Mary Metcalf at the Greensboro Free Library used the My PC workshops from Microsoft for a ten week series. Big benefit: the program is free, tested, and friendly. Well, free except for the staff commitment. Mary figured about three hours a week to hold the one hour programs.
Greensboro has a room which seats 49 and has good wi-fi access. She put out tables and seating, asked patrons to bring their own laptops. Are there adults who have laptops and need training? You bet! Of course, offering library computers or a lab extends the benefit to people without laptops. If the library is too small, consider the local school’s facility.
Here’s more from the My PC website, a list of what does the My PC Series offers.
Access to a complete, comprehensive, and free set of delivery materials for each of the My PC courses and workshops, including instructor guide, a set of PowerPoint slides, student handouts, and a collection of course files needed to deliver each course or workshop.
Access to free materials to support instructors in evaluating the curriculum, learning the software, and preparing to teach, including white papers, and software resource kits.
A full suite of marketing materials and guidance to help attract students, such as customizable flyers, catalog ads in a variety of sizes, and e-mail templates.
Greensboro Free does a good job on publicizing programs with press releases to area papers, posters up 3-4 weeks before the program, website, Facebook and Twitter releases, and lots of word of mouth as people check out their books. The audience in Greensboro was a committed group of 8 who stuck with the program.
