I am Teresa Johnson.
I am 45 years old.
It’s my first year at Tri-C.
I am the proud mother of 4 children.
3 girls and 1 boy.
I also enjoy reading encouraging books and romance novels.
This summer I plan on doing lot’s of reading, and returning to school this summer, for more GED practice.

My computer was not working. Having a working computer in my home, will help me a lot with my homework. I am a student at Tri-C’s eastern campus. This class has been very useful to me, I learned about new websites that I will use in the near future. And met new friends. You were also the bomb teacher!

Rozell Sneede
CYC Corp Member
Instructor, Cuyahoga Community College
Famicos Foundation Park Village Technology Information Literacy Initiative Center
Cleveland, Ohio

“I wanted to write to you to let you know how pleased we are with the Saturday programming offered to our parents and students through the Connect Your Community project. It was great to see parents engaged in the learning process in our building. This program has helped to open the lines of communication between our teachers and the parents involved, and we have noticed that these particular students are completing more work on our computer-based supplemental programs now. Bringing the parents into the building helped us to secure the students for some extra needed tutoring and provided the parents with tools to assist their children at home. I am excited to see how well these children score on the OAA! Besides the academic benefits to this program, it was great to see the children interacting with their parents in such a positive manner. Connect Your Community has helped our school, children, families and community. Thanks!”

Montel is a retired veteran and was laid off from his current job. He went to his county Department of Job and Family Services to obtain employment help. That’s when he realized he would need to acquire some computer skills. Jenny interviewed Montel at the completion of the CYC course and asked him why he thought he needed computer skills and how he would use the internet. Here is part of that interview.

After taking the CYC course, Montel feels confident using a computer and Internet. He will use internet access to stay in touch with other veterans, family and friends. He understands how to search for government services on-line and plans to continue taking computer courses offered at the public library.

Sue Shipitalo
ACCEL Connect Your Community
Zanesville, Ohio

Graduate Elaine Moton - Giving her PPT Presentation & Testimonial

One of my favorite resources to share with CYC students is the Career Centers. Graduate Linda Miller used the Online interview stream. to see how she appeared to the interviewer. She took advantage of the training to learn Excel and improve her keyboarding skills.  Final result, she was able to beat out 26 applicants for her current position.

Also, graduate Lena Hogue was able to take advantage of new opportunities such as the health information and technology program where funding is available to cover 60-70% of tuition and is presently enrolled in the online course.

Rozell Sneede
CYC Corp Member
Instructor, Cuyahoga Community College
Famicos Foundation Park Village Technology Information Literacy Initiative Center
Cleveland, Ohio

CYC Appalachia - New Lexington, OH

Teaching Connect Your Community classes has always been a blast for me. The curriculum is very balanced and, in my opinion, quite digestible for students of all ages, backgrounds and levels of experience. Our lectures and hands-on teaching style allow students access to the information, and plenty of time for them to engage themselves in a friendly, slow-paced and relaxed learning environment. I teach my curriculum at a steady pace, leaving plenty of room in between for practice and questions. Each week I discover new elements to add to the curriculum, whether they are through ideas from my co-workers or underlying questions from my students. One of the most pleasant surprises as a CYC instructor has been the discovery that each class represents a unique group of individuals, complete with their own strengths and weaknesses. Every class requires a brand new approach; therefore, for me it’s always about finding the glove that fits.

CYC Appalachia statistics have shown that our traditional demographic has been females over the age of 65; however, most of my classes are taught in Perry County to the southwest. I always have wonderful student diversity, bringing in teenagers and elderly alike. I have had classes with students of intensely different levels of experience, and the challenge becomes engaging the new users without losing the veterans. A key discovery I have made in recent weeks is that even if someone knows how to navigate the computer, they still might not have a firm grasp on the basics. I have also found the modules on malware and internet privacy to be among the most engaging in our entire curriculum, as they are full of useful terms and information vital to anyone exploring the Internet. Regardless of which style of teaching I use for a particular class, I make it my personal goal to engage all my students, equip them with knowledge, and grant them the confidence to succeed in the realm of technology.

I learned very early in my CYC experience that students ultimately guide the curriculum, taking it places we can never quite forsee. Nancy, one of my first students, passively mentioned “I wish you could tell if a website was good or not BEFORE you go to it.” This defining moment taught me to incorporate practical elements of my own computer experience into existing curriculum, as doing so will grab the attention of ALL students, basic and advanced alike. A little over a year ago I discovered a great browser add-on called Web of Trust which, ironically, answers the very prayer of my student. The video below is an excerpt from one of my sessions regarding this great tool, as well as how to download it for yourself.

Thomas Sawyers
Microsoft Office Specialist
CYC Corp Member
ACCEL Muskingum
Zanesville, Ohio

Now I asked them to create a House Sale flyer to make a little extra money on things they have collected in their homes. This got their attention. They were motivated to make some money with a pretty, eye-catching flyer. The assignment looked easier than it was, and the final requirement was to insert a Clipart image related to the House Sale. After explaining where to find Clipart, I hear “How do you put in a picture?” I approach individual students and show them where to go, where to click. “Nothing is showing,” I hear.

