Computer training for blind deaf and disabled people in their own home

Tutor Seminar - 05/03/2005

Tutor Seminar held on 05/03/2005 12:05:57 at ABBEY COMMUNITY CENTRE

Present:
Anthony Wigram, Chris Garbett, Lisa Oram, Nina Johannessen, Sarika Patel Doreen Nicholas, Adefemi Adedapo, Taher Ali, Judith Bartholomew, David Brown, Jim Benstead, Helen Dashwood, Tracey Fawthrop, Sally Fonseca, Chris Frederick, Barry Freedman, Kevin Fro

Apologies:
Tracy Pernice, Sina Adekoya, Debbie Brixey, Richard Burton, Cliff Docherty, Gabriella Gatward, Lorraine Manning, Arlene Munir, Natasha Murray, Janice Pearson, Petko Petkov, Margaret Power

Minutes:
1. Presentation

Anthony presented U Can Do I.T. graduate, Stephen Steppens, with a certificate to commemorate taking our 10,000th tutorial. Patricia was also presented with a certificate for delivering the tutorial.

Anthony said that we had invited David Blunkett to make the presentation but he was not able to attend. Although the day before the seminar, his office called and invited us to the House of Commons where he would be able to make the presentation.

2. Administration – Lisa Oram

Lisa introduced our two new administrators, Nina and Sarika. She said that now the admin team was back to full strength it will help us process student applications faster and get them onto the course.

She invited comments and questions regarding the funding information she had previously sent to tutors outlining the new procedures which would need to be adopted.

Sally queried if tutors were expected to judge whether a student was suitable to take an on-line course with NEC. Anthony said that only a certain number of students would take up these courses or take the advantage of employment training, so our priority would be to assess their suitability for the U Can Do IT course. He asked tutors to use their own practical judgement as they already do for existing assessments.

Chris said that we do have targets to meet for the funders so the more students who progress onto training the better for us. It is more important to assess students intention and commitment, not ability, to carry on with an on line course.

Lisa said that students would be made aware of the possibility of on-line courses and employment training during all stages of the application process.

Anthony said that this is new for all of us and we are all on a learning curve.

3. Chris Garbett

a) Funding Update

Chris said that funding is still very competitive and there is a lot of work involved.

We have won three contracts - Learning and Skills Councils North and South and Association of London Government. We came second in two schemes (LSC East and Central) and may still receive funding from them. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful with our Job Centre Plus application – they had £32,000,000 available with bids for over £200,000,000; received 360 applications and awarded only 43 contracts!


Gross income from the bids we have won will be £350,000, of which £250,000 will go to UCDIT. However, CG pointed out that the charity needs £700,000 over two years to maintain the current level of lessons.

We have more applications to make with the Big Lottery Fund, Future Builders and Bridge House Estates imminent. The three new contracts will give us time to build up revenue and secure money in the short term. In the longer term we need to secure contracts and service level agreements with local authorities.

He said that the new funding we have won will unfortunately make more work for the tutors, eg Training Needs Analysis, Learning Plans, ALG timesheets but this must be done in order to secure funds.

In the past, after our students have completed our course, we had no progression routes. Now that we have partners, the students will have more opportunities to go on to achieve employment opportunities and further educational needs. These changes are good for us.

He congratulated Phil Griller who had been successful with a funding application he had made and said that a commission cheque would be on it’s way to him. If any tutor is interested in helping us to fundraise, please contact him and he will be able to help fill out application forms etc.

b) Outreach

Chris said that the various partnerships and schemes we are running are proving successful.

We have fulfilled 25% of our requirements with regard to Leonard Cheshire, who are running a scheme in Kensington & Chelsea called Sociability in which they provide a free computer and we provide a free lesson.

We will be negotiating with Connecting U, the scheme which has been offering free computers to students in, Westminster, Lambeth, Southwark and City of London to increase the area covered to all boroughs in London. A meeting will be taking place next week. So if anybody knows of anyone who would benefit please pass them our details.

He said that he has spent less time on outreach due to his fundraising work, although the figures are the same as last year.

Chris also mentioned ITCH – IT Can Help who supply free technical support to disabled people. They have made a deal with AbilityNet who will be transferring calls to the ITCH help desk. Their new number is 0800 269 545.

David asked if they operate in London only. Patricia said that they were national. Shahab then asked if deaf students could contact them via minicom. Chris said yes. Lisa will circulate their details.


