As a community outreach project, Computer Literacy in Communities (CLIC) aims to increase the level of basic computer literacy under elder community members who never had the opportunity to become computer literate, and who does not have the funds to attend formal training courses. By increasing their capacity for computer use, the project contributes to community development. The main objective is to increase the level of computer literacy through the presentation of training workshops that provide participants with the necessary skills to further complete self-driven courses in Word, Excel, the Internet and email use. As a first step, CLIC trainers conclude partnerships with their immediate community schools, who then make their computer laboratories available as training venues.
As a dynamic project, CLIC is in a process of re-inventing itself. A partnership with a computer training centre in the Zandspruit informal settlement is currently being concluded. Here the focus will be on training computer literacy trainers. Another new initiative is training the elderly in old age homes in the use of smart-phones (typically handed-down to parents by their children). Finally, CLIC is in the process of developing a free short course in computer literacy to be presented through the Centre for Software Engineering (CENSE). Once again targeting the elderly , every effort will be made to keep course fees down to registration costs. Each CLIC member will then present a discrete unit for a period of two weeks, thereby ensuring a manageable balance between formal tuition duties and community engagement activities. CLIC invite staff to join the project and to experience the fulfilment gained when an elderly person is empowered with a skill that has always been out of reach! The CLIC team consists of Prof. Mac van der Merwe (project leader), with team members Prof. Jan Kroeze, Prof. Hugo Lotriet, Prof. Andre van der Poll, Dr. Bobby Tait and Mr. Tobie van Dyk.
Prof Mac van der Merwe
School of Computing vdmertm@unisa.ac.za Tel: +27 11 471 3863
Last modified: Mon Aug 07 18:04:24 SAST 2023