Digital Skills Training Archives - Community Tech Network

Seniors in the Sunset Learn Tablet Skills

Annie Tan — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 18:22:49 +0000

At the end of October, we taught our final class as part of Sunset Tech Connect in San Francisco. In total, 48 older adults graduated from this 12-week training program and took home a Samsung Galaxy tablet. Through this course learners were introduced to email, social media networks, and communications tools. They learned to navigate and engage with the community and the world marketplace, among many other important internet skills. A total of eight sessions were offered at Sunset Beacon Neighborhood Center and the library. Five sessions were taught in Cantonese, one in Mandarin, and two in English. Here are the comments they shared with me about the program: “I love the program. I feel more confident using technology, less frustrated. I always share what I learned to people. That’s a good thing.” “I have so much fun watching entertaining movies, and I learned some new recipes online. I also made connections with friends using WhatsApp. I have a few good friends in the Bay Area, so I can ask for help if needed.” “Great program! Not only can I make some good friends in class from around the neighborhood, I also learned how to check bus times using the […]

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Continued Success at the NeighborNest

Jannell Mateo Rivas — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 16:24:43 +0000

In late September, 19 Spanish speakers graduated from the Beyond the Basics course CTN held at the NeighborNest in San Francisco — the biggest class this year! Thirteen of those graduates continued on to the highest-level class we currently offer: Spanish Computer Skills for Work. In this four-week series, they learn essential skills that are required in an office setting: spreadsheets using Google Sheets, email etiquette, Google Drive, and how to make conference calls. This group, pictured here, graduated at the end of October. One graduate had this to share: “Gracias por todo en estas clases e aprendido mucho sobre muchas cosas que no sabia y gracias y a tu valioso tiempo son muy interesantes la clases mil gracias. (Thank you for everything offered in class. I learned a lot about many things I did not know, and thank you for your time. The classes were very interesting to me. A million thanks.) CTN is excited to continue to partnering with Twitter and their NeighborNest. Since the beginning of 2019, we have provided training to 26 English speakers and 47 Spanish speakers.

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Digital Device Drop-in Program Meeting Huge Need in Austin

Jessica Looney — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 14:42:28 +0000

CTN volunteer Andrea Romero spends her Mondays with other volunteers at the Terrazas Branch of Austin Public Library teaching people experiencing homelessness (PEH) basic phone literacy skills and how to use Google Voice. “The new Digital Device Drop-in Training is meeting a huge need in the community,” she says, “and I have had great feedback from the learners I have worked with! We provide a friendly, drop-in helpdesk for the homeless residents of Austin to get help with their digital devices, and we teach them how to use those devices to improve their quality of life. I feel fortunate to be a part of CTN and this program because I am able to see the positive impact it is making firsthand.” This collaborative pilot program run by CTN and the City of Austin Innovation Office hopes that, by using Google Voice accounts, members of the PEH community can maintain consistent access to social services and networks despite a lack of or change in mobile device. The six-month Drop-in Digital Device Training pilot began in July and already has a healthy number of participants. The goal is to serve 25 to 30 PEH learners by the program’s end on December 9. […]

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Digital Skills Graduates at I.T. Bookman

William — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 23:01:27 +0000

The I.T. Bookman Community Center was built on the foundation of a communal need for multipurpose space within the community, with the purpose of embracing the needs of the surrounding Oceanview, Merced Heights, and Ingleside neighborhoods. According to its director, Mike Perkins, the computer lab was underused, so to get more participants engaged in digital skills, he asked CTN to provide a digital skills class to encourage neighborhood residents to visit the lab. This eight-week computer class was designed for beginners who needed instruction on the following topics: Reasons to use the computer Introduction to email Navigating websites Using search engines A computer’s parts and its features Online safety measures Creating Word documents and accessing folders Three of six learners not only met for the instructional hour but stayed after class for one-on-one tutoring. They wanted to improve their skills in navigating their smartphones: powering on and off, using Google Maps, installing and deleting apps, and reviewing the settings features. Congratulations to the learners who appreciated the opportunity to receive training, enabling them to begin on a digital literacy journey!

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Connecting Seniors to Online Resources

Jessica Looney — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 03:34:25 +0000

Well Connected, a Covia Community Service, is a virtual community that provides activities, education, friendly conversation, and an assortment of classes and support groups for older adults living throughout the United States. Over the last few years, CTN has worked with Well Connected not only to bridge the digital divide amongst older adults, but also to utilize technology as a tool for creative social engagement. Together, we presented at the 2018 Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTEN) in Portland, Oregon; connected Family Eldercare’s Lifetime Connection Without Walls program members to online activities; and enjoyed Well Connected programs led by different members of the CTN team. Here is Well Connected’s director, Amber Carroll, on the different sessions she facilitated. “In 2018, CTN program director Laurie Sanchez led a stellar Andy Goldsworthy tour on the Well Connected Museums at Home series, and most recently this summer, Jessica Looney, CTN’s program director, presented Health & Wellness in the Digital Age on a Tech & Culture series. In this discussion, Jessica provided a rich overview of how to locate and evaluate health information online and gave some great tips about a variety of brain health and fitness apps. Seniors are always grateful for the connection and experience in these sessions.” […]

