Free Online Course Helps New Adult Readers Develop

Computer and Internet Skills

Project developed by ProLiteracy and funded by

www.Superpages.com.



Adults with low-level reading skills now can learn basic computer and Internet search skills while they practice reading and writing using a free online course developed by the partnership of ProLiteracy and Superpages.com®

The course, developed by ProLiteracy, the world’s largest organization of adult basic education and literacy programs, highlights features of Superpages.com®. The course is designed for adults with a fifth grade reading level and who are familiar with computers and the Internet.

The course consists of five lessons; each lesson demonstrates a specific search skill — getting directions to a specific location, for example, or using the keyword search to find a specific type of business.

After the demonstration, the student can practice exactly what he or she saw in the demonstration. The lesson ends with the student using Superpages.com to perform a similar search for businesses in his or her own city. Each screen has accompanying audio and the demonstrations are narrated to support adult learners who have trouble reading the screen text.

“The course is designed so that teachers or tutors can facilitate the lesson, but the audio component makes it possible for adult learners to use the course on their own as well,” said David C. Harvey, ProLiteracy president and CEO.

In addition to the course, there are free, downloadable Teacher’s Notes that offer discussion ideas for introducing each lesson, identify key vocabulary, and provide ideas for expanding the activities. There also is a free, downloadable Student Workbook with step-by-step directions for the features highlighted in the lesson and a worksheet for the activity in which the student applies the new skills to search for businesses in his or her home community.

“Idearc Media is offering adult learners a wonderful opportunity to improve not only their reading and writing skills, but their computer literacy skills as well,” Harvey said.

“That ability to use the Internet, to find information quickly, is an important aspect for living and working in today’s technology-driven society.”

The course, Getting Started with Superpages.com, a PDF of the Teacher’s Notes, and a PDF of the Student Workbook can be found at

www.superpages.com/adultlearners



Are you having computer problems?


For computer problems with email and spam

spybot

To download this program for free, go to

www.metalink.net.

Click on the downloads button on the right of the page, then click on the word free.

On the next page you will see Spybot - Search and Destroy


Ad-aware SE

Click on each link to download the programs.

Check for updates and run them once a week to help keep your computer free of spyware, adaware, and viruses.


Your computer's hard drive can also become "fragmented" which makes the computer spend a lot more time looking for files.

This will slow your computer down.

So once a month, you should run the disk dfragmenter.

This can be found by clicking on Start, then All Programs, Accessories, and then System Tools. Choose the Disk Defragmenter, and then choose the drives you want to defragment (for most people, this will be Drive C:).

This may take some time To accomplish, so it's best to do it when you are not going to need the computer for a while. Give it at least an hour.


Another useful application under System Tools is the Disk Cleanup. Run this once a week or whenever your computer is running slow.

You can use it to quickly delete cookies (deleting cookies will also cause you to lose any stored login information for websites), temporary internet files, etc, that can slow down your computer.

It's best to set your Temporary files folder to store less than 10MB.


Keeping Windows up to date is also important.

Click on Start and go to the Control Panel, and you should see a link on the left for Windows Update. Click this and follow the instructiosn for setting up automatic Windows Updates.

Set them for a time that your computer will be on and connected to the internet.

Then they will be automatically downloaded, and you can then install them and restart the computer.


Doing these things on a regular basis should help keep your computer running well.

Another way to avoid problems with spyware, adware, and viruses is to be careful about what you download.

Many spyware programs come "bundled" with games and other normal-looking applications, and when you click "I agree" on the Terms of Service (TOS) you are agreeing to install these malicious programs!

Be careful about downloading games and the like from sources you do not know!


What can you do to save your important documents and pictures if you have to erase things because of a virus or related issue?



You can buy a flash drive.

It plugs into the USB Port on your computer and can be used to store information.

They are the size of a stick of gum and can save all your information, such as My Documents and My Pictures.

However, they can not save programs that you have loaded onto your computer.

You can use one flash drive on all your computers, the larger ones can store quite a bit of information.

A 1GB Flash drive is equivalant to 1000 floppy disks.

Smaller ones are also available.

They are available at places such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy and cost around $35.

If you don't have a USB port you can purchse the USB extension cord at the same place you buy the flash drive.

You may also try a computer store and see if they have a used flash drive that would cost less than buying an new one.

These are only a couple examples of what you can do to save your information, there are many options, so check into what is best for you.

The flash drive is probably going to be the most inexpensive option, however.



If you need help learning about Windows, the internet, Word documents, updating your computer, keeping your computer running smoothly and etc.

Please contact Pamela Clark for class information.



Other computer related items:



Computers for Learning (CFL) provides free computers and associated equipment to schools and educational non-profit organizations.

CFL servies as a clearinghouse for surplus computers and equipment donated by government agencies and corporations. These are passed on to schools and educational non-profit organizations.



http://computers.fed.gov/public/aboutEligibility.asp.

Just click on the link "register now" in the article. Your "point of contact" will be notified when your school has been selected to receive equipment. You arrange to pick up your equipment or have it shipped.



Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

Robert F. Kennedy