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Loman Home Group 8 - Trip Report

Ever since I found out about our Loman home project i dreaded it. My great grand mother raised me and over the years I would try to teach her new technologies whether it be VCRs, cameras, or Dvds she always had a tough time getting a grasp of them. I also had a grand mother and great aunt who also had trouble using computers. They would often call me two and three times a day asking for to solve simple problems and after a while it would get on my nerves. I understood that computers have a learning curve but I have always been pretty good at using them and couldn't see why after I showed them how to solve problem they couldn't do it themselves after I had finished. So before going into the Loman Home I had the feeling that it would be a room full of older folk that didn't have a clue as to what computers can do or even have the skills to use them. Our group had a fairly easy topic to discuss with them Computer Security. I remember our group meeting a week before our presentation, I keep on cracking jokes on the dumb questions that we were going to be asked. But when the time came for our presentation I was thoroughly impressed, unknown to me but a group before us had been working with the Loman Home teaching them basic skills and general computer knowledge.
During our presentation the old folks paid close attention and seem to soak in all that we talked about, they also asked very good questions about email security and questions about when to use a credit card online and when not to. I was very impressed, but the high light of the day was when we split up and helped them go though a few work sheets on how to spot phony emails and after that we helped them set up email accounts and answer any questions concerning there email if they had any. The lady I got paired up with was having trouble sending an email because she couldn't figure out how to use the "_" when typing her grandson's email address. I showed her the short cut and added her grandson to her contact list so she could use his address easily. She wrote her grandson and email talking about the class she had just taken and also told him how good of a teacher I was, and meant a lot to me after all the dread that went my mind leading up to the Loman Home project was completely thrown out the window when the kind old lady said that. The main reason she wanted to use an email was to keep in touch with her grandson that is stationed over in Iraq currently, she said she impressed the whole family when she started doing it. Overall I ended up really enjoying the Loman Home project and I think its a great idea to educate the elderly on new technology.

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Assignment 5.4: I've always considered myself to a hands on kind of person. I like being able to sit down with some software or a gadget and tinker with it until I figure out how it works. I usually avoid using instruction because I enjoy solving problems even if it means I have to slam my head into the wall repeatedly just to figure it out. Just recently I built myself a new computer with the goal of loading vista on it to try out. Since I've loaded it I think I've gotten the full vista experience "none stop crashes when playing game", But I've enjoyed seaching for solutions and trying them out, the one soltuion that I've come across the most is to just reinstall Xp and forget vista but I might go the 64bit route to take advantage of the 4gig of memory I'm running.

Back on topic for assignment 5.4 we were to take a couple of questionairs to help decided what type of learners we are. Right off the bat I knew I would be a hands on learner, but after completing both questionairs and looking at the results surprised me. Come to find out Im a balanced learner, which surprised me at first but looking back on past experiences it become more clear. I've taken distance learning classes, hands on classes, and this one which can be completely taught online and each one I've never really struggled to learn. I think having this knowledge gives me an advantage, now I know I can excell in any learning environment wether it be hands on, visual, or audio or completely online.

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Loman Home: I've been putting alot of thought into this workshop with the kind old folks and its brought up some questions. I fully support the idea of training people on the use of computers but when it comes to old people and computers and sometimes technology in general they don't mix to well, And in my personal experience thats always been the case. Now im not saying that all old people cant use technology well, maybe I grew with a bad batch of old folks to deal with. I used to try to teach my great grandmother how to use my computer and everytime I would show her something new whether it be the internet or simple email, it would never stick, I'm beginning to think that she played long just to humor me. I also think before we jump into this project we should assess the current skills of Loman Home's residents before we even begin to teach them, because that would give us a base line to work with and then we can build from there. Overall I think the project is good and I think the end result that we all hope to see are people of Loman Home using computers to send emails to comunicate with family and become fimilar with simple microsoft applications and use the internet well.

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I gotta say when i signed up for this class I really didn't know what to expect, I saw the name Corporate Training and thought it was going to be similar to a RET class I had taken before about Human Resources. I figured it would of been structured the same, we would have a textbook and lectures and quizzes best off of it. But after the frist day of TSTM444 I learned that this is a completely differnt structured class, one that I never thought existed. We post on Blogs, granted I'm not to trilled about it but its a very neat concept, we answer questions on assigned readings on discusion boards, this class as a whole is a very uniquely structured class granted I do think it can be silly at times but in the long run is may grow on me.

Work Place Training

I think Training in the work place is very important. Training allows for incoming employees to gain the necessary skills required to do the job at hand. Not only does teach new employees the aspects of the job it also lets the new employees meet the people there going to be working with if the training is done in house. It is also an excellent way to further ones education and expand your resume. Here are the sites that I have bookmarked on delicious: http://delicious.com/Mcwatersb

Test.