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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."
Considering that it sounds like a small town which probably doesn't have a lot of connectivity, teaching people how to set up or connect to a wireless network would be a great idea. That way, the city's inhabitants could share any connectivity (even between neighbors) it gets very efficiently and happily. Wireless also makes the tourists happy and might make them want to vacation there more!
;)
This of course, presupposes courses on Microsoft 101 and the Internet 101.
Don't forget Linux 101 for those who like a challenge!
-6d
I'd definately focus at least half the machines towards basic Internet access, and would probably prefer using old junker (donated?) machines and Linux Terminal Server Project to host it. The other half should be quite a bit more powerful to run games and an "Office" suite. Quite a bit depends on what your target audience is, which currently seems vaguely defined.
Jonah Hex
Horror & SciFi Erotic Nudes
By definition, SlashDotters are here because they're deeper into the community, the practices, and either the hobby or profession (for many, both) of computing.
We are going to have no idea whatsoever what Joe Average will want from a set of computer classes. Hey, we don't even know if you're dealing with residents, which won't want the same classes every year, or transients, which will want brief and to the point classes.
I suggest you take all the ideas that SlashDot comes up with, cull at least half of them, put them in a list, and put that list up in the business. Print it on flyers with five or so entries. Ask people to check which ones they would be interested in - maybe let them say sorta interested or very interested - and allow them to write in suggestions. Given that they'll be looking at other things of scale, they'll be able to input what's germane to them.
When you're writing down what you'd present, don't just come up with a topic and go. Think about it: what would Office 101 be? It's not going to be enough time to cover the whole suite. Some people will want document layout and setup in Word, like it was a publisher; some will want Excel and Access, for their small business (maybe tax stuff too.) Some will want to learn how to use Outlook, or Exchange, so that they can function in their corporate environment. Some will want to learn to make PowerPoint presentations.
You've got to remember that most people do not learn computer topics at the rate of a slashdotter. This isn't because they're dumb, or clueless, or any other such geek slander; it's because they have less context to bind to. I'm not stupid, but a mechanic is gonna pick up the specifics of fixing a foreign car way, way faster than I will, even though I likely have a better grasp of the underlying physics. You're going to need to allow a lot of time for basic cluestickery.
Maybe, here's a thought. Every month or so, offer a 101 course on one Office suite app. See how it goes, and have a second one prepared. If it goes well, do your second one while you prepare a sequel to the first.
Above all, don't get stuck in plans. The people that show up won't always be the same ones and they won't always want the same things. Some things (word) you'll be able to repeat. Prepare occasional side-tracks into the weird for geeks if you find them; if you don't, get ready to explain MS Project.
Basically, it's all about your audience, and we aren't your audience. What you get here is nothing better than a starting point.
StoneCypher is Full of BS
Intro to the PC, Internet I, Searching the Web, E-mail (free web-based), [MS Office stuff], Creating Web Pages.
At least that's part of what we offer at the local library (grant from Gates Learning Foundation)
For our demographic, we keep things simple. You figure people who frequent a computer lab don't have a machine at home with internet access...so we gear towards the basic stuff.
I'd have loved to do more OSS stuff like maybe some Linux or OpenOffice.org (again, the demographic...let them know they don't have to shell serious $$ to get decent apps) -- and if at all possible (unlike here) show them Mozilla and compare it to IE.
Any chance to let people know of the "alternatives" should be taken.
I've found that I almost always get blank stares when I start to explain to folks why they need memory, storage or processor upgrades. They especially have a hard time understanding the concept of disk space. "How can you run out of space in that big white box?"
Perhaps a class called "How Your Computer Works" would be in order. The class would have gentle, simplified explanations of all the tech "mumbo-jumbo". And how it all fits together.
People aren't stupid (well most aren't). Sometimes they're just overwhelmed by information and lingo. A guiding hand could make all the difference in the world and actually help make them computer literate.
wbs.
Huh?
OBVIOUSLY it should be hidden in an innocuous-looking folder called "stuff". Hidding this folder is a huge help, too, You know, C:\games\stuff, ~/.stuff, C:\My Documents\stuff, whatever.
-insert a witty something-
Part of that is advocy. That involves teaching and listening. There are plenty of people here with a clue.
I've been teaching a newbies class for the last four or five months. I've worked in large and small companies and have some idea of what people want and what software can reasonably offer them.
Set up multiple OS for demonstration. This is the hardest thing for a newbie to do, so it's the best service to offer. Windows 101? Sure, teach it on KDE and give them a reasonable notion of why there's a log on, what it protects them from and what it gives them. Games, OK, windoze wins there for now. For everything else, free software is easier to use and maintain. "Sheilding" newbies from the "complexity" of different OS and desktop environments does them a disservice. They quickly master basic concepts of files and GUI. Giving them more makes them happier and lets them make up their own mind down the road.
Visit the, admittedly windoze heavy, Cajun Clickers Computer Club for an idea of what a community, all volunteer computer club teaches and people want to know.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Just a thought...
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If I actually could spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.
I work in Chicago's housing projects and have taught lots of little and big courses on computer skills.
What I've learned is that teaching a class in any given application is 1% of the work of teaching people how to use computers. What's most important, in my experience, is providing space and time for motivated people to just keeping banging away and learning new things. The great fallacy of many computer technology centers is that they are closed to the possibility of letting people goof around for a couple hours, when that's exactly what teaches folks.
When I started working on resume writing with some folks in the projects I work at, I was really disappointed that they couldn't remember anything I'd told them, etc. Now, three years later, a couple of those folks have home computers, write lots of email, are good typists, know how to use spreadsheets, etc. Persistence, time, and self-exploration and discovery are what teach lasting technology skills.
Lastly, it's important to remember that you should be trying to teach computing principles. One of my aforementioned buddies has been able to quickly pick up all sorts of other computing skills because he digs on the principles of how computers work, networking works, etc. I think that should be a goal.
Online citizen journalism from the inner city: The View From The Ground
At the lab in which I teach, we have the usual Intro and Advanced levels of Windows and Office, as well as a few others like HTML.
We also do two other popular courses;
-How to buy a computer, which is a vendor neutral description of the latest hardware technology and what people should look for to suite thier particular needs when they are box shopping, and
-Using the Internet, where we talk about all things internet, including browsers and searching, firewalls and viruses, file sharing, messaging, online gaming, home LANs, and ISPs as well as many other things.
I'd like to convince the commitee to add an Intro to Linux course in the future, but I doubt the administrators will consent to partitioning all the labs HDDs and installing Linux, so I'm hoping I can use something like Knoppix or Suse Live for starters.