Course descriptions
Audio editing
Use free programs such as Windows Media Player to create music libraries and rip CDs for personal use; and Audacity to edit sound files. Find out what hardware and software you need to easily convert your LP records to digital files and save them to your computer or an MP3 player.
Best ten websites
Each of these two-hour short courses introduces ten websites on topics that include health, money, seniors, overseas travel and computer technology. Your trainer will give you a guided tour of each website before giving you time to explore on your own.
Beginners 1
This 10 hour course (generally 2 hours per week for 5 weeks, but sometimes over 10 weeks)is offered separately in Windows XP and Windows 7. The course will introduce you to computing - how the hardware, software and operating system interact; how to use the mouse and keyboard; files and folder management; how to open and close a software application and more. You should do before attempting classes in various software applications (such as Word, email tools and Internet browsers).
It will be offered in Windows Vista if there is future demand.
We recognise that if you have found this web page, you may not need to do Basic Computing, but you may wish to tell your friends!
We have a number of trainers who teach this course, and we try to run it on various days.
Beyond the Basics: Windows 7 and XP
This is a follow up course to Beginners 1, and is also offered in Windows XP and Windows 7. It can also be offered in Vista if in demand. The Windows 7 course is ideal for seniors with some experience with an earlier operating system such as XP.
The course will give you more understanding of the Windows operating system and enable you to customise it to suit yourself. It will give you more confidence in using your computer and will introduce you to various software applications.
Blogging
Blogging is writing a digital diary or journal, often with photographs. It is very useful for recording your travels and sharing your exciting times and photos with your family and friends. Blogging is also useful for a special interest or for sharing your findings about your ancestors. This course uses Google's blogger. Here is an example of a travel blog, written by the trainer: Florida and England 2009.
CreataCard
This is a popular course where you learn how to create beautiful professional looking cards using American Greeting CreataCard. Fun to use and with grandchildren, family birthdays and all the special occasions that we have throughout the year this program could save you money while giving that important someone a personalized card.
Managing Digital Photos
In this course, you will use learn to download your photos from a digital camera, using a range of methods. You will then use Google's Picasa3 to make your photos look better, organise them and email them to your family and friends.
Digital Photo Stories
You will learn to use Microsoft's PhotoStory 3 to make video presentations with photos, music and voice to burn to CD/DVD or play on your TV, and give you that WOW factor. You will also add titles to your video presentations using Windows Movie Maker.All the programs mentioned above are freely available as downloads from the Internet. However, you can also download them onto a USB drive (or thumb drive) under the supervision of your trainer.
To undertake either of the digital photo courses, you should have some computer experience and understand Windows XP or Vista and file and folder management in particular. The courses do NOT show you how to take good photos, but they will show you how to rescue a poor photo.
Genealogy on your computer
Genealogy is now offered as a series of short two hour courses, each focused on a different topic, such as Convict ancestors, Scottish records.
Since members will have different interests and be searching for ancestors not only in NSW but all over the world, the course will be flexible to allow for individual learning, as well as having some structure.
Each short course has its own comprehensive manual.
Google Tools
There is much more to Google than just a search engine. You will be expected to have set up a Google account. (This is explained in the Internet and Email: Beyond the Basics course.) This short course will introduce you to Google documents, Google albums, blogger. It will be flexible according to the interests of the students.
Experience with Google's Picasa3 (taught as part of Managing Digital Photos) will be helpful, but not essential.
Graphics in Word
Graphics can be described as any digital image. Microsoft Word has some very flexible tools for manipulating and enhancing many types of graphics.
In this course you will:
- Make posters
- Learn to use AutoShapes to create colourful graphics
- Put pictures into letters or flyers
- Put captions on your photos
- Create CD covers
- Create your own business card
- Create a greeting card
- Use templates to create a calendar
- And more...
The course is offered in both Word 2003 and Word 2007.
Internet and Email
The Internet is a global network of millions of computers providing the largest communication system in the world. It is an amazing information resource. You will learn how to find information on every possible subject by searching the World Wide Web.
This course will also show you how to manage and use email, including sending and receiving attachments, using Google's Gmail. You will learn how to use the internet and email while protecting your privacy and security.
Prior to undertaking this course, you should be competent with Basic Computing and word processing software (for example MS Word or Wordpad).
PowerPoint
Make and publish a photo book, using on line photobook applications. This course will introduce you to Snapfish and Blurb, two of the most popular online photobook publishers. You get to decide which you like best.
PowerPoint
PowerPoint is fun to learn, and useful for showing your family photos or for presentations to your community club. It can be offered in either 2003 or 2007.
Scrapbooking in Word
This is a five week course using the more advanced features of Word 2007 or Word 2003 to create a scrapbook.
You must have basic computer knowledge to attend this course. Bring your own photos on a USB Drive or CD to the class each week and a 2Gb (minimum) USB Drive to save the file you are creating.
Skype
Make international, interstate and local video telephone calls through the Internet.
If your friend or family members does not have a computer, or has not set up a Skype account, you can call anyway, and they will not even know you are using Skype. Skype to Skype is a FREE call, anywhere in the world, whilst Skyping a telephone is a fraction of the cost of your Telstra or Optus calls.
Why wait? Your president and secretary make all their outgoing calls via Skype.
Train the Trainer
This course is available for current club members who have undertaken a number of courses and wish to become a trainer or trainer's buddy. It is also available for experienced computer users who wish to become a volunteer trainer, but such people must join the club, to demonstrate commitment to the Club's values.
The course will not teach you computer skills - rather, it will focus on learning styles of older people, how they may differ from your own learning style; training techniques and how to take into account the diversity of older people, whose culture, language or functional ability may be different from your own.
This course is free, and will be run over 2.5 days on three consecutive weeks.
Web design
There are a myriad of ways to learn web design, and each designer has a preference for the tools he or she uses. In a 10 hour course, we can do no more than introduce you to the basics.
This course will introduce you to the mechanics of web design, both online through Google sites, and offline through the use of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and File Transfer Protocols (FTP); as well as the importance of planning your site.
This course is suitable for members who are simply curious about the processes involved, or who want to build a simple website for an organisation or for family research.
You must have significant experience in working with a number of software applications to handle this course comfortably.
Microsoft Word 2003
This course will teach you the basics of word processing, using Microsoft's Word 2003. You can use it for letters, lists, flyers, posters, cards, forms, reports and a myriad of other things.
Microsoft Word 2007
Microsoft has recently produced Office 2007, which includes Word 2007.T This software application looks quite different to Microsoft's earlier word processing packages, since it has a "ribbon" concept, instead of the earlier drop-down menus.
The course will be run using the Vista operating system.