DANVILLE —
When Wyatt Zimmerman returned to school after an absence of 30-plus years, she was overwhelmed by the new technology. She found herself crying in the restrooms in frustration at not being able to master computers.
With work and effort, she did become computer literate and graduated from Danville Area Community College in 2002. Now she’s teaching others, based on her own experiences.
Zimmerman, 66, program assistant at the East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging, put together a class called “Grandma’s Got Mail” in January 2008 to help others get their computer-phobia under control.
The next class will be offered at the end of this month.
Zimmerman also was inspired to offer the course when one of her clients in her job-training program was not hired for a job he was qualified for because he had no computer skills.
Pat Thompson was one of Zimmerman’s students in “Grandma’s Got Mail”— and now she’s one of the assistants in the computer lab.
“I liked it very much,” she said. “I tried to learn everything I could.”
Thompson became so comfortable with computers that she bought her own about five months ago.
Thompson also works with the Illinois Department of Employment Security, in the same building with Zimmerman, as part of the job-training program through the Area Agency on Aging.
Zimmerman said the classes have received positive feedback from seniors who appreciate the easy-to-understand training, the non-threatening atmosphere, patient assistants and the detailed handouts.
“We’re concerned about the seniors being comfortable,” Zimmerman said.
From January 2008 to this past July, she’s taught 13 classes for seniors from ages 58 to 90, with the average age being 74.
The classes are kept small, 5-11 people, and there are three assistants.
“They’re so happy with themselves,” she said, when they master something. More than half of her students take the next-level class to build upon their skills.
It’s important for older people to keep up with the paperless trend, she said, and to learn computer skills so they’re job ready.
“They feel left out and they feel alienated,” Zimmerman said. “They want to learn. It’s filled a need that’s around here.”
The classes cover 33 topics, with 59 handouts. The students learn to make their own business cards, find coupons on the Internet to save money, how to use http://www.411.com to find phone numbers, and how to use Skype and Mapquest.
Not only have the classes helped seniors with little or no computer knowledge, but the teacher has benefited, as well.
“This experience has been very rewarding for me,” Zimmerman said. “It has caused me to retrain myself and grow in knowledge when the XP software was replaced by Office 2007.”
FYI
The next “Grandma’s Got Mail” computer workshops, which are free for seniors, will be at the end of September. The classes meet for an hour once a week for 14-15 weeks.
Call Wyatt Zimmerman at 442-0236, ext. 210, for more information.
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