{"id":23302,"date":"2016-10-08T06:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-10-08T11:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=23302"},"modified":"2016-10-08T01:40:54","modified_gmt":"2016-10-08T06:40:54","slug":"austin-peay-state-university-service-learning-class-teaches-computer-literacy-to-senior-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2016\/10\/08\/austin-peay-state-university-service-learning-class-teaches-computer-literacy-to-senior-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Peay State University service-learning class teaches computer literacy to senior citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – Forget your cell phone, your tablet or any other mobile device, and try to imagine that you\u2019re sitting at a desktop computer for the very first time. How do you use the mouse? What is the \u201cF1\u201d button for on the keyboard? How do you access the Internet?<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnology has been pervasive in my life since kindergarten, so there\u2019s a lot of things about computers that we take for granted,\u201d Blake Crozier, an Austin Peay State University computer science student, said. \u201cThings that we intuitively understand have to be taught with sensitivity to many senior citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"APSU<\/a>

APSU Computer Science student Blake Crozier teaches Computer Literacy to a Senior Citizen.<\/p><\/div>\n

Last year, Crozier decided he wanted to teach computer literacy to this portion of the population, so with some help from APSU\u2019s Center for Service-Learning and Community Engagement, he developed the University\u2019s first computer-science, service-learning course.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work closely with faculty to plan service-learning courses that complement the work students are doing in the classroom,\u201d Alexandra Wills, the center\u2019s director, said. \u201cSome programs are easier to develop courses for, such as having foreign language students make bilingual business directories, while programs such as computer science require a little more creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The center was able to work out an agreement with Fieldstone Place Assisted Living Facility so that Crozier could spend last spring teaching software, hardware and cyber security to senior citizens. He visited the facility\u2019s library once a week, teaching the residents what they needed to know to safely and successfully operate a computer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had pretty lofty goals, but it became apparent there was a need to touch on fundamentals,\u201d he said. \u201cBut people wanted to learn. They wanted to be able to access information, whether it was photos of grandchildren, information about medication. Eventually, once we got some of the core skills, we started putting the skills to use on the web.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Joseph Elarde, assistant professor of computer science, encouraged Crozier to pursue an independent study, service-learning class, because the APSU student would be helping his community while earning two credit hours toward his degree. And, the class gave him real-world experience that he can now include on his resume.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me more aware of the challenges web developers face,\u201d Crozier said. \u201cThey want to make products accessible to the largest number of people. The trade off there is seeing that there is a need to be accommodating to all levels of computer literacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on the service learning opportunities at APSU, visit the center\u2019s website at www.apsu.edu\/volunteer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN – Forget your cell phone, your tablet or any other mobile device, and try to imagine that you\u2019re sitting at a desktop computer for the very first time. How do you use the mouse? What is the \u201cF1\u201d button for on the keyboard? How do you access the Internet? \u201cTechnology has been pervasive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[16265,23,24595,262,29245,825,28450,29243,29247,29246,23857,29244],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-63Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23303,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23302\/revisions\/23303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}