Okay, I make adjustments to the ClipArt-Where-to-Look-Collections. I explain that “Furniture” can be too large a category to search, instead recommending something specific like chairs, tables, dressers, or beds. Then the room goes silent. People are glued to their monitors as they type on the keyboard, steer the mouse and watch the cursor move. I walk to the back of the room and see “House Sale” in different sizes, styles and colors jump out in large headlines across the monitors. I also see pictures of chairs and tables and shoes and dishes. “Unbelievable prices,” I see, “we are almost giving this away!”

And then I hear Mary yell in frustration,”Where did it go?” I walk over to where she is working. Students seemed excited by what they were creating and got distracted by the lettering and images. I listened to Mary describe what she thought happened. I quietly remembered all my mistakes and lost documents in years past.

I did not help her. I asked her where she thought the document may be, how could she retrieve it? I asked other students what they thought. I know Mary was impatient for me to DO SOMETHING. I chose to problem solve together. Someone else suggested trying the Undo button; I suggested prowling the bottom Task Bar for open Word documents. And wouldn’t you know, there was her House Sale flyer, and I could hear her breathe a sigh of relief.

Susan Schaul
CYC Computer Instructor
Warrensville Heights Community Library
Cleveland, Ohio

I recently had a student comment, “I didn’t know the mouse could do all of that” as they finished the Mouse Aerobics tutorial.  “I like the individual self paced activities and choosing Mouse Exercises,  you should do more of that”.

I’ve discovered that parallel teaching works well too.  Students benefit from two instructors as we model everything from taking notes to sending email attachments.   When it’s necessary, I instruct my students to log off their computers so I can have their undivided attention.

When explaining features, I feel it’s best to observe students and make recommendations as they learn to use the mouse and cursor; it makes learning how to copy and paste more concrete.  Plus, I like starting with Microsoft Word because those skills are easily transferable to other applications and students understand they’re expected to send an email with an attachment as an exit requirement in each class.

Being flexible is the best teaching technique I can implement in my classroom.  Whether students prefer self paced tutorials or favor whole group instruction – visual learners, audio learners, and those who learn by doing all thrive.

Rozell Sneede
CYC Corp Member
Instructor, Cuyahoga Community College
Famicos Foundation Park Village Technology Information Literacy Initiative Center
Cleveland, Ohio

This presents a challenge to our CYC instructors: how to reach those residents who are “digitally distant”.  Having worked in computer adoption for more than 10 years, I know it is important to introduce technology where the community feels comfortable and well supported. Not surprisingly, of the more than 100 places ACCEL has taught the CYC course, 25% have been in churches.  We are nondenominational. We have taught the Baptists, the Methodists, the Nazarenes, the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, the Revivalists and other nondenominational churches.

In each case we found a leader in the church, whether it be the pastor, the secretary or a member, who recognized the importance of learning how to use the internet. At the First Baptist Church in West Lafayette, Ohio, a member of the congregation learned about the CYC program from family. He approached his pastor about having classes there and then called the Coshocton CYC office. The result was multiple CYC courses held at the church for their congregation, as well as the general public, and more are scheduled.  The youth pastor at the Fresno Bible Church, Ben Croghan, says this about the CYC course, “Many of our congregation and community greatly appreciated and benefitted from the classes offered at our church. They now have a solid technological foundation that empowers them to bravely embrace the ever changing world around them.”

Sue Shipitalo
Compliance Specialist
ACCEL CYC Appalachia

Zanesville, OH

Kids & Parents at Scranton Elementary CYC Class

While their children are receiving additional tutoring needed to pass the OAA (Ohio Achievement Assessments) examination (to be taken April 23), parents of Scranton Elementary School children are participating in a CYC class focused upon parent engagement. As with all CYC classes, participants receive 24 hours of hands on computer training, a low cost home computer and low cost home Internet access.

Over the 4 weeks, parents are introduced to basic computer and digital literacy skills, how to monitor usage of the computer by the children and how to navigate and get information from CMSD’s (Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s) website. Parents also are trained to connect with teachers via e-mail, and using online grade and homework assignment postings, and attendance records through applications such as Engrade and Jupiter Grades.

In addition, the principal has worked with teachers using online learning applications, including First in Math, Accelerated Reader, and Tumblebooks. In the CYC class, parents are being taught how to use these same applications to monitor their child’s progress and help the child while at home.

This past week, parents were introduced to security measures and monitoring for their home computers to reduce spam and viruses while ensuring their children’s safe usage of the computers at home.

The last part of the session was devoted to First in Math, an application used by the schools to enhance math skills. Parents were first introduced to it and logged in. The children were then brought in to show the parents how they use this tool. Afterwards, the school principal provided each parent and child with a homework assignment. We’ll follow-up with them next Saturday to track progress.

The intent of the parent engagement class is to demonstrate that access to computers and the Internet enhances the ability of parent to connect with the school and become engaged in their child’s education. We also expect that the extra tutoring and assistance from parents at home, will have a positive effect on their test scores in April.