Teaching Computer Skills to the Public

1. Teaching Computer Skills to the Public Funded by a Staying Connected grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation July – August 2008

2. Welcome and Introductions • Tell us your name, your library, and what attracted you to this class

3. Learning Objectives • Understand the fundamentals of training • Identify your community’s learners and their needs • Develop a lesson plan for a computer class • Devise a plan for implementation and evaluation of the class • Identify resources for creating additional computer classes

4. Why Should Libraries Offer Classes? • The service of Public Access Computers • Community’s expectation that we are “experts” on using computers • Community’s expectation that we can help them become better users • Libraries have them and so need to embrace them as an integral and integrated part of the library – and therefore, need to support the service

5. Why Should Libraries Offer Classes? • Supports the general mission of being a life-long learning institution • Helps update skills of job-seekers • Helps digital immigrants learn new skills • Instills the importance of information literacy skills in our users • Closes the gap between the technology and information “haves” and “have nots” • Supports the community in times of economic downturns

6. And the #1 Reason You Should Offer Computer Classes at Your Library? • You want the patrons using your public access computers to be as successful and independent as possible!

7. How Do Adults Learn? • Malcolm Knowles (1913-1997), most influential researcher in adult education, found that fundamentally adults learn very different from children. Adults generally • Are autonomous • Are connected to their experiences, which influence their learning • Are goal oriented • Look for relevance to their life and work • Work from personal motivation

8. Motivation Factors for Learning • Social relationships • External expectations • Social welfare • Personal advancement • Escape and/or stimulation • Cognitive interest • Any others?

9. Barriers to Learning • Time • Money • Responsibilities (both work and personal) • Scheduling • “Red tape” • Any others?

10. So Why Are You Here? • Break up into small groups and discuss your motivation for being here • Which of the six motivation factors were the most important in getting you to come to class? • Did you have any barriers in coming to the class? If so, how did you resolve them in order to be here?

11. The Balancing Act • Adults have to balance between the motivation factors and the barriers. The more the struggle to overcome the barriers, the less influential the motivation becomes. The trainer’s job, then, is to emphasize the motivations, so the barriers become less important to the classroom.

12. The Balancing Act • The critical elements for adult training to be successful are • Motivation • Reinforcement • Retention • Transference

13. Learning Styles • Learning styles of those being trained also has a big influence on how successful the training is. • A good mix of all three main styles gives everyone the opportunity to learn in their comfort zone

14. Learning Styles • Auditory • Learning by hearing = 25% of the population, but many can learn this way as it is how most formal classroom education is done • Visual • Learning by seeing and watching = 35% of the population, which is easier today with computers and the Internet • Kinesthetic or tactile • Learning by doing, touching, and interacting = 40% of the population, and least used by trainers as they were not formally taught this way

15. Exercise: What’s Your Learning Style? • Answer the questions (both sides of the paper!) to see your learning style • Share your learning style with the group

16. A Few Trainer Tips • Be respectful of the learners’ experiences • Be careful of personal assumptions • Set clear goals and objectives, for both you and the class • Use learners’ expertise and experiences when appropriate • Get learners involved • Build rapport • Offer reinforcements and affirmations – helps transfer knowledge from short-term to longer-term memory

17. So, Why Don’t We Train? • Barriers to training in the library • Not enough space/computers • Not enough time/staff • No expertise • Don’t like “public speaking” • Not a teacher/trainer • Any other reasons?

18. Overcoming the Barriers to Training • Librarians are already in the education business • Pathfinders, book lists, etc. • Web sites • Reference • One-on-one training • Teaching a class, or providing training is just a more formalized version of the one-on-one help you already provide • Two makes a class (and big isn’t always better)

19. Overcoming the Barriers to Training • Comfort level with the material will help your fear of getting up in front of people • Testing out the material on friends and colleagues will also help your fear of getting up in front of people • Lots of “expertise” around to help – both in the library community and your own community

20. What Exactly is Training? • Training is defined as an activity that leads to a skilled behavior • Teaching is defined as imparting knowledge or skill or to give instruction • We will be training!

21. Planning to Train • We will be following a modified version of the ADDIE model, which is used by instructional designers to create the content of a training class A = Analysis D = Design D = Development I = Implement E = Evaluate

22. Teaching Isn’t the Hard Part … Creating the Content of the Class Is! • We will spend the remaining part of the class helping you go through the ADDIE model and create the framework for your class • Analysis – Who are your learners and what do they want to learn? • Design – What are the objectives and what content should be included to achieve the objectives? • Development – What handouts, tools, activities, and other things should be included to reach the content objectives? • Implement – Who, What, When, Where? • Evaluation – What worked and what didn’t?

24. Who Are Your Learners? • Consider the people who live in your community • Job hunters • High school students applying for student aid • High school students and adults completing a college application • Students taking online courses • Adults who want to acquire computer skills to qualify for better jobs • Children and adults who want to improve keyboarding skills • Adults interested in acquiring new skills for personal pursuits – exchanging e-mail with grandchildren, making online purchases, gathering information from online sources

25. Who Are Your Learners? • Consider the processes they want to learn • How to use word processing software • How to create a resume • How to create a spreadsheet • How to create a slide show • How to scan a document • How to edit pictures • How to share pictures with family and friends • How to use the library’s catalog • How to search a magazine database • How to conduct genealogical research • How to search the Internet • How to print • How to create an e-mail account • How to e-mail attachments

26. Who Are Your Learners? • Consider the needs of the community • Computer skills sought by local employers • Assistance for local businesses with creating web sites, posters, flyers • Assistance with city departments on creating a web site for the community • Teaching city employees and local business how to use the Internet to gather demographic data

27. Brainstorming Activity • Conduct a needs assessment from a variety of vantage points • Learners (traditional vs. non-traditional) • Processes • Community Needs • List potential learners on a white board or flip chart • Choose a learner for whom you will develop a computer class • Example: The Anytown Public Library will offer a computer class for high school or college students who want to know how to find magazine articles

28. What Do They Want to Learn? • Brainstorming activity • Look back at processes slide under “Who Are Your Learners?” • List possible computer skills you could teach at your library • Choose one skill for which you will develop a computer class • Example: The Anytown Public Library will teach high school or college students how to use EBSCOHost to find magazine articles.

