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What Should a Community Computer Lab Offer?
Ballresin asks: "A local computer company is expanding and including a computer lab in their setup, and they want me to come in as its Administrator. I am supposed to be giving them input on what to teach/host. What does Slashdot think a medium sized tourist town (Okoboji, Spirit Lake, Arnolds Park, Iowa) should have to offer to the locals? I was thinking something along the lines of 'How to Use Windows 101' and 'How to Use Office 101'. My compatriots want to offer some off-the-wall classes such as 'Hacker Ethics: Why and How' and a few other odd classes. I have polled people in the area, which resulted the discovery that 80% of them are from out of town, so don't really care. What you guys think; What kind of classes or what games/LAN party setups should a new, small business offer? Any ideas/input is greatly appreciated."
How many tourists (80% out of towners) are going to take a Windows 101 class on vacation?
You can get to theoretical stuff eventually as you guage community interest and expertise distribution. But the practical classes are the ones grandma and junior will find the most helpful. You'll get more potential teachers and students that way, and it will be easy to pass off the classes to other people if necessary.
Give them meaningful titles though. Don't title it "Excel 101". Title it "Using spreadsheets to make your life easier". People will come to classes in order to do things better, not to learn a specific app (well, most people at least). In the description, say "this uses iMovie, and we'll touch on moviemaker", but for the title, something like "making home movies that last forever".
good luck with your project!
Most people, especially in small communities, probably don't realize that they don't have to buy M$ Windows to do 90% of what they want to do (e-mail, surf the web, download pr0n). The other things like "Windows 101" they could get at the library or various adult education centers.
But before you decide what to do with the lab, you've got to know why the computer shop wants to open one. If it's to drive up sales by pushing the shop's good directly, then tailor classes towards Making The Most Of The SB-Live! Audigy Card.
If it's to be an uber-cyber-cafe and hope that business picks up based on your civic contribution, then teach Using The Internet For Research and Homework Help, or maybe How To Install Filtering Software To Keep The Kids From Porn.
Whatever it is, it's got to jive with your employer's reason for doin' it!
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If you're thinking of Windows 101 and Office 101, then I'd suggest Internet 101, and go over email, browser basics, Usenet, FTP, etc. It's remarkable to me how so many people think the Web, email, and IM make up the entirety of the Internet.
:)
A more advanced class on WWW usage would be good - teach people how to use search engines effectively, etc. That would be a short one-day thing that a lot of people could get a great deal of benefit from.
Another good idea would be 'Privacy & Security 101'. Teach people about software firewalls and hardware NAT routers, how to keep their privacy on the internet, and how to avoid spam, etc. Definitely a lot of value there.
Perhaps something about how to use digital cameras with photoshop to do photo editing / printing. And maybe another one for an intro to video editing. Lots of people take pictures & home movies. It'd be good to show them how to get that stuff off their cameras and onto CD-Rs and DVD+/-R(/W)s.
Basic home repair & upgrades, though that may cut into your business.
How to set up a (wireless?) home network, perhaps?
Connecting your TiVo to your home network.
Intro to Linux & the BSDs.
Free. Gratis. Libre.
Software y Libertad!
La computadora es de quien la trabaja!
In this same vein...
How to conduct meaningful web searches period.
People often waste too much time trying to track down useful/pertinent information on the web.
That's great if you want job security, I guess. It'd be nice if there was a course that could teach people how to apply what they learn about one program to another, even if it doesn't do the same things. For example, that the "print" menus are almost always under "file" or that "properties" are usually to be found in "file" or "edit." Simple things like that that will make them actually functional when they are faced with something novel.
I suppose that's really placing too much of a demand on the students rather than too much on the teachers, though. Sigh...
(Worked in computer labs for 2 years...has stories)
Actually, you make a good point.
Knowing how to drive a browser is not sufficient. A course teaching meaningful search construction, search-result filtering (on relevance and reliability), and the often-successful art of 'guessing-a-URL', could be of value, and of interest.
Of course, I guess these are the study/research skills we're all supposed to learn at school...right?
the basics of privacy, and securing yourself to go online 101. It should be a REQUIREMENT to get your community lab drivers license so to speak...
Things like DO NOT INSTALL COMET CURSOR, YOU DON'T REALLY HAVE A URGENT MESSAGE even though that popup says you do, Broadcasting an IP address is NOT A BAD THING even though the OTHER popup says it is, How NOT TO respond to spam, what a GOOD password is, and the survival tools needed, such as a popup blocker, purging histories and the implications of using a SHARED computer. In a similar situation in Yuma, AZ, the snowbirds like email, you could not get an ID until you passed their very basic course, and the heightened awareness gets things reported.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
One topic that I've always thought would help your average user:
:)
Effectively using a search engine (or how to use Google
The community lab needs to provide a lot more than just courses. In fact, I would think that its best buisiness would come from being an internet cafe catered to a non-tech community.
Get some of the local kids onto LAN gaming and encourage it in your lab. In addition to weekly classes (in the evenings or whatever), make it clear that it is a place where people can come to check their email, type up something in word, or whatever. The most important part though is to always have someone friendly and knowledgable staffing the place so that people know if they come in at a slow time they can get personal help with whatever they're working on. This help shouldn't cost them above and beyond what the computer time is costing them, nor should it be the only reason they come there. They should come there to get stuff done, knowing that if they get stuck someone will be there to help them out.
1) How to avoid identity theft on the web (don't sign up for stuff using your real info)
2) How to combat spam (don't sign up for stuff using your real info; use filters)
3) How to avoid spyware (don't click on banner ads; use ad-filtering software; don't install file sharing or useless stuff like cursor/theme changers)
You could offer stuff like "How to pirate software and not get caught" but hopefully people would have enough of a clue to not sign up for a class about that...
Kallahar
If you found 80% of the people don't care I'd say seriuosly rethink classes.
you could make a cybercafe style setup. But with a few perks such as: card readers, scanners, web, e-mail, etc. Allowing users e-mail photos to loved ones where ever they may be. Games are never bad either for the kids who dont want to go see some sites with mom and dad all day or go shopping all day let them game all day until mom and dad get back.
If you absoulty must do technical classes do more research to find out what people will want or use. What about appealing to other local businesses to train their people to use word, outlook, excel, acces etc?
A class that taught people how to assess their needs, order parts individually, and then assemble them into a computer would probably be very useful.
I think it would help a lot of beginners to lose their fear of computers and give them a better idea of what the different components do and why they do them.
Not only that, but part of the curriculum might invole leaving with your own PC that you built yourself. And then once you have it, knowing what to do when a fan fails, or if you wish to add more memory.
As my dad always told me, everyone who drives a car should know how to change a tire, change the oil, and get a jumpstart. In my opinion, computers should be looked at the same way.
Apple gets this. Microsoft gets it but has a business-model problem with it. The Linux community doesn't get it at all.