SEVCA and VAL Offering Free Workshop Series on Computer and Workplace Skills

SEVCA (Southeastern Vermont Community Action) in collaboration with VAL (Vermont Adult Learning) is providing a series of six free basic Computer and Workplace Skills workshops. This workshop series will provide participants with training, support and resources to gain foundational knowledge using a computer and improve workplace skills. Classes start March 15th, 2022 with additional dates on: 3/22, 3/29, 4/5, 4/12, and 4/19. Enrollment is limited to 10.

SEVCA will provide a gift card incentive to Vermont residents who attend all six sessions. Springfield Area Working Communities Challenge (WCC) will provide a refurbished laptop to *eligible* participants attending all six sessions. The workshops will be held in person at Vermont Adult Learning, 100 River Street in Springfield and will be taught by SEVCA instructor Diane Heileman.

*For more information on laptop eligibility or to enroll in the workshop series, contact: dheileman@sevca.org.

Computer Skills Workshops, Descriptions and Schedule:

1. The Laptop: Tuesday, March 15 from 10am – 11:30am

Basic knowledge of laptop care can extend the life of a laptop by years and supports efficient laptop performance. Students will learn about basic computer care plus become familiar with the physical components of the laptop, including ports and connections, keypad, specialty keys, TouchPad, battery, power charger, webcam, speakers, indicator lights and more.

2. The Desktop: Tuesday, March 22 from 10am – 11:30am

Students will learn the parts of the desktop and how to personalize it, how to find and open applications, use the TouchPad and optional mouse, understand the parts of a window, open and manage multiple windows, find, save and search for files, create folders and organize files. We’ll review maintaining Windows via system updates, managing disk space, troubleshooting techniques, and backups.

3. The Internet - Connecting, Searching and Safety: Tuesday, March 29 from 10am – 11:30am

This class will address the steps involved to connect a laptop to a network and navigate through the internet. Students will search the internet for information and save and organize websites for easy access (e.g. “bookmarks” and “favorites”). We will also cover what to look for in a safe website, signs of a possible fraudulent site, and how to review web browser options. This class also addresses workplace policies for internet usage.

4. Email Skills using Gmail: Tuesday, April 5 from 10am – 11:30am

Students will learn the parts of an email and how to create, search, send and reply to an email. Topics include text formatting options (e.g. fonts, sizes, colors), attaching documents and photos, website links, email customization options, recognizing and dealing with unwanted email (spam), plus email usage in the workplace.

5. Introduction to Microsoft Word: Tuesday, April 12 from 10am – 11:30am

This class will focus on basic Microsoft Office Word skills. Students will create, edit, save and print Word documents, set up fonts and text formatting options (e.g. bold, underline, bullets, indents, margins etc.), insert graphic objects and photos from the desktop and internet, and use spelling and grammar tools.

6. Introduction to Spreadsheets Using Microsoft Excel: Tuesday, April 19 from 10am-12:00pm

Excel is a spreadsheet program that is easy to use and allows you to store, manipulate, analyze, and visualize data. In this beginner's Excel class, students will learn how to create and update a basic spreadsheet, enter and format data, calculate totals through formulas, and create simple reports and charts.