Which to teach first – how to use YouTube or send an email? For many, both can be done without guidance, if not altogether at the same time, so a student volunteer could not hide the feeling of incredulity that neither is the place to start the class.
The course was an Adult Computer Literacy programme by ClickToStart a not-for-profit organization, coordinated by a member of The UWI's Campus IT Services (CITS) which literally, started with teaching how to click a mouse.
There is a segment of the Trinidad and Tobago society that is lagging way behind on accessing the benefits of ICT because their knowledge on the how-to-do has not been supplied in tandem with developments. The ClickToStart programme aims to shrink that knowledge gap.
With its intake this July being its fourth cycle, the programme has already graduated around 70 people of all ages and walks of life back into personal lives and jobs where they are more connected, cyber-confident and cyber safe too.
The vision is simple: to empower people through technology. The team giving their expertise and time towards this vision are all volunteers.
Keeping a group this size coordinated for regular work assignments must be challenging, one located in extra-curricular, possibly doubly so. So what keeps them pressing into a fourth year while seeking to expand?
This was the question to coordinator, Abigail Wren and technical consultant, Vishwanath Samsundar, who agreed that seeing the ripple effect of helping people is a satisfying feeling. Between the verbal feedback they get from programme alumni and the student course evaluations, the 15-week programme has enabled men and women to help their children and grandchildren with internet-based tasks, be cyber-safe, become more productive in their work or NGOs based activities.
Samsundar repaired a transparent PC donated by Roger Mc Farlane, president of The UWI branch of OWTU, as part of the ClickToStart instruction package, illustrating the internals of how computers work. (Samsundar is also well known on campus for teaching staff how to maximize the features on smart phones).
The once per week class teaches use of productivity tools such as those in the Microsoft suite, how to send emails, browse the internet, social media navigation, and yes, they do get around to YouTube.
There are tutorials where volunteers are ready to help and there are take-away assignments, as well as quizzes created in the LMS (Learning Management System), which are sometimes Moodle-based for reinforcement. These count toward confirming the skills of the participant and a completion certificate.
Another major accomplishment of ClickToStart is that is has softened the community perceptions about the functionality and reach of The UWI. Many students come from communities through the St. George (East) District Office of the Ministry of Community Development, Village Councils, community groups as well as NGOs – age is not a filter for sign up. As students come to the well-equipped computer labs on campus, that are rent-free to the programme, through the kind offices of DCIT and CITS, the environment and interaction build relationships and promote synergies.
It fits with the University’s efforts to reach out and better serve communities. So in one click, ClickToStart has become a model of a win-win-win (staff-community-institution) programme at The UWI.
Rebecca Robinson is a writer and editor. |