4. Web Site – Carl Gasgoigne

Carl talked first about the new on line reporting system. The reason for introducing this system was because it was asked for by the tutors and it would enable the admin department to prepare invoices easier and quicker.

He knows it is not perfect at the moment and there have been a few hiccups, but these are being dealt with as they arise. He had received a few queries saying that lesson reports were not being received by the tutor or student. Carl said that initially the reports were received embedded into an email but at the request of the office he changed this so that reports would be received as an attachment. As this was causing problems, he has now changed the system so that the office will receive them as attachments and tutors/students will go back to receiving them as an email.

David asked if this system works with Jaws. Carl said yes and Phil mentioned that he had used it with Jaws and it worked better than the old reports.

Fitwi said that some of his students don’t have an email address and this is a required field – what do you do then? Carl said he would need to look into this separately.

Shahab asked if tutors will receive a response after each lesson is sent to confirm it has been received.

Carl said that tutors never received a response when they sent reports in the old way so essentially there is no difference in the way the new system works.

Terry suggested setting up an auto response for when lessons are sent. Carl said this was a possibility. Tracey said that each report submitted generates it’s own individual reference number so you know it has been accepted and is on the U Can Do I.T. database.

Carl said that if anyone has any problems or questions to let the office know and they will pass details to him.

Carl moved onto the website and said that he has been doing a lot of background work re-structuring the site to make it more accessible.

Anthony mentioned the idea of web site vetting by U Can Do I.T. graduates and current students. This will provide cash for U Can Do I.T. and the students.

Carl has successfully used graduates to test a client’s website and the websites of their competitors. He had received a good response from both the graduates and client. It would be great to create a U Can Do I.T. standard – clients can claim that their site is approved by U Can Do I.T. and is fully accessible. Anthony said that The Shaw Trust charge £3,000 to have their logo on approved sites.

David said that he is very interested in this as he also vetted websites for clients.


5. Learndirect – Daniel Gilson

Daniel asked if everyone was aware of LearnDirect and the services they have to offer.

They provide on-line learning with no teacher, no classroom and no homework. Courses are delivered on computers via the internet although some courses are available on CD Rom. Most IT courses are short – between 6 and 15 hours. Making it up to the student when they study and for how long.

Daniel works for Camden Job Train (learndirect@camden-jobtrain.org.uk) who have a 20 point centre in Kentish Town where students can go to take the courses.

The range of courses covered are:
Business Management
Skills for Life (literacy and numeracy)
I.T.

Students can take as many courses as they like although it is preferable to take one course at a time.

Enrolment usually involves the student going to the centre but for U Can Do IT students Daniel would be prepared to visit the student at home (if local to Camden) or accept enrolments by post. Once enrolled each student receives a username and password.

The cost of each course varies for those who are employed. From approximately £10-30. For those students who are on benefits, and can provide evidence of this, the courses are free.

Once enrolled on a course the student will complete a learning plan and receives support from an on-line tutor. Mid course and end course progress reviews are also undertaken. There is also a freephone helpline available for any student queries.

Daniel left a price list and courses guides for any interested tutors. He also said that he could hold workshops if enough tutors were interested in hearing more.

Shahab said that for deaf people English isn’t their first language so would the courses translate? Daniel said that the courses are very visual – lots of pictures with a few lines of text. Shahab asked if students could get help face to face. Daniel said yes, they always welcome students coming into the centre.

Anthony said this would be a good progression for students and asked tutors to encourage their students to think about the services available from LearnDirect.


6. ECDL – Chris Frederick

Chris said that U Can Do I.T. is intending to offer its students two new courses: equalskills and eCitizenship and outlined the courses and the requirements of tutors to teach them to students.

Equalskills is an informal and uncomplicated introduction to computers and the internet. It has been designed as a flexible learning programme that provides the ultimate introduction to basic computers skills. Upon completion of the equalskills programme a certificate is awarded by The British Computer Society.

ECitizenship aims to encourage individuals who possibly do not own a computer or have immediate access to one and have therefore never discovered the ease of email for contacting friends and relations, saving money by booking a holiday online or browsing the internet for shopping or accessing information. It provides the essential elements to becoming a 21st century e-Citizen.

In order to teach these two courses, tutors must hold the ECDL qualification which consists of the following modules:

Basic concepts of IT
Using the computer and managing files
Word processing
Spreadsheets
Database
Presentation
Information and Communication

To gain the ECDL you must obtain a log book at a cost of £25 (the only cost to you) and pass a test in each module. Ordinarily the whole process would cost around £140-150 depending on where you take it. Once you have obtained a log book it is your property and allows you to take the exams at any test centre.