29. What Are You Going to Teach? • Select the content for your class, considering • Length of the class • Intended audience (Learners)

31. Tips for Creating Workshop Content • Need to know vs. nice to know -- keep the topic narrowly focused • Less is more -- a short, specific workshop is better than something lengthy and wide-ranging • Teach a specific skill that students will be able to replicate on their own • Give specific examples of applying the lesson to students’ real lives

32. Exercise • For the learner/topic combination you selected, write down the major components of the class • Example for Anytown Public Library • How to log on to EBSCOHost from home • How to choose an EBSCOHost service • How to choose an EBSCOHost database • How to search a database • How to refine a search • How to print citations or the full text of an article • How to e-mail citations or the full text of an article • How to save to disk

33. Exercise, Part 2 • Discuss your learning components with the group • Revise the content, as necessary • Example for Anytown Public Library • How to log on to EBSCOHost from home • How to choose an EBSCOHost Webservice • How to choose an EBSCOHost the MasterFILE Premier database • How to search the MasterFILE Premier a database • How to refine a search • How to print citations or the full text of an article • How to e-mail citations or the full text of an article • How to save to disk

34. What Are They Going to Learn? • Learning objectives • Are a marketing tool to help the user decide if the class is appropriate for them • Are the primary focus of the class • Set the goal for what will be achieved in the time you spend together • Are the foundation of the evaluation

35. Tips for Writing Learning Objectives • Tips for writing learning objectives • Use action verbs • Apply, Choose, Demonstrate, Illustrate, Produce, Show • Make them concrete • Make them measurable • Make them visible • A 1-2 hour class should have 2-3 learning objectives

36. Exercise • Write your learning objectives • Share them with the group • Example • The participants will learn to: • Log in to EBSCOhost from home • Retrieve full text articles from the MasterFILE Premier database • View and print full-text articles

38. What Does the Class Look Like? • Writing the Lesson Plan • Build in interaction to hold the students’ interest • Include assessment activities (exercises, quizzes) so that both the instructor and the students know that learning is taking place • You may drop more content at this point • Consider information overload vs. information retention • Keep in mind learning objectives and your learners • Apply the skills that they are learning to their lives

39. Why Should You Make Handouts? • Handouts • Help the student remember the class • Help the visual learner • Allow the student to focus on learning instead of writing down everything you say • Serve as a reference guide

40. What Should You Include in the Handouts? • Agenda or outline of the content • Specific instructions the student will want to refer back to • Bibliography or additional information • Illustrations • Exercises or quizzes to assess learning

41. Tips for Making Handouts • Less is more – don’t overwhelm the student with too much information • Use bullet lists to make the handouts easy to scan • Leave white space to improve readability • Limit yourself to no more than 3 fonts • Use a font size of 10-12 for the body; 14-16 for titles; 12-14 for subtitles

42. Tips for Making Handouts • Review your handouts • Does the information flow logically from general to more specific? • Is the handout visually appealing? • Can the student use the handout to remember the main points of the class? • Did you include your contact information? • Did you include links to web sites or other resources for finding more information?

43. Exercise • Take one component of your class and write the details for how you would teach it • Include description of any exercises or handouts • Share your ideas with the group • If time permits, repeat process with second component, third component, etc.

44. Example • How to search the MasterFile Premier database • Instruction • Describe the contents of the MasterFile Premier database • Explain how to construct a search strategy with Boolean operators • Demonstrate how to search and limit the results • Have students do an exercise to find articles on suggested topics and topics of their own choosing • Handouts include • Description of the database from EBSCOHost Choose Databases page • Illustration showing how Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) affect a search • Step by step instructions for entering a search and limiting the results • Exercise asking students to find articles on specified topics

46. Who, What, When, Where? • Consider running alpha and/or beta test • Alpha tests material and method • Beta tests workshop as a whole • If you’re nervous about teaching, ask friends to be your first students even if they already know the material

47. Troubleshooting Class Behavior • Make the environment as comfortable as possible; adult learners have low tolerance for discomfort • Allow people to move around as necessary to alleviate physical stress or discomfort • Make the environment safe so that learners aren’t embarrassed by what they don’t know (and think they should already know) • Take time to set expectations at the beginning of the class

48. Troubleshooting Class Behavior • Don’t monopolize the conversation -- allow time for learners to talk to each other – adult learners often have a lot to contribute • Think of yourself as a facilitator not an elementary school teacher – allow for discussion but don’t let it get out of hand • Seek periodic feedback from the students that expectations are being met • Give ample time to practice new skills

49. Establishing a Budget • Facilities rental • if class won’t be held at the library • Equipment rental • if you need to rent a projector, for example • Instructor • if you’re hiring someone to teach the classes for you • Time to develop lesson plan • Duplication of handouts • Refreshments • Advertising

50. Coordinating Facilities • How many people can attend? • Computers for each one or two people • Data projector for instructor • Workstation for instructor • Table space for students to take notes • Comfortable chairs • Comfortable environment • Lighting • Temperature • Ventilation • Noise • Distractions