[Baynet] Infopeople's "Computer Lessons To Go" online course

[Linda Rodenspiel]

Since some people who may be interested in this workshop might not receive 
this notice directly, we would appreciate it if you would print and post or 
route this announcement to staff and colleagues. Thanks!


Title:  Computer Lessons To Go ­ Training the Public (online learning course)

Dates:  March 14, 2006 - April 10, 2006

To register for this workshop:  Use the online registration form at
http://infopeople.org/WS/workshop/Workshop/258

Fee:  Because of grant funding, California residents can take this course 
for the subsidized fee of $75.00. The out-of-state fee is $275.00.

If you need to train the general public on how to use computers for 
anything from writing a resume to planning a vacation to selling their 
stuff on eBay, help is just a point and click away. Why reinvent the wheel 
when you can use and adapt any of thirty professionally developed lesson 
plans to improve your library's training offerings and make your community 
more computer savvy? Each lesson plan includes all the information you need 
to present a 90-minute exploration of a high interest topic while teaching 
fundamental computer skills. This course can save you time and help you 
guide users from "I am so-o-o computer illiterate" to "Wow, I learned 
something new!"


Workshop Description: During this four-week online course each participant 
will select and adapt one of 30 existing computer lesson plans, designed 
for training the public. The lesson plan you choose will be modified 
specifically for your library and will include handouts as well as 
evaluation forms. Teaching, presentation, and promotion guidelines will 
give you all the skills you need to implement
your plan successfully. This course is led by someone who knows firsthand 
the challenges and delights of teaching the public. The instructor will 
offer practical tips that can be applied to your work immediately.

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet 
connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and 
complete the following learning modules:

Module One: Introduction
--Why teach computer lessons
--Format of computer lessons
--Content of computer lessons

Module Two: Modifying Computer Lesson Plans
--Ways to modify computer lesson plans
--Resources
--Copyright issues

Module Three: Learning Styles
--Different types of learners
--Presenting ideas to learners
--Teaching styles
--Teaching rules

Module Four: Nuts and Bolts of Presenting a Lesson
--Timelines
--Promoting the program
--Registration
--Dealing with "interesting people"
--Copyrighting your lesson plan

Workshop Instructor: Enid Ruth Costley.  Enid oversaw and helped in the 
creation of 47 computer lesson plans for teaching computer skills to the 
public. She also presents several computer-training programs to the people 
in her community as well as workshops on training the trainer. Enid is the 
children’s librarian at the Hibbing (MN) Public Library. She wears many 
hats including grant writer, children’s librarian, graphic artist, and 
community volunteer.

Online Learning Details: This four-week course will be taught online using 
the web. When you register, you will receive a registration confirmation, 
which will include the URL to get to the course, as well as a username and 
password.

Every student proceeds through the online learning modules at his or her 
own pace. However, students should expect to commit to spending a minimum 
of 2 to 2 1/2 hours per week on this course in order to be successful. You 
can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night. 
However, you will be expected to log in to the course each week to do that 
week's assignment. We ask that you log in sometime during the first week of 
the course to begin the course work.

Your instructor will be available for limited consultation support for two 
weeks after the official end date of a course, and the course material will 
stay up for an additional two weeks after that, to give those who have 
fallen behind time to work independently on the course. However, you will 
be expected to accomplish the majority of the course in synchronization 
with your peers during the first four weeks.

Who Should Take This Course: If you like to share with people, if you like 
to enlighten people, if you desire to promote your library while helping 
people in your community become more confident using the computer - this 
course is for you.

Prerequisites: This course is taught over the web. You must:

--Have an Internet connection and Internet Explorer 5 or higher (some of 
the quiz functions do not work properly in Netscape).
--Be able to save Microsoft Word .docs or Adobe .pdf files to your computer 
and print them out. (For .doc files, a free Word Viewer is vailable at 
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en. Search for 
"Word Viewer." For .pdf files, a free Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at 
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html).
--Be comfortable navigating on the web and navigating back and forward on a 
website that uses frames.

To be successful in this course, you should also be comfortable using a 
word processing program and a desktop publishing program, converting a 
document to PDF and using e-mail.

If you are not comfortable with any of the above, please consider taking 
this course with a colleague who does meet these requirements.

To view a complete list of Infopeople workshops and for general information 
about Infopeople training opportunities, go to the main Infopeople 
Workshops page at http://infopeople.org/WS/workshop

If you have questions about registration or scheduling of workshops, please 
contact Linda Rodenspiel, the Infopeople Project Assistant, at 
assist at infopeople.org or by phone at 650-578-9685.