The class has gone through several upheavals that has caused us to not meet on  several intervals or to totally discontinue class.  By teaching senior citizens there was a case where everyone was getting the flu and it spread like wildfire throughout the complex.  We started classes and could only meet a couple of times then COVID-19 happened.  Everything came to a stand still because the students are in the high-risk range for the virus.  So far we have been blessed because no one has been infected.  We know that if someone does it will spread through the center like the flu did.

​As of today we don't know when classes will resume, but we are hopeful.

One of our students, who had been in the class since its beginning, died suddenly and it has upset everyone.  She was smart and loved by us all.  She will be missed. I am not listing her name for privacy sake. It is enough to know that she is no longer with our group.

The senior citizens have very busy social lives and wanted to suspend classes until the beginning of the new year. So we are taking a break from November just before Thanksgiving until the beginning of next year in January 2020.

We gained one more student to our class and it was decided that we would spend the next month of sessions reviewing basic skills.  The class was in agreement so that it would be a refresher for those who were already in the class. As the review began the other students were excited about all that they has learned and the skills that they were able to recall and apply.

The classes are slow going because our new student is Vietnamese with limited English proficiency and every lesson has to be  translated so he can understand.  He is an excellent student and the teacher uses the language translator on the iPhone to teach the concepts he can not understand. It has been an interesting process for all the class members because making it clear for him helps some students have a better understanding of information for them. 

Today's session will focus on reinforcing the skills needed to download pictures from your mobile phones. In the  last session we began the process by taking the pictures from the phone  and uploading to the computer. We have a PP that gives step by step directions on opening up the photos we downloaded in last session. The PP is found in the lesson section of this blog.

The information is recorded the metadata and and the data  there. The year, month, date, hour and minutes in military time. Transfer multiple images or files by using the Control key to select the ones you wish to copy and paste in another file or on the USB drive. Using the multiple select you can choose what you want to move.

This session we are walking the class through the steps in uploading photos to your PC. This is done by connecting your device to your computer and using Windows Photos app.
       Supplies needed:  USB wire for phone, computer with photo application, smart phone with photos or USB drive with pictures on it.
​How to: Download pictures from your phone
1. Click Start Icon (it appears as a window in the lower left hand side of the screen
2. The menu will bring you directly to the list of apps that start with  "P." from here you can select Photos from the list. (The first time you open Photos App you will get an over view.. This will only come up the first time, so read through it.)

What is on this page that you need to observe?
Locate the following three places along the ribbon: Import button -
 lets you download new pictures from your phone or memory stick. Select button - lets you selects which pictures you want to work with from your collection. Timeline - lets you search for pictures based on when and where they were taken.

On this same page Collections and you will notice a title called The Collection Page This is what's listed on that section: Goto Collection heading in upper left-hand side.

• Is the first page that shows in the Photo application
• Shows all the pictures in your computers picture folder.
• Pictures are organized by date and time taken
• Shows pictures on a timeline.

Click on Albums the page title The Albums Page 

• Allows you to create digital albums
• Gather related photos and videos
• Creates Automatic Albums for you based on photos you have added.

Click on Video projects

• Lets you create automated slideshows
• Add music to slide shows
• And share videos you create

Click on People

• Automatically finds faces of people in your pictures
• Lets you tag the faces
• Will look for those faces in other pictures
• Will group[ all the pictures of the same faces

Click on Folders

• Lets you add additional folders to your picture library
• Browse collections by folder
• View pictures on external devices

Step 3 Click Import. It's in the upper-right side of the Photos window and find the Import Icon. This link is on the right side of the window. Click a Wait for your computer to find your photos.  Your computer will search for connected items, such as a USB flash drive and your phone.  This may take awhile.
Step 4 Select photos to move. By default, every photo and video on your phone is selected; click selected photos to de-select them or click Clear all to de-select every photo and video and then click only the ones you want to move.

We have been very busy and unable to post for the last year The instructor has had many issues to handle on her regular job and I have been working on completing my dissertation. So starting from this session on we will be posting to our blog about the progress of the Adult Literacy Class.

