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Japan SeniorNet Presentation 【007】We started out with 6 machines. We started out with 6 machines. We taught only the basic Introductory course. Each course was 7 weeks long, 2 hours per week, and we taught the same course 6 times per week. That first year we taught about 250 students. When I left in 1999 to assume my current position, the center had grown to 12 machines. We taught 7 different courses and the courses varied between 3 and 6 weeks in length. We were running classes 15 times per week, and teaching over 1200 students every year! Like every successful center, Boynton Beach built itself on the three fundamental resources required to open a center .. a host site, volunteers and students. Like a tripod, you can't have a weakness in any leg if the tripod is to remain standing. Let me talk briefly about each one. The host site is the first leg of the tripod. The site is there for as long as the Learning Center continues to exist. Assuming the proper site inspection has taken place during the approval process, adequate physical aspects of space, lighting, parking etc. are generally agreed on before the program gets started. Centers are housed in a variety of environments … predominantly in government community or senior centers, universities, libraries and hospitals …. even in shopping malls! My center in Boynton Beach was in a hospital, and was a program sponsored by the hospital's "Plus 55" agency. The hospital was trying to get seniors to use their facilities in a non-medical environment so that when they needed to use a hospital for medical reasons, they would select them. In the US, we have several hospitals in a community, and they compete for patients against one another. The SeniorNet program brought many students to the hospital who normally would not have been there, and I am sure some of them came back when they needed a hospital. I am not sure they ever proved it, but the hospital was delighted with the number of students we brought in! The second leg is the corps of volunteer instructors. These selfless individuals are the lifeblood of the program. Like the site, the volunteer group, although it changes over time, is there for the life of the Center. The initial recruitment of volunteers is done by the host site, sometimes with the aid of a letter from a large employer to their retirees in the area, similar to what I received from IBM. We look for seniors who are frequent users of the computer at home. You do not need to be a "rocket scientist" to teach these course … they are very basic. What we do look for is enthusiasm and communication skills. |
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シニアのための市民ネットワーク仙台 仙台市青葉区一番町２ー５ー１２ 一番町中央ビル８階 Copyright(C) 1996-2000, Sendai Citizens' Network for Seniors E-mail:info@sendai-senior.org |
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