Recommendations for the Partner Board

Free Community Classes

Each month we will start offering three free community classes:

• Introduction to the Computer – Mouse Basics
• Introduction to the Internet
• Buying a home computer

Each class is one hour in length and is offered once a month. (We might expand the number of session per month based on how we do during the first couple of months) Classes are taught by volunteer instructors who receive non-monetary incentives through PCN. See the section entitled "Trainers" for more details.

Introduction to the Computer – Mouse& Keyboard Basics

Offered on the first Tuesday of every month in the Washington Learning Center Lab from 7:30 to 8:30pm. Enrollment is limited to 15 participants who register by telephone or e-mail to the District 108 Tech Center. This class will be taught by one volunteer.

Course Curriculum:

• Using the mouse to: select, drag, double click
• Understanding right click vs. left click
• Opening and closing window
• Using scroll bars
• Using Menu Bars
• Keyboard Basics: delete, backspace, windows key

Introduction to the Internet

Offered on the third Thursday of every month in the Edison Learning Center from 7:30-8:30pm. Enrollment is limited to 15 participants who register by telephone or e-mail to the District 108 Tech Center. This class will be taught by one volunteer.

Course Curriculum:

• URL’s
• Links - what they are, how to use them
• Using basic search engines
• Internet Literacy – (don’t believe everything you read on the Net)

Buying a home computer

Offered on the second Tuesday of every month at the Pekin Public Library from 7 to 8pm. Enrollment is not limited, but registration is necessary and is done by telephone or e-mail through the District 108 Tech Center. The class is taught by one volunteer. The objective of this class is to provide consumers with the basic information needed when purchasing a new computer for home use. This is not a hands-on classes.

Course Curriculum:

• 7 basic computer components
• Minimum specifications for the 7 computer components
• Types of software for home use
• Internet Access in your home
• How to get your computer connected to the Internet
• Choosing an Internet Service Provider

Open Labs

We will start offering open labs twice a month for two hours each time. We hope to expand to once a week as soon as we have enough staff. Labs will be open to the public at large and computer stations are available on a first come – first serve basis. The open labs will be monitored by a volunteer who will receive incentives from PCN. Open lab times will also coincide with the free community classes. We have chosen facilities that have 2 computer labs which will enable both events to occur at the same time.

Open Lab Times:

First Tuesday of every month in Washington Learning Center from 7 to 9 pm.

Third Thursday of every month in Edison Learning Center from 7 to 9pm.

Open Lab Procedures:

• Computer stations are available on a first come – first serve basis
• No food or drinks in the computer lab

At a later date – we will evaluate possible registration and age limit for open labs

Trainers

During the month of Dec and Jan, we will be looking for community volunteers who will instruct free community classes and/or monitor public labs.

Trainer responsiblities:

• attend Orientation class that covers class curriculum, registration information, open lab procedures, security procedures, etc.
• Instruct a free community class or monitor an open lab once per month (a minimum of 2 hours of service per month)

Trainer incentives:

• Free pekin.net internet account
• Free pekin.net e-mail account
• Free registration for low-cost community classes

Low-Cost Community Classes

At this time, low-cost classes are too much for PCN to handle. We feel that this component of the training could be turned over to each of the partners. Partners who want to offer low-cost classes are welcome to do so, and they would have to manage the instructors, the payments, the facilities, etc.

However, we do feel that some areas should be standardized….

• Cost for participants to register for class (we recommend $3 per clock hours)
• Cost for paying instructors (we recommend $25 hour)
• Enrollment per class (we recommend minimum of 10 and maximum of 15)
• We also feel that partners should collaborate on the availability and price of using each others labs. (i.e., if the library wants to operate low-cost classes and use the high school lab)
• Course offerings – We recommend a that we work together to offer the following classes once a month. In the future, we will evaluate other classes to offer.

• Windows ’95 (6 hours) with the following objectives
• Basic mouse functions, manage windows and control the desktop
• Use menu commands, toolbars, and dialog boxes to perform basic functions
• Run,quit, and switch between programs and appications
• Create, find, organize, save, and delete files and folders

• Word Processing with Word I (6 hours) with the following objectives:
• Create, format, edit, save, and print a document
• Save and retrieve documents on the hard drive or floppy disk
• Use a variety of wizards and templates
• Use the standard, formatting, and border toolbars
• Create Tables

• Word Processing with Word Level II (6 hours) with objective to be determined

• Spreadsheets with Excel (6 hours) with the following objectives:
• Create, format, edit, save, and print a basic spreadsheet with text, and numeric data
• Compute values with simple formulas or functions
• Display spreadsheet data with sheets
• Find and sort data in a variety of ways

• Presentations with PowerPoint (6 hours) with the following objectives:
• Add, delete, or rearrange slides in a presentation
• Use formatting options for text: font, color, size and style
• Apply a variety of layout design
• Change a design template for a presentation
• Add automatic timings to a slide show
• Insert word and clipart objects

• Internet (6 hours) with the following objectives:
• Become familiar with Internet terminology and ‘netiquette’
• Navigate the Web using URL’s, menus, and links
• Use basic commands, toolbar and directory buttons
• Establish and use bookmarks
• Capture and save pictures and sounds for use in other applications