Teaching Computer Skills to Adults

Angela Benson Assistant Professor University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Agenda

    E-mail Addresses Philosophy Resources Strategies  Intro to Computers  Intro to MS Word  Intro to MS Excel  Intro to the Internet    General Process Process Requirements Questions and Wrap-Up

Philosophy

 Contextualize your courses/workshops  Not learn MS Excel, but make your money go farther  Not Internet, but using the Internet to find free resources  Not learn MS Word, but writing business letters when you have problems  Ask your clients about their needs and interests  Build on lesson plans of others

Resources – Hardware

 Mobile or Fixed PC Labs  Desktop or Laptop PCs  Not high-end for these basic functions, minimums:  Pentium III  Windows 98

Resources - Software

 Office Suite, e.g., Microsoft or Corel  Word Processing, e.g., MS Word  Spreadsheet, e.g., MS Excel  Database, e.g., MS Access  Presentation, e.g., MS Powerpoint  Web Browser, e.g., MS Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator  Web Development, e.g., MS Frontpage, Netscape Composer  Common interface across suite products

Introduction to Computers

   Basic computer literacy  http://aalrc.org/cl/welcome.html

    http://ctc.aspira.org/PDF%20files/Intro%20to%20Windows%201.pdf

http://ctc.aspira.org/PDF%20files/Intro%20to%20Windows%202.pdf

http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/lessonintro.htm

http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/win/index.html

Types of Problems  Buying a computer Strategies    Prior to topic workshops (separate workshop) Introduction to topic workshops (same workshop) Integrated with topic workshops (same workshop)

Microsoft Word

 Word processing software  http://ctc.aspira.org/PDF%20files/Intro%20to%20Word%201.pdf

  http://ctc.aspira.org/PDF%20files/Intro%20to%20Word%202.pdf

http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/words/index.html

 Types of problems  Business letters, e.g., complaint to landlords  Resumes for jobs   Brochures for small business, local event Community newsletter  Strategies  Blank document  Template

Microsoft Excel

 Spreadsheet program  A piece of paper, or program, with rows and columns for recording and manipulating financial data.  http://ctc.aspira.org/PDF%20files/excel.pdf

 http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/numbers/index.html

 Types of Problems  Household budget  Balance checkbook  Loan calculator  Strategies  Blank worksheet  Templates

Intro to the Internet

 An information network  Web, e-mail – access methods  http://ctc.aspira.org/PDF%20files/InternetBasics.pdf

 http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/web/index.html

 Types of Problems  Plan a vacation  Find a job  Research companies and occupations  Strategies  WebQuests  Search and Evaluation exercises

General Process

  Identify client problem/need Plan for competing interests (e.g., child care, meals)      Study related topic Identify computer/Internet tools Create applicable tutorials Download applicable templates Prepare student pre-workshop package  List data to collect  Marked form showing where to input data  Blank form to enter data

General Process

 Workshop  Discuss the general topic, e.g., budgeting  Students input data using computer template  Review results  Change data and review results against  Review basic commands in template and in blank form  Build template-like functionality from blank document

Process Requirements

 You learn the topic area  You learn to use the appropriate tool  You develop the tutorial  You complete the pre-workshop assignment  You work through the workshop activities with the students during the workshop

Helpful URLs

      MS Template Gallery  http://search.officeupdate.microsoft.com/TemplateGallery/default.asp

WebQuests  http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquest.html

 http://www.edhelper.com/cat311.htm

ASPIRA Workshops  http://ctc.aspira.org/Toolkits.html

Jan’s Lessons  http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/ Land Grant Training Alliance Tutorials  http://www.lgta.org/ Lesson Plans  http://www.lessonplanspage.com/CI.htm

 http://www.askeric.org/cgi-bin/lessons.cgi/Computer_Science   http://www.teachers.net/cgi-bin/lessons/sort.cgi?searchterm=Computer http://www.edhelper.com/cat28.htm

Additional Information

 National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students, Teachers and Administrators  http://nets.iste.org/  Student Technology Skills Assessment  http://cnets.iste.org/ (technology standards)  http://www.wested.org/tie/techplan/studasse.sht

ml (Self-assessments)