CDD Course Report Uhuru 10-20-09

Instructor End of Course Report


Center Name: House of Uhuru

Beginning Date: 9/15/2009

Graduation Date: 10/20/2009

Names of the four Instructors: Kaoru, Paul, Daniel Chris

The session started out with 14 students with a few of them having had experience using computers and the rest being completely new to the computer. One student in particular (Annette) was very intimidated by the computer.

The session started off well, with instructors Dan and Chris teaching the Computer Discovery terms to some very enthusiastic students. The students were happy to learn the difference between memory (RAM) and hard drive, as well as seeing a motherboard for the first time. Paul joined us as an instructor a couple of classes into the session but was able to pick up easily and helped Kaoru teach the rest of the session. Throughout the course, students were able to learn the mouse, cutting and pasting, copying and dragging, MS Windows, the ins and outs of MS Word, and the Internet. By the end of the course, students were ready to jump onto the Internet to search for various items to help their journey – jobs, apartments, schools.

James was inspired to apply at LA Trade Tech to learn computer repair. Demetrus, who already knew a lot about computers, was disruptive towards the beginning of the session but calmed down enough to help a couple of students type their papers. He ended up presenting his own paper at graduation to thunderous applause.

Annette, who initially struggled, worked very hard to complete her paper and happily graduated with her colleagues. She plans to use the computer to track expenses in her future fabric store business. Other students did similarly well, building on their existing knowledge of computers. Tameka intends to use her newfound skills to promote her hairdressing talent. Tony, Allen, and Raymond developed their mouse using capabilities (a difficult thing for someone who has never used a mouse before). Allen even learned how to change his mouse settings so that he can use his mouse with his preferred hand (left). Most students also improved their typing skills, utilizing the class to practice on the Mavis Beacon typing software. Osbaldo had a tougher time than most because English is his second language. He persevered though and was able to graduate and receive his certificate.

All in all 9 students graduated, each with new skills developed in the class. Even though a couple of students left the facility and other students could not complete the class for personal reasons, we were very proud of the students who did stay and ‘stick it out’ for the 6 weeks. Both the staff at House of Uhuru and the CDD instructors (Kaoru, Paul, Dan, and Chris) gave them huge congratulations at graduation.