The ECOTUC Teaching Program

The Teaching Program offered a “Computers for the Total Beginner” over the summer.  And at the end of the summer and into the fall, we followed that up with our “Everyday Computer Basics” class.  Coming up at the end of October and into November, we’ll finish our three part series with our class entitled “Beyond the Basics: What’s Next?”.  Although the class is just about full, you can contact the club to see if there are any empty seats.

This teaching program began in 1995, with used computers running early versions of MS-DOS. Thanks to private donations and donations from our refurbishing program, we have been able to keep abreast of the rapidly changing computer world. We upgraded to Windows 95 in 1999 and to Windows XP in 2004. Over the years we’ve upgraded to Vista, Windows 8.1 and finally Windows 10.  A history of our teaching program (click to download) describes the changes that were necessary to maintain updated instruction during the ten-year period.

Up until our move, we are using 13 upgraded computers running Windows 10-1903, along with the Ubuntu/Unity 16.04 version of Linux. A class consists of up to 12 students, an instructor, and 1-2 aides depending on the size of the class. Each year, approximately 210 seniors have taken advantage of low cost, highly informative instruction. Classes meet for two (2) hours per day, two (2) days per week for three (3) weeks, or they meet for three (3) days per week for just two (2) weeks.  The cost of each class is $20 for the 12 hours of instruction and help.

The “school year” usually consists of two sessions.  Session 1 is March, April, and May. Session 2 is August, September, and October.  Classes are not offered during the holiday months (November and December) or the wintry months (January and February).

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