We have began to teach our students how to download pictures from their mobile phones to an album on the computer.  Every class member was given a flash drive to download their pictures on. We have observed that some students have hundreds of photos while others only have a few. One student had as many as 700 photos another barely had ten, The instructor gave the assignment for those with less than fifty pictures to take pictures with their phone so that they can be imported to the USB.

Instructions are given step by step on how to transfer photos to the flash drive. Reminder right click will bring up menu; left click follows through on the operation. Directions were demonstrated on how to put two windows side by side for easy access to move photos from one place to another. D- drive is the thumb drive and the pictures folder is on the computer. Create a new folder by clicking on the white place to make a New Folder, Label it by giving it a folder name. Name the new folder "Class Pictures;" now we are going to transfer the photos to this new folder. Drag and drop photos into the empty new folder you just created. To preview go to view tab and review your pictures.

 

Today’s lesson focused on Mavis Beacon practice activities for keyboarding skills. We had plans to review the Google Apps, but our mobile hotspot has gone out and we will have to take it back to the dealer to for an exchange. To increase the size of the icons on the desk, the class was instructed on how to move the mouse wheel in the middle of the mouse by holding down the control key and moving the wheel up or down to enlarge and diminish their size.

Beginning of class, we did our finger exercises to loosen up the home key fingers. After two minutes of exercises we began the practice sessions. Several of the ladies had advanced to having new keys introduced. The ladies enjoyed all the advancement sounds made by the program.  It gave everyone a little chuckle; the instructor had to lower the sound on each laptop to keep from disturbing the class. They really enjoy the chameleon game and learning new keys as they move forward increase their technique and speed. Everyone is noticing their speed is increasing and their techniques are improving.  One student has gotten up to 40 wpm. Review of the bar on “f” and “j” to help find home row keys was mention to reteach previous technique.

We focused on cooperative learning to encourage each other to help those who may be having difficulty in learning certain process skills. Everyone checked out their report cards to see how they have progressed though the lessons. The class and the instructor are pleased with how well the class is doing. Next week's in-class work will focus on using Google Apps.

We took the damaged hotspot back to the vender and they are sending us a new one, which we will have before the next class meeting. We still need to purchase three more batteries to replace the old ones in the remaining laptops; then all laptops will have new replacement batteries. We also need to finish checking out the rest of the cords to make sure they work properly.

We had several of the laptop plugs that were defective and we had to return to TCU, which they gladly replaced to us.

We added a new student to our group which makes current enrollment of regular students up to eight. We still have occasional students that come by but our regular group will now be eight. 

Review of key computing terminology included: explanation of "click," which means to use the mouse; how to read the digital page; the use of the locator bar on "f" and "j" keys. The importance of home keys and how they help you to find the home row keys.

One of the students brought sticky letters to put on her fingers to help her remember her home keys. It was funny to look at but it really helped her find her keys.

For the end of class we walked through the process of shutting down the lesson and turning off the computers. Two more lessons will be on Mavis Beacon to become familiar with the whole keyboard.  Then we will start each class with ten minutes of keyboarding review then we will return to Word Processing.

When we return to Word Processing a review will be done about computer hardware parts and anatomy of the desktop.

Today was special because the class got a chance to work individually on learning better keyboarding skills through Mavis Beacon Program.  It was Good Friday and several class members opted to attend class rather than enjoy some of the holiday weekend activities.  It was beneficial to all that attended.

An area of weakness in the class is keyboarding skills and manual dexterity; so to practice basic skills has been important to help them become more proficient in computing. Each student started with level one and depending on their skill set was able to move up according to their current skill levels.  They were very excited and really enjoyed all the little sound cues and badges that they could earn as they increase their skills.  This also gave the instructor a chance to emphasize specific keyboarding techniques and the little things, like the little bar line, on the keys "f" and "j" to help them locate the keys without looking at their hands.

It looks like we are off and running.  Working hard to familiarize students with the Home Row keys and practicing correct fingering techniques. The instructor feels that these little things will definitely help with their basic computing skills and develop good keyboarding techniques.  Far too many students "hunt and peck" without knowing they could do more and type faster if they knew basic typing skills and how the keyboard is laid out.

At the end of the session everyone was smiling and feeling accomplished with all they had learned.  We look forward to our next session in two weeks and we hope that all will be in attendance.