Technology Training
Guide and Tutorial List
Lesson Previews
Get Involved
Learners and instructors are welcome to become part of the Prairienet community and to add their own interests, perspectives, and talents to our development efforts.
Contact Jeff Ginger or pitch in on our development wiki.
The Author
This collection has been put together by Jeff Ginger, a PhD student in community informatics in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Introduction
This website hosts a collection of resources and training guides intended to provide instructors and self-led learners in community technology centers, libraries and at home with the curriculum to teach and learn vital digital literacy skills. They were collected, organized, developed and otherwise written by Jeff Ginger on behalf of Prairienet and the Community Informatics Initiative.
All of these guides and resources are absolutely free. No registration or signup required. Just click and go.
Flexible. Current. Relevant.
This site provides educational support for many types of learners, including those just beginning to learn how to use computers all the way up to more seasoned persons who might need a refresher or update for new technologies. We hope to help empower community members to solve individual and community problems through use of these skills, especially in the realms of civic engagement, environmentalism, citizen journalism, political action, entrepreneurship and more. We strive to not only know how to operate computer and internet technology tools but also critique and redesign them to make them relevant to their individual and community needs. Finally, our entire program is designed to encourage active learning through the use of exercises and opportunities to teach and share learning experiences with friends, family and other peers. Within it you will find the following:
- Essential Skills
- Understand the basic terms related to
computers and the internet - Operate the basic functions of
modern computer operating systems - Design documents and presentations
- Navigate and search the Internet
- Send and receive email
- And many more advanced tasks
- Common Software
- Microsoft Windows XP
- Ubuntu Linux
- Microsoft Office Word,
Powerpoint, and Excel
(XP/2003/2007) - Open Office Writer, Impress,
and Calc (2.4/3.0) - Internet Explorer 6/7
- Firefox 3
So without further ado, feel free to check the overview and notes for instructors and...
Begin building a training program!
The original wiki has been dismantled. As a result some links may be dead, but you can still find a few functional tutorials and an outline of links.
See an Overview of the Program on YouTube
Ignore the introduction, the radio spot is about the project. This clip comes from Jeff Ginger's Community Engagement Mini-Documentary.