ALS Student Case Study: Nicola O’Brien

LEARNER INFORMATION
Name:  Nicola O'Brien  
Age:  54    
Postcode:       L18 1HP
How did you find out about the course?

 

I first heard about the course via Households into Work.

Course attended

 

 ICT for Admin
What did you enjoy most about the course?
Prior to the course I had basic computer skills as I had taken IT courses many years back, so long ago that I thought I had forgot nearly all of it. So for me an enjoyable part of the course was being reminded that I did actually still know how to use the basics of Microsoft Office. Apart from this I really enjoyed learning new things i.e. how to create graphs and charts in excel, and how easy it is to do calculations in excel, it was much less complicated than I imagined and everything was explained to me much clearer than it was on my previous courses. The other thing I really enjoyed was meeting new people, it was a very sociable and friendly group. I had been worried before starting the course that it would be a bit daunting and that I’d be the oldest person there but it was a mixed classroom and very friendly right from the start.

 
Did you need any extra support to help you learn? What was it and how did it help you?

 

 

 I didn’t need any extra support in particular and was able to work through the exercises at my own pace, and working in a small group made it very easy to get tips from the other students as we all got on well straight away and some people knew more about different bits of Office than others so we were able to share experience and knowledge. And obviously the tutor was constantly there to help me understand anything I was struggling with. The one to one explanations from him were very helpful to me and made things that I had thought were complicated quite easy to understand.
 

How has this course benefited you? (personal, family, work)

 

  

Apart from updating my IT skills and becoming more confident using Office, the course helped me to learn to be in a small group again and benefit from mixing with people to share experience and ability as well as just having a friendly chat with others over a cup of tea. You can become a bit isolated at home all of the time doing the same things every day so it made a real change for me to travel down to the Pier Head every Monday for the course and mix with the other people and I looked forward to it every week. The social side and the confidence that came from that was just as important for me as the updated computer skills I learned.

 
What would you say to a friend who is thinking about joining a course?
I would tell them the course is very beneficial to have on your CV and could get you back into education and learning and work. Everyone is friendly & the classroom is relaxed there’s no pressure to get things right straight away. The Tutor is really helpful & patient and will teach you things one to one. You’ll learn new skills and meet new people and this will help to boost your confidence.
 

What did you achieve?

 

  

More confidence when using Microsoft Office
More confidence when using a laptop.
More confidence mixing with other people
 

 

What is next for you?

  

 

I now want to continue with more IT training, I want to take the full IT ICDL course that covers all of Microsoft Office using the latest updated version in the hope that this will give me the experience, confidence and the skills needed to return to work.

   

My name is Nicola, I've recently completed an ICT for Admin course with EDT and I'm now on an ICDL course.