01/07/2007

AEA DIGEST

Issue no 20
Summer 2007

Free Online Learning

Carol Allen has been doing some online detective work to unearth the wealth of FREE tuition and information that’s available out there to help beginners get to grips with computer technology.

Those of you who don’t have access to a computer may well be getting a touch irritated by number of references your editor makes to websites and such. Maybe you think learning to use a computer is going to be both intimidating and expensive and anyway you don’t have access to one. To deal with the last point first, although the price of computers has now come down dramatically compared to a few years ago, the cost is still beyond the reach of most people on low or fixed incomes. However many public libraries now provide free computer access for local residents. Computer users who are updating are often looking for a home for their old computer, which is still perfectly ok for a beginner, so put the word around family and friends. And if that doesn’t work, there are charities, which recycle old computers to give away.

But once you have computer access, then comes the challenge of learning how to use it. Again there are some authorities and organisations, who provide free tuition. Hackney Silver Surfers for example have drop in centres for the over 50s, which is great if you happen to live in Hackney. http://hackneysilversurfers.org.uk/ There is however also a wealth of free online computer courses, which you can take at home at your own pace.

One which has just been brought to my attention is ALISON – first bit stands for Advanced Learning, not sure about the rest. ALISON is the brainchild of Irish businessman Mike Feerick, who develops computer training courses for businesses and other organisations to train and track the progress of their staff members. For this he charges but he is using the fruits of that to make those same courses available free online to everyone who wants to learn. ALISON is currently offering the ECDL/ICDL course in the essential elements of computer use, which if you wish can lead to a qualification, but you don’t have to do the tests – you can just do the course for your own use. They also offer the e-Citizen course, which is on using e-mail and the internet. And they really do start at the very beginning with how to switch the computer on!

Like many computer users, who had no access to workplace IT training either because like me they are freelance or their job didn’t involve such matters, I am self taught with a little help from my friends. Which means there are yawning gaps in my IT knowledge. Have those of you, who receive this digest in printed form ever wondered for example why the envelope it comes in is hand written? It’s because I don’t know how to use the computer to print out all your names and addresses on labels! I am hoping that ALISON is going to help me with that. I will report back in a later digest and meanwhile, if you want to have a look at the courses for yourself: http://www.alison.com.