Adults

You can't escape them. Computers are integral to everyday life, both at home and at work. Knowing how to use one is increasingly vital, whatever your age. Medway Adult Learning Service (MALS) offers a wide variety of computer courses to suit a wide variety of learners’ needs, from beginners to advanced.

MALS has a suitable course for you if you:

• are in employment and wish to upgrade your existing computer skills to enable you to progress further in your job;
• are looking for work and want computer skills to perhaps give you an edge over other candidates;
• have been at home looking after your children and you would like to acquire some computer training to enable you to return to work with up-to-date marketable skills;
• are an older learner who would like to keep up with the children or grandchildren or learn to use the internet to keep in touch with friends in far flung places;
• would like to learn to surf the net to book hotels, theatre tickets or use a search engine to find information on any subject under the sun;
• would like to complement your existing IT skills and learn to use specialist software such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop,Macromedia StudioMX or Autocad;
• simply want to learn how to use a computer to feel part of this modern technological world which seems to have a language all of its own.

All the courses are professionally led by highly qualified tutors in a friendly learning environment at a pace that suits you. Class sizes are limited to a maximum of 12 learners to ensure individual attention and useful hands-on practice. MALS uses both traditional methods of teaching and flexible, online training. The majority of adults prefer to learn within a group in the classroom environment, finding it easier to learn with others and progress faster.

MALS' computer rooms are fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Acts and equipped with up-to-date hardware, Windows XP and the Microsoft Office Professional 2003 software suite, (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, MS Publisher and Outlook). They also use Internet Explorer, AutoCAD 2005, Dreamweaver v8, Macromedia Studio MX and Photoshop.

Each learner has a workstation, offering the opportunity for practical, hands-on learning. In addition, there is a learner resource room at the Gillingham centre, where MALS learners can practice their skills further outside class times.

The ICT department is approved by OCR, BCS, Microsoft and City & Guilds examination boards as a test centre. This guarantees a high quality of teaching and course levels.

For 2008/09, MALS is continuing with the successful introduction of free Saturday morning drop-in sessions for learners enrolled on specific ICT examination courses. These are designed to provide extra support to help them achieve the qualification.

Important information

On Level 2/3 accredited courses, learners will be required to attend a pre-enrolment meeting to guide them on to the correct level of course.

For more information about an individual course, please read the course information sheet. These are available from MALS centres or the  Coursefinder Database.

If, having read the sheet, you need advice from a subject specialist, please phone a curriculum manager, Carol Downey or Yvonne Smith, on 01634 338462 or 01634 338435 or email: carol.downey@medway.gov.uk or yvonne.smith@medway.gov.uk.

Train to Gain NVQ for IT users (iTQ)

Would you like to develop your existing IT skills to achieve a qualification through work you are carrying out on a daily basis? iTQ, the new NVQ for Information Technology, Level 2, is being offered free to employees who use a computer at work. Interested? For further information, please phone or email Yvonne Smith, using the contact details above.

The new 2008/09 directory (pdf 3,121KB) from MALS is now available to download in advance of the start of the new term in September. To use this file you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this on your computer, please use our advice page.

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