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10 March 2009

Workshop for Technology

Today we begin classes for the internet and technology. The class will be held by a volunteer from America. There are 6 participants attending.

The goals of the workshop are as follows:
1. Introduction to web blogging: adding and editing posts
2. Establish an internal web blog for staff announcements
3. Other technology tutorials as requested: database, graphic design, etc.

Class #1
As an introducation, all the participants have introduced themselves and provided a short description of their current experience with the internet and their goals of the class. To start, we went over the basics of the internet, including some types of services available: (1) search engine; (2) email capabilities; and (3) desktop publishing. Also we have introduced the current Caritas Sibolga web blog, the dashboard structure and how to add/edit posts. All the students have been given the opportunity to practice adding a post on a non-public test website. In the next class, we plan to go over designing websites from Microsoft PowerPoint. Also there is an open forum for requests for other technology tutorials.
Class #2
Today we learned Microsoft Publisher and how to create a website from scratch. We discussed the terminology related to website design and the steps involved to host/administer a wesbite.
Class #3
We reviewed the application of Class #3. In the next class, we plan to go over the fundamentals of relational databases using Microsoft Access. Also, to discuss other topics as requested.
Class #4
We learned the fundamentals of relational databases today. We also learned how to use Microsoft Access to query sample data, make forms, and design reports. Each student used a laptop to follow along in class and to gain some hands-on experience.
Class #5
Today we reviewed Microsoft Access again and examined a case study on village demographics. We used sample data from four villages including household size, family member type and member age. We practiced running queries to extract specific information, e.g. how many children per village and how many males over age 50. We also designed a report and executed formulas to count the total family members per household, total per village, and total per island; and to calculate the average age per household. Each student was able to create the queries and reports successfully.
Class #6
In this tutorial, we hope to learn the basics of graphic design, including the differences between raster and vector files and how to use Adobe Photoshop to edit images. We will also learn how to put together a sample poster using the various tools in Photoshop.