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reminder system
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 You can do IT is a regular feature of
laterlife.com aimed at trying to help laterlife visitors make the most of
Information Technology on or off the web.
Jackie Sherman who runs the You can do IT
Question & Answer section is an IT trainer and author. Jackie has spent her career in
education and specialises in teaching IT to adults. Her courses for adults include such
topics as MS Office, the Internet, e-mail and basic web page authoring. 
Jackie has also written the two books shown here - you can find
more details about these by clicking on the cover images above. Jackie has also been running a course specifically for over
50s.
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Via laterlife.com Jackie aims to particularly help those new to IT and the web to
build up knowledge and confidence, so no question is too basic. At the same time she will
cover Q&As for the more experienced user.
So if you
would like to ask a question of Jackie, why not email her jackie@laterlife.com
or if you
have discovered something which may be of interest to others in making the most of the
web, then she would love to hear about that too jackie@laterlife.com
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Via laterlife.com Jackie aims to particularly help those new to IT and the web to build up
knowledge and confidence, so no question is too basic. At the same time she will cover
Q&As for the more experienced user.
So if you
would like to ask a question of Jackie, why not email her jackie@laterlife.com
or if you
have discovered something which may be of interest to others in making the most of the
web, then she would love to hear about that too jackie@laterlife.com
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A guide to part-time adult
computer courses..
 Q: I
enjoy using a computer and would quite like to take a qualification in IT. What would be an appropriate course for someone over 50
studying part-time?
A: There are a wide range of professional courses
available to adults that can be studied at home (via the Internet), at a local FE college
or through community education classes based in schools, libraries or village halls. Having taught many of these, I would probably recommend
one of the following:
a. For
beginners - you could try a free vision2learn course: “Certificate for IT
Users” that you study online with email support from a tutor. Find out more from their website www.vision2learn.com The course leads to an NCFE qualification and you can
progress to more advanced courses if you are competent in computer use. The course introduces
you to managing your work in folders, simple word processing, using email, computer
viruses, health and safety etc. and then offers a choice of using the Internet or looking
at spreadsheets and desktop publishing.
c. Two
OCR qualifications offered in many colleges and community classes can be taken over a
period of a few months: new CLAIT for beginners and CLAIT Plus for more advanced computer
users. These courses do not involve an exam as such
as they are assessed at the training centre through 2 or 3-hour worked assignments, and
involve sending off printouts as evidence that you an carry out the tasks. New CLAIT covers using a computer to produce a document, and then offers a choice of 4 different
applications e.g. word processing, email, spreadsheets, charts, desktop publishing,
presentations etc. CLAIT Plus requires expertise in
integrating a document and managing files, and then you have a choice of 3 units covering
the same packages at a more advanced level. Find
out more at www.ocr.org.uk
d. The
ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) is a 7-module certificate course that can be
taken in any order and covers similar applications to CLAIT, at a level between new CLAIT
and CLAIT Plus. You have a logbook that is stamped
after success at each module, a test being taken online at your training centre, and when
all 7 have been passed you will receive your certificate. The
advantage of this qualification is that it is becoming a standard overseas as well as in
the UK. Details are available at www.ecdl.co.uk
e. Finally,
short courses are available within the community that are accredited by the Open College
Network (OCN). Details should be available in most
public libraries. These courses usually last
for 2 hours a week over 10 weeks and cover word processing, email and Web search and
health and safety, with other packages introduced depending on the interests of the
learners.
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