CDD Class Report Walden House 7-6-10

WEEKLY CLASS REPORT
Walden House, Tuesday, 7/6/10

Opening Comments:
The students were excited to start learning, and were enthusiastic about the material.

Attendance:
Because it was the first class, an announcement was made over the WH speaker system to notify of the class being held in the computer lab. We had a classroom of 7 students to start the first session from the student roster of 16. Attendance was taken and the notebooks handed out.

INTRODUCTIONS OR OVERVIEW:
The instructors (Soni and Micah) introduced themselves to the class, and explained their backgrounds and why they were volunteering to teach the course.

1ST TOPIC COVERED:
Soni explained the purpose of the class, gave an overview of the format of the course, and explained the student paper and presentation. Students reviewed the eight rules that the class must follow and the basic expectations regarding class attendance and punctuality.

2ND TOPIC COVERED:
Soni explained some of the differences between computer hardware and software. Micah covered the first six discovery terms (case, motherboard, processor, memory, hard drive, and cables). The students followed along with a computer used to demonstrate in the front of the class. The case was opened and each part was displayed and defined. Micah was able to give some useful additional analogies for each part.

LAB TIME:
Soni gave an explanation of how to use the mouse and keyboard. We covered the difference between left-clicking and right-clicking, how to double-click, etc. All of the computers booted up with no issues. The students turned on the computers and opened Mavis Beacon. There were enough computers for each student in the lab. A few of the students had issues getting to the first lesson (couldn’t double-click the program icon, or had problems getting through the new user wizard) but were given addition help to get to the practice section. Micah and Soni walked around the room to make sure that all students had the correct position on the keyboard. Most students were diligent about sticking to the home row position when typing.

FINAL NOTES:
No disciplinary issues were encountered. Student, Arthur Huff, has a hearing aid, so things did need repeated a few times. However, his interruptions to the lecture got a little distracting to the other students, so recommend repeating to hold questions until the end of each section. Also, to note, one student is in a wheelchair for room set up. An additional student, Aaron Robinson, was “supposed to be on my roster” and will be speaking to WH staff to ensure that he is enrolled in the class. Lastly, after class, Soni and Micah stayed for a half hour organizing the stations, there are now four and four on each side of the room (rather that 3 and 5). Also, there is one computer station not working, which is indicated by the power source sitting atop the case.