Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 7

Running head: SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIONS 1

Service Learning Reflections Kristy Petrizzo Molloy College

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIONS 2 For my service learning experience in this class, I decided to assist my mother and two of my friends in gaining the technological skills necessary in making advancements within the workplace. I helped my mother navigate through the various programs her computer has to offer. Having recently received a promotion at work that requires her to produce many documents that are currently unfamiliar to her, such as spreadsheets, this was a welcomed opportunity; however, it did come with its challenges. I had initially intended on helping her become more independent when using mobile devices as well, but her distaste for cell phones eventually won out. Lastly, I planned to help a few close coworkers develop the skills they need using Excel to work their way towards promotions, all within the comfort and privacy of their own homes. I was excited upon hearing about this service learning assignment because I knew my mother would soon be facing many new challenges at work, and saw this as the perfect opportunity to ease that transition for her. Although my mother has worked in the secretarial field for about thirty years, technology has come a long way since she first started out on her typewriter, and her current place of employment is intent on making the necessary changes as technology advances. Her knowledge of computers may be limited, but her new position at work requires her to use Microsoft Excel, a program that up until the start of our sessions, she had never even heard of. Her workplace is headed in an environmentally friendly direction, and has decided to get rid of all existing paperwork. This meant that during the next few months her assignments will entail taking files old and new, and transferring them onto spreadsheets in Excel, but first, a lesson in computer basics was in order. During our first session, we discussed basic navigation skills. We practiced turning on the computer and fought against her

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIONS 3 dwindling patience as we learned to allow programs sufficient loading time. I gave her a general overview of all the useful programs available on the desktop, and showed her how to access the internet from the home screen. During my mothers second session, we picked up where we had left off previously, and I watched as she turned on the computer herself and accessed the internet. I then showed her how to set up a new email account for work. She had an old account from years prior which she had never made much use of, but I assured her that having a fresh account for work related communications would be easy and painless. We then minimized the screen and opened up her first Word document. My goal here was to have her gain fluency in basic formatting. We reviewed the changing of fonts, margins, spacing, and headers. I then had her type up a sample business letter to gage her understanding of the material, and showed her how to save her work. Our follow up meeting started with the task of retrieving the mock business letter that she had created and saved during our previous session. She successfully turned on the computer, opened Word, and recovered her document. Now that she showed mastery in accessing and creating documents, I wanted to show her how to share her work with others. We started by making sure the printer was on and checking the ink levels, then checked the settings, and printed. Once she had a hard copy of her letter, we turned to the scanner, discussed the various settings and desired results, and successfully scanned and copied the document. Our last task of the day involved attaching her letter to an email. This required recall from prior sessions as she accessed the internet and signed into her new email account. I showed her how to attach her document to an email, and after giving her step by step instructions, asked her to send

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIONS 4 the document to my account for assessment. Once I successfully received her letter, I knew she had grasped the main ideas of our lessons thus far. This next session with my mother was by far the most difficult. She set herself up at the computer all on her own, and had opened Microsoft Excel as per my request. Upon viewing the program before her, she immediately grew intimidated by the screen. It took quite a bit of repetition, but she eventually became comfortable entering basic information into the cells. I taught her how to create formulas using the settings so that she wouldnt have to manually calculate her results. I also showed her how to graph the information, and label data. She required the most practice using this program, so we continued with similar work during our next meeting. I gave her information similar to what she would be using at work and required her to enter it into a labeled spreadsheet. Once she was successful, I ended our sessions by ensuring that she knew how to back up her work. Nothing is more discouraging than making progress on something important only to have it fall through. I showed her how to save the spreadsheet, and then demonstrated the uses of online storage, such as google drive, and taught her how to save her work on a flash-drive as well. The secondary aspect of my service learning entailed helping my coworkers adjust to the new Apple computers at work, and teaching them the necessary skills for promotion. I hold a zone leader position at my place of employment, which is essentially that of a junior manager. My responsibilities include keeping track of all money made throughout my shifts, using spreadsheets on a program similar to Excel to keep track of profit and payroll, and then saving said information into the stores database. Unfortunately, the two additional zone leaders in my store have been recently

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIONS 5 transferred, but that leaves an open window for a few eligible friends to move up the corporate ladder. I worked with them at various locations, including the library, our place of employment, and their homes, passing down my knowledge of the programs used in the hopes of giving them a better chance at success, and alleviating the stress of a new job. I worked with two of my friends, Jonathan and Samantha, but although I was teaching them the same general concepts, I decided to hold separate sessions for them, as they had different levels of existing knowledge with computers, and I wanted to keep them each at an appropriate pace. I brought my MacBook laptop with me for our lessons, so I could show, side by side, the Microsoft programs that they were used to, and the Apple equivalents that they had to adjust to in the workplace. The first session for each student was dedicated to just that. I asked each of them to open up the programs that they were familiar with on the desktop, which included Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. I then opened up the corresponding Apple programs on my laptop: Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. I explained the similarities and differences between programs, and then gave each of them basic tasks to complete within each program. Since they already had prior knowledge of these tasks using Microsoft programs, the transition was very simple for them, and their confidence levels grew. Our next sessions were dedicated to creating spreadsheets using Excel and Numbers. I wanted to make sure that Sam and Jonathan knew how to use both programs efficiently in case they ever had to bring work home to complete on their PCs. Being young has given these students a distinct advantage over my mother, having been brought up in the age of technology, and although neither of them had extensive

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIONS 6 experience with spreadsheets, they were both able to grasp ideas much quicker, and submitted samples for me to review. When I felt confident in their abilities, we moved on to the next requirement. The zone leader on duty during any given day is responsible for what we call the changing of shifts. This is when the morning cashiers are switched out, and the night crew settles in. During this time of transition, it is the job of the zone leader to collect and count all opened drawers, record the dollar, credit, and gift card amounts into the computer, and count down the drawers to the set starting amount so they are clean for incoming associates. The zone leader then has to collect information regarding the bank deposit and record that into the computer as well. It is crucially important that this process is done properly, because one false entry can mean being forced to recount thousands of dollars in the hopes of finding the mistake. This is why I chose to help my friends. The entire process can be extremely intimidating if one is not given time to practice and feel comfortable, which a busy workday does not always allow. We started the following sessions by creating mock spreadsheets using Numbers, which is what they would be the primary program used at work. I had them enter all the appropriate information on their own, reinforcing what they learned during our previous sessions. I then used a cashier envelope from work, complete with fake data, and walked them through the process of finding and processing the correct information. This was a long process! Jonathan took to it more readily, but Sam felt she needed one more session before she would feel comfortable accepting the promotion. We met again and started fresh with new data. I did not walk her through the motions

SERVICE LEARNING REFLECTIONS 7 this time, but allowed her to use her notes and ask questions if she got stuck. Eventually, progress was made and she successfully completed her first money doc! Overall, I felt this service learning experience was greatly beneficial to both myself and my learners. I felt a sense of pride by the end of our sessions, as both my mother and my friends became more confident in their own work and heightened abilities. With the help of repetitive practice and insightful challenges, I hoped to alleviate my mothers apprehensions about her new promotion, erase her longing for her old typewriter, and encourage excitement for learning about technology. Similarly, my goals for my friends were to leave them well versed in various Apple programs, the ways in which they are used for businesses, and enable to walk into the office without fear. However, what I did not realize going into this assignment was the degree of patience and planning required for success. Through service learning and the help of technology, we have all gained the skills necessary for success.

Вам также может понравиться