Thursday, November 4, 2010

Free Basic Computer Classes Being Offered to Senior Citizens at the Putnam County Educational Service Center

By: Rachelle Manson

11/4/10

Senior citizens have flocked to the local Educational Service Center (ESC) in Putnam County to drink coffee, socialize, and learn basic computer skills in the last month.

The Connecting Seniors with Coffee and Computers program is a new class that is being offered at the Putnam County ESC to help senior citizens become more comfortable with computers and other technology items as well as giving them an atmosphere to socialize with other older residents of the community over coffee.

The first training session that took place on October 25 gathered together sixty-three eager-to-learn senior citizens to become more educated on the uses of computers. The first session focused predominately on the very basic uses of computers and next month’s session will go into further detail on how to use e-mail and upload digital photos.

“We only expected eight to ten students at our first session, but to our surprise, sixty-three people showed up and we had to double up the students on the computers since the capacity of the training facility is thirty,” said Putnam County Educational Service Center Curriculum Coordinator Beth Hench.

The classes being offered this month will cover how to use an e-mail account and how to download photos from digital cameras. Classes are being offered on November 20, 23, 29, and 30 from 10 am to 12 pm. The November 29 training session is already booked and the remaining session dates are filling up quickly.

Classes are FREE! Please register by contacting Beth Hench or Gary Herman at the Putnam County ESC at 419-523-5951.