U Can Do IT has recently been recognised as an official test centre which is based at Chris’s home at 120 Alexandra Road, Wimbledon SW19 7JY. Within 2 minutes walking distance from Wimbledon BR and tube station – District line tube and rail links direct to Waterloo (12 minutes)

Each module test takes approximately 40 minutes and consists of about 40 multiple choice questions. At the U Can Do IT test centre the manual version of the test will be used. Tutors will be handed a floppy disk and a question sheet. When ready you will be asked to enter the floppy disk into the computer. You will then turn over the question sheet and enter your answer onto the floppy disk. At the end of the test, Chris will mark the answers. A score of 75% is required to pass a module.

Benefits
For tutors – there is a considerable cost benefit (apart from the log book and probable expense of an ECDL coursework book usually £19.99 there is no other cost attached), it is a universally recognised qualification and will look good on any CV.
For students – both courses offer validated certificates, being actively promoted by the government providing a pathway on which to build future qualifications.
For U Can Do IT – having all our tutors holding the ECDL qualification will enhance its already excellent reputation, it will considerably enhance our ability to obtain government funding, we will continue to do what we have been doing for the last five years, but at a new, more exciting and professional level.

Anthony said that we would have to modify the course and add new subjects. If a tutor does not hold the ECDL the students will not be able to benefit.

Patricia asked where to get a log book. Chris said from U Can Do I.T.

David asked if the test was accessible using Jaws. Chris said he wasn’t sure and would have to check with The British Computer Society who have someone dedicated to deal with these issues.

Tracey said that she has a student who has taken the ECDL and there is a taped version of the question sheet or it is available in Braille.

Chris said he would like to talk to Carl to look into putting a timetable on the website so that tutors can book available spaces to take exams.

Chris also mentioned that he has passed a course in Assessing and Observing training and would be attending some lessons to observe tutors in action.

Patricia said that she wasn’t sure her students would like someone turning up like that. Chris said that he would arrange it in advance with the tutor and student. Once at the tutorial he would introduce himself and have a quick chat with the student and then sit out of the way and just watch the lesson.

7. Work of Volunteers – Doreen Nicholas

Doreen said that the volunteers are now starting to take shape. They have set tasks to undertake and she is in touch with them on a regular basis. She said that the volunteers are very important to U Can Do I.T. as they are constantly advertising our services.

She asked all tutors to make sure that their students know how to use the U Can Do I.T. graduate CD as she has had a few volunteers who are not sure how they are supposed to use it. She also said it was very important for tutors to encourage their students to volunteer once their courses are ended.

She asked that if any tutor does not have a CD or has any other queries regarding volunteering to please contact her – graduates@ucandoit.org.uk.

8. Tutor Discussion

Anthony said that this was an opportunity for tutors to talk about any issues or concerns they have.


Sally wanted to mention contacting graduates to organise refresher lessons. She said it can be very time consuming and can spend over an hour on the telephone and also when she did arrive for a lesson she found that sometimes the computer wasn’t working even though the student said it was. She asked if this was something admin could do?

Lisa said that we could but in the end the tutor would have to speak to the graduate to arrange a date and time.

Sally said that if the office contact them first they could eliminate some of the time consuming elements eg making sure that they are interested in having the lessons, making sure that the computer is working and that they still have an email account.

Lisa said that this was a good idea and she will look into putting this into practice.

Doreen mentioned that the graduates she has spoken to who have had a refresher lesson think they are great.


The subject of anti virus software came up.

Terry knew of a good AV software programme called webroute. It is free for 30 days, after that is costs approximately £18-19 a year. (www.webroot.com)


David mentioned that he had come across a number of useful sites and wondered if it was possible for tutors to add links to these sites to our web site, perhaps posting them into different categories eg, job links, shopping etc

This was generally thought to be a good idea.

Carl said that there were some links on the website but they contained old information and dated back to the beginning of the website.

David asked if tutors could upload a link directly to the site.

Carl said he would look into this.


Anthony said that Carl had previously mentioned introducing a section on the website to enable tutors to download homework topics.

Carl said that this was now on the website and accessible for tutors.

Anthony asked if anyone had used it. Phil said he had tried but without much success. Carl said that at the moment it was in it’s early stages and there are only a few topics on it. He would welcome homework ideas from all tutors.

9. Any Other Business

None


AW thanked all tutors for attending.

End of Minutes

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