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Tablet Training Builds Connection and Confidence for Seniors

Annie Tan — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 15:21:19 +0000

Two groups of Sunset Tech Connect learners recently completed 12 weeks of basic tablet and internet skills training. Both classes were taught in Cantonese and ran from April 16 to July 2. During these 12 weeks of lessons, learners were taught a variety of new technology skills, including sharing photos and videos they took on their tablet, learning where to find and how to install apps on their device, and using Google to search for useful information online. They gained more confidence about avoiding scams and frauds on the internet. Beyond safety, the classes focused mainly on hands-on activities that were easy to engage in, like using WhatsApp and WeChat to connect with friends, family, and community. One of the learners remarked, “Because nowadays everyone needs computer skills, we’d better know more about it. I’m very thankful that CTN has such a great program for seniors. I learned quite a lot of new tech skills, which are very useful and beneficial in my life.” Now that they’ve finished the program, they get not only certificates, but also tablet devices, so they are very happy with what they learned.

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CTN Teams Up with City of Austin to Deliver Digital Skills to People Experiencing Homelessness

Jessica Looney — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 03:41:39 +0000

CTN has teamed up with the City of Austin Innovation Office to teach people experiencing homelessness (PEH) to use Google Voice so they could maintain connections with service and social networks even when their phones are lost, broken, or stolen. The goal of this pilot program is to generate evidence about the viability and feasibility of improving service outcomes by increasing PEH digital literacy and use of cloud-based communications services through a volunteer learning program. The Innovation Office will use the evidence generated by this work to make recommendations on investing further in this approach. CTN will train and place volunteers at the Austin Public Library’s Terrazas branch from July to November 2019, with the intent to serve between 25 and 30 learners during the term. Volunteers will be prepared to teach basic digital literacy skills and answer personal device questions, with the ultimate goal of encouraging the use of Google Voice. Community Engagement Lead for the city’s Innovation Team, Daniel Culotta, is excited to get the program off the ground: “The Innovation Office is very excited about this program. Our years of work in this space has shown that people experiencing homelessness often lack familiarity with a few key technologies that […]

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Childcare Providers Advancing Their Tech Skills

Sabrina Tam — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 14:39:12 +0000

Last week, CTN staff member Sabrina Tam taught the Introduction to Spreadsheets class to home-based child care providers at the Children’s Council of San Francisco. The three-class series was offered in three different languages (English, Spanish, and Cantonese) from February to April. Learners were taught a variety of Excel tools that included Understanding rows, columns, and cells Creating lists and a database of child information Formatting, sorting, filtering Using references, formulas, simple functions Using spreadsheets for bookkeeping Introducing bookkeeping and accounting software One learner commented on how useful and practical the training was — a quick and easy way to maintain a clear record of important information for her child care business. Emily Kraybill, business and technology support manager at CCSF said, “By offering technology trainings to family child care providers, our hope is that family child care providers will learn skills that will enable them to provide quality child care and run successful businesses.” CCSF is excited to partner with CTN and continue to develop trainings that are “relevant, hands-on, and engaging for all users.”

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Digital Inclusion for People with Disabilities @ Net Inclusion Conference

Jessica Looney — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 14:36:41 +0000

I was excited to attend my very first Net Inclusion conference and honored to moderate the session on Digital Inclusion for People with Disabilities to discuss how digital inclusion is a necessity for all. The panel consisted of two accessibility experts with different backgrounds. Dr. Melissa Helquist: Melissa is the director of the Community Writing Center and associate professor of English at Salt Lake Community College. She has been teaching writing for the past 20 years in a variety of contexts: in writing centers, online, in the classroom, and from a canoe in the Northwoods. She is a disability studies scholar and an accessibility advocate. Gary Knight: Gary is the executive director of the San Diego Futures Foundation and has over 25 years of executive management experience in the health care and nonprofit sectors. The last 5 years he has been dedicated to improving lives through technology at the San Diego Futures Foundation, where he first served on the board of directors for over 6 years before becoming the executive director. Although small, we were a mighty group that was able to share our varying perspectives on the issue of digital inclusion related to people with disabilities. We discussed the importance of accommodating […]

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Adventures in Developing a Virtual Training Program @ NTC

Eric Babb — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 13:21:58 +0000

For any nonprofit organization with volunteers, how it interacts with them is always a top priority. Nonprofits will devote a large amount of resources to ensure that their volunteers are the “secret sauce,” as so many of ours are at CTN. The number of volunteers for any organization will vary based on scope and mission, but it is common for even small- to medium-sized organizations to have a medium to large number of volunteers. So the question becomes, how do we train our volunteers? And how do we continue to support them so that they too can be the secret sauce of what we do? There are many directions any nonprofit can go with its resources and capacity. One of those directions is virtual training. At the Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC), CTN hosted a panel to discuss how virtual training can be used to train volunteers on everything they need to be successful. Because, as we all know, technology is a wonderful tool, but it is just that, one tool amongst many so that we can attain the vision for which we are striving. Our panel, “Adventures in Developing a Virtual Training Program,” focused on what tools are out there […]

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