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 7
Class 6, 3rd September, 2009:
In todays class, we discussed the conceptual and physical layout of a computer and how this figure in making a decision on what kind of computer to buy. We also had a look at an excercise to use bullets and numbering.
It was a fascinating class as the students were quite interested in knowing details such as CPU speeds, RAM and hard disk capacities and upgrading vs buying new computers. It was a useful discussion and hopefully they took away something from this class.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 2 (Geetha + Leticia)
Participants: 5 ( Elizabeth, Latifa paiman, M. Paiman, Tulasi, Poopalaretnam)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 5
Class 7, 10th September, 2009:
We had a very small class today. The students worked through an activity to change various settings on the control panel. They also worked on an excercise to create a document in Microsoft Word with tables. The excercise with tables was fairly demanding and seemed to stretch them considerably.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 2 (Geetha )
Participants: 2 ( Poopalaretnam, Feriba Rahimi)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 2
Class 8, 10th September, 2009:
Another small class but a fair amount of progress. We worked through various websites and tried out different services. 131500, cityrail.com, and english quizzes.
Class Hours: 2
Instructors: 2 (Geetha )
Participants: 2 ( Poopalaretnam, Feriba Rahimi, Joanne Xie)
Course Handouts: 4 pp Computers Used: 2
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
R662
Class 1, July 14, 2009:
As we move forward, we added a new course to our repertoire. This one has been very popular. In fact, many students have been turned away. We started our photo editing and composition course today. The ladies learnt how to edit photos - scaling, cropping, rotating, flipping and resizing were discussed. We then opened up windows movie maker and tried to use the photos to put together a movie with sample pictures and movies. The women found the class fairly informative and useful. The class was a big hit with the women but greater thought needs to be put into how this course fits into inherIT's larger agenda and why the women shouldn't just go to a normal course provider.
All the same, it was a pleasure to run and we learnt as much in preparing the course as they did in attending!
Participants:8( Fetum Abdulwahid, Linda, Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Linda, Li Xiai, Rose, Barbara D'cotta)
Instructor: Geetha
Class 2, July 21, 2009:
We added a few extras to the GIMP and movie maker operations we practiced last week and the women just went through and had a go at editing photos and putting together slideshows of photos with music. A few of them converted their movie maker project into a movie and took it home on USB sticks. This was an interesting short course that the women enjoyed a lot and it has been an interesting experience for inherIT. The interest in these courses is substantial and there may be some merit to including some of the material covered in the basic course.
Class 2, July 21, 2009:
Participants:6( Linda, Marion Rignor, Judy Richardson, Linda, Rose, Barbara D'cotta)
Instructor: Geetha
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