Reporting

Colorado's Public Computer Center: Quarterly Update

Submitted by sharon on Mon, 02/11/2013 - 16:49

Earlier today, Susan Burkholder sent this out via our e-newsletter to stakeholders...

Curious minds have been asking...

  • "Have you topped 3 million computer uses yet?"
  • "So what do people do on your computers anyhow?"
  • "Are you going to have any more fun projects as you wind down the grant?"

Here are answers to these questions, and more!

How many people use the computers and take classes?
Through December 2012, the 88 Public Computer Centers have provided computer access and training to residents throughout Colorado:

  • 3,026,937 computer uses in the Public Computer Centers
  • 341,901 one-to-one computer help sessions
  • 3,913 public classes with 25,430 participants trained

How are they using the computers? What are they learning?
To find out, we administered over 7000 surveys to Public Computer Center users and computer class participants. The results showed that during open lab time, respondents were most likely to be using the computer to:

  • communicate with someone (52%)
  • look for employment (38%)
  • use the printer, scanner, or fax (33%)

One open lab survey respondent said, "Probably the most valuable resource, dollar for dollar, available to community. I have found jobs... researched... located tax information , and have done school work over the years. Thank you!!" Another said that, "Accessing the internet is super important in our modern world. In a rural place... high speed internet can be either very expensive or impossible to get. I very much appreciate the ability to have endless information and communication opportunities."

Public Computer Centers offer a variety of computer classes, but the most common outcomes after taking a computer class were:

Edge Benchmarks

Submitted by susanb on Mon, 11/26/2012 - 11:55

 

How does the programming you’re doing in your Public Computer Center compare to others? What are some suggestions on how best to engage decision makers in your work? How should you think about staffing your PCC? We spent some time at Beyond BTOP sharing our experiences, but what are the best practices in the field? Sarah Washburn, from Tech Soup, led an overview of the Edge Benchmarks. These benchmarks, covering community value, engaging the community and decision makers, and organizational management, will help answer just such questions.

The benchmarks are a voluntary tool to help a library assess how well it is doing, what steps it can take to improve, and provide resources and support materials to help achieve the benchmarks. I heard after the presentation some ways that you all are already planning to leverage these industry standards. One library director is planning to rewrite job descriptions to include technology competencies, and these standards will help her have something to point to if the board or staff question why. How will you use the Edge Benchmarks?

Mixology - what's your mix?

Submitted by susanb on Wed, 09/05/2012 - 13:40

 

One new theme in your recent narrative responses on the monthly reporting is that many of you are still trying to discover what mix of classes, tutoring, and other instructional support is the best way to meet the needs of your users.  Here is what some of you had to say:

Open Lab with Instructor Support

  • Patrons here have so many different needs that it's hard to schedule classes that meet time and skill level. It almost seems better to offer regularly scheduled support time when they can get one-to-one or very small group instruction.
  • Structured classes for basic skills learners tend to fall apart quickly. They morph into one-on-one open lab sessions. Some folks don't know how to use a mouse and keyboard. Others have never used a GUI interface like Windows, etcetera. For beginners, at least, an open lab seems to be a better option.

Different Way of Offering Classes

  • We allowed more time in class for questions and for the students to experiment with what they learned. This seemed to be beneficial (a number of students mentioned to our instructor that they appreciated this).
  • Still struggling to find instructors - finally gave up and purchased Universal Class

Different Marketing Approach

Muy helpful!

Submitted by susanb on Thu, 08/30/2012 - 13:38

class survey

Have you created a word cloud before? Click on this image to take a look at what computer class participants were saying about their classes last quarter. It highlights the most commonly used words in all the comments. It has a bit of Spanglish flair to it! Muy interesante, no? Go to www.wordle.net to create your own!

Is everyone asking participants to fill out the survey for your classes? What are they saying about your classes? How have you used their comments - to change or improve? To provide end-user perspective in your advocacy materials? To give well-deserved kudos to your instructors?

Some voices of training participants

Submitted by susanb on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 09:39

Some of you may know that my favorite time of the quarter is reading through the computer class participant survey comments.  Here's a sample from this quarter:

From the true beginners:

  • "Wanted to throw my computer out the window! Now I’m able to use and enjoy it. Thanks."
  • "I have learned a lot. I am not as afraid of computers as I was."
  • "I learned how to set up an email address and I used that address to register for a local college."
  • "These type of classes are vital to those of us who have no clue as to anything computer based. Someone who is knowledgeable yet “patient” is very very helpful."

From those learning new skills (esp. job-related skills)

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