Laguna Woods Village PC Club
COMPUTER CLASSES
Overview
The Laguna Woods Village PC Club organizes, staffs, and presents computer classes for Village residents. Classes are taught by PC Club member volunteers and presented in the PC Club Learning Center. The Center offers a classroom atmosphere, with individual computers for 20 students, an audio / visual system and a large screen to view the learning material. Students may use the adjacent PC Club Workshop to practice their lessons and get additional assistance.
Class subjects are selected and offered based on the needs and interests of community members. Class sessions are typically two-hours, once a week, for five weeks. Helpful handouts are included.
The goal is to provide an opportunity for all residents to have a friendly, organized, and convenient learning opportunity, to discover the enjoyment and advance their skills in using a computer. Information on scheduled classes, registration hours, and space availability may be obtained by calling the PC Club Workshop (949.268.2262) or visiting the PC Club Website: http://www.thepcclub.org
Introduction to Excel - Version 2003
Excel is a personal computer version of a ledger sheet that performs automatic recalculations when the data changes. It looks like a grid of columns and rows. Some home uses of spreadsheets are: household budgets, income taxes, inventories and mortgage tables. Excel is also used to prepare lists such as a membership roster or data for a stamp collection and other collections.
This course will cover simple calculations, some of Excels functions, how to handle dates sorting, and simple filtering. A 50-page study/textbook is included.
Prerequisites: Completion of Intermediate computer skills class or an established intermediate skills capability..
Computer Software Maintenance and Some Intermediate Word Skills
The Maintenance Class will demonstrate how to back up the Restore Point; fix Registry problems or find out what software to buy to do this; uninstall a Program; eliminate temp files; use Disk Clean and Defrag functions to help your computer run faster; tweak Virtual Memory; understand Properties; Task Manager etc. and time for Q & A.
The Intermediate Word class will teach you how to create a mail merge so you can type a letter, create an address data base for address labels as well as insert an address from your database into that letter, and prepare to send the same letter or document to many. More topics include: two documents side by side, how to use tabs and indents on the ruler bar troubleshooting printer problems and much more.
Prerequisites: Completion of Intermediate computer skills class or an established intermediate skills capability and working knowledge of Microsoft Word.
Introduction to Microsoft Word - Version 2007
Microsoft Word is the #1 word processing program used by the majority of computer users worldwide. This class will be using the newest version of the program. Word is used to create letters, reports, newsletters, flyers, and even greeting cards. We will learn the basics, which includes navigating the menus allowing you to access the commands to make the program work.
Skills to be covered are: how to open a blank page, type on it, edit your mistakes, save it and file it on the computer so you can find it again; how to select words, paragraphs, and objects and then move them to different parts of a document; and how to cut and paste, and what formatting means, why it’s important and how to format a document so it looks professional.
Prerequisite: Basic computer skills, including successful use of the mouse.
Picasa
Picasa is a fast way to import, organize, edit, view, and share your digital photos. It’s easy to learn! Import your photos from digital cameras, flash or external hard drives, CDs and memory cards. Several basic photo editing functions, including color enhancement, red eye reduction and cropping, to name a few, are included in Picasa. You can create photo captioned slide shows. Photos can also be prepared for external use, such as for emailing, or sending to a printing service online. Picasa is free to download off the Internet from Google.com. You will learn how to download the program to install on your own computer.
Prerequisite: Completion of a Basic Computer Skills class or an established basic skills capability.
How to Create Digital Photo Books
This class will teach you how to take digitally saved photos from your travels, family, etc. and turn them into beautiful coffee table hard bound books, if you desire. Or else you can print the pages out and put them in an album. You can also make a “Family History Book” for all you genealogy buffs. The software we use, “Storymaker Creator Plus”, incorporates beautiful backgrounds. You drag and drop your photos into photo frames and type in text to make titles and add text to your pages. The software can also be used to make flyers, cards, bookmarks, etc. If you have taken Picasa and wonder what’s next, it’s this class! However, having taken Picasa is not a prerequisite. You will learn how to save and retrieve from a flash drive.
Prerequisite: Completion of an Intermediate Computer Skills class or an established intermediate skills capability.
Introduction To Computers And Basic Internet
This course is for students who are new to computers and who are eager to learn the basic skills necessary for becoming computer literate. The three sessions will cover the following topics: how to use the computer mouse and the computer keyboard; basic-word processing skills necessary for producing letters or notes.
Basic Internet will be covered in the last three weeks of the course. Topics to be covered are the following: how to find and use the PC Club web site, and the Laguna Woods Village web site, how to search for any information or topic, and popular web sites. You will learn how to set up an email account, compose messages, send messages, receive messages; reply and/or forward and attachment attach photos, letters, etc. to messages.
Prerequisites: A desire to learn and the willingness to do a little homework.
Intermediate Windows Computer Skills
This class is for individuals who have established basic computer skills and want to advance these skills. The goal is to provide understanding of how to use your computer more efficiently and effectively by being able to manage your files, by saving them in places designated by you on your hard drive so you can retrieve them later. You will learn how to make and name folders or how to rename folders in the My Documents section of your hard drive or the folders you place on the desktop. The Control panel will be explored for sound, printing, how to change your desktop display, etc. and how to get help and support by using the Help menus. These topics and much more will be covered.
Prerequisites: Basic computer skills.
Basic Computing
This class is designed to overcome any concern about the use of a computer. The students will learn some of the terminology related to computers, the parts of the computer, basic operation skills needed to use the computer effectively, as well as an introduction to the use of E-Mail.
Students will be signed up for Gmail if they do not have an account. The basic structure of email will be explained and students will have practice setting up their address book, learning the use of labels, signatures, setting of a theme for the Gmail account, attaching files to an email, maintenance of one's email account and more. The student will have beginning skills to enjoy the use of sending and receiving emails to family and friends. The end result of this class will be a computer user unafraid to sit at their computer.
Prerequisites: A desire to learn and the willingness to do a little homework.
Computers for First-Time Users
Designed for first time computer users, this class is meant to overcome any fears or trepidations of using a computer. The class is slow-paced, easy to understand and is geared to the level of the student’s skills.
A computer lab in the classroom will be a part of each class so students can practice each lesson taught that session with the help and support of the instructor and assistant.
Prerequisites: A desire to learn and the willingness to do a little homework.
Internet/Email Course Summary
This intermediate level course uses demonstrations, hands-on participation and discussions of the many facets of the Internet. Learning Center computers use Windows XP, the Internet Explorer browser, and Outlook Express for email. Firefox, Google Chrome, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail and Hotmail will be demonstrated.
Changing a browser's Homepage, organizing Favorites, and refining Internet searches by Google, Yahoo and Bing will be practiced. Windows Mail for Vista and Windows 7 will be addressed. Organizing mail folders and address books, inserting images and attaching files will be practiced. Protection from malicious programs, spy-ware, viruses and identity theft will be covered
Prerequisites:: Intermediate computer skills and an email account already established.