by George Roy
Happy Anniversary and Congratulations to our own HAL-PC Satellite Center!
Our satellite center located in Suite 210 at 400 Medical Center Boulevard in Webster, TX was one year old in January of this year. Oh well, better late than never.
The official name of this relatively new center is the HAL-PC, Clear Lake Area, Senior Learning Center. Recognizing that many Senior Citizens either can’t, or won’t drive into the business center of Houston to take computer classes, this satellite center is an outreach program of HAL-PC designed to take computer classes to Seniors in or near their home communities.
The center had a rather inauspicious beginning, opening in January 1997 with a facility donated by Columbia Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, some used computers from Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. and one instructor, George Roy (me) who founded and c ontinues to coordinate the operation of the facility and teach. Since then, with the help of many local corporate sponsors, foundations, individual contributions, course fees and HAL-PC Headquarters, the learning center has prospered and grown in every m easurable way.
Today we have two computer labs with a total of 21 state-of-the-art 586 computers, all on a LAN with high-speed access to The Internet through the HALNet gateway. A twenty-two-person classroom with a teaching computer, projector and screen enables demon strations and lectures, which compliment the mainly hands-on teaching approach of the center. Other computers are strategically located in the lobby area, so that Seniors who don’t have access to computers outside of class will have both a suitable place and a computer for practice. Some even use these computers for email via the HAL-PC BBS email free for all members.
The mission of the center is to bring Senior Citizens into the Information Age and empower them to use computers to enhance their quality of life. In practice, this translates into several different meanings, depending upon the particular wants and needs of individual Seniors. For some, this may simply be learning this new foreign language, “Computerese” so that they can communicate more effectively with their grandchildren. For others, it may be gaining the knowledge required to make an intelligent com puter purchase. Another major area are those who want to gain the knowledge required to use a computer that belonged to a spouse and has been gathering dust for a year or two. For a few, its getting retrained so they can more effectively compete in the w orkplace with younger, computer literate colleagues, or enable them to get back into the workplace with new and necessary computer skills.
Our courses start with the basics in our beginner class with a major emphasis on Windows 95. The only prerequisite to enroll in this class is to be able to spell the word “computer”, and we have been known to waive even this requirement, at times. Next i s the Intermediate course, which continues the Windows 95 emphasis. After the Intermediate course, or demonstrated equivalent Windows 95 proficiency, Seniors can take any of the courses offered at the center. Currently these courses are Keyboarding, Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Introduction to The Internet, Print Shop, and File Management. A Web Authoring course is currently under development. We add new courses slowly, with new course offerings pretty much dictated by student requests and instructor availability.
The real essence or heartbeat of our center is embodied in the host of volunteers who staff the office, upgrade and maintain the equipment, prepare course material and teach. With triple the volume of students in 1998 over 1997, the center is experiencin g some normal growing pains. We have regrouped, however, and are now ready to tackle the remaining challenges of 1998 with one major exception.
Although we now have eight instructors, this continues to be the most critical resource of the center. We make a lot of phone calls to get commitments to fill each class to capacity. Even with this extra emphasis, the paid waiting lists for our beginner and intermediate courses are normally forty to sixty people. These two courses are the “bread and butter” courses, and underscore the fundamental mandate and focus of the center: our specific reason for existing. However, these are also the most demandin g courses for instructors to teach, requiring the most patience and understanding, and the instructor burnout rate is high. For this reason, we will always need instructors for these two entry-level courses. If you live anywhere South of Houston, we are conveniently located, so please drop in for a VIP tour, and see how you might help. The personal rewards are enormous.
In addition to teaching computer classes, our staff provides a lot of telephone and in-center, one-on-one help and instruction, Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. For many Seniors, this easy access to help in the learning center provided the “Security Blanket” they required to get them to acquire their own computer. Then, as they learn and branch out into personal or charitable projects, they often return for special help or guidance on these projects.
The office staff, a large, diverse group of Seniors, who enjoy giving something back to the community, have all been recruited from our beginner and intermediate classes. They give generously of their time and talents to provide that all-important phone and personal interface to other Seniors. Here is where prospective new HAL-PC members get their first impressions of the facility, personnel, overall atmosphere of the Senior Learning Center, and HAL-PC in general. Thanks to the courtesy and professional ism of our office staff, it is invariably a good impression. As a bonus, and much to their delight, our Senior Citizen volunteers are constantly being taught new computer skills to complete related tasks, enhancing both their computer skills and their us efulness to the organization, truly a win-win for everyone.
To date only one SIG, the Genealogy SIG has formed in the Clear Lake Area. However, all it takes is a group of people with a common computer interest and a SIG leader to get other SIGs started. We have the facility and equipment.
I believe the Satellite Senior Learning Center concept has been successful for several reasons. First, computer technology has become more and more user friendly, so the timing is right to teach Senior Citizen novices on and about computers. Second, all of our courses were developed by Seniors, specifically tailored to accommodate the learning needs of Seniors and the courses are taught by Seniors, who understand these needs. Third, there is an over-riding learning center philosophy that if the students are having fun and the instructors are having fun, then we have achieved a no threat, no pressure environment for learning, and it will be a pleasant experience for all concerned. Fourth, our facility is reasonably close to the homes of our Seniors, the traffic is relatively light and because many Seniors are not comfortable driving at night, all of our classes are in the daytime. Last, but certainly not least, there is an increasing awareness in Seniors that an active mind is a healthy mind, and all o f our students and staff epitomize and foster this thinking.
George Roy may be reached at roygt@hal-pc.org or at the Senior Learning Center (281) 316-0768.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.