TEACHER MAKING LIFE COMPUTE FOR RANGE OF STUDENTS COLLEGE INSTRUCTOR'S STRUGGLE TO LEARN NEW TECHNOLOGY EASES WAY FOR THOSE IN THE SAME FIX.Byline: SUE DOYLE Staff Writer VALENCIA -- Her students sat before their computers Wednesday, slowly practicing what they just learned in their beginning Windows class. One was a crossing guard from a nearby school. Another was a stay-at-home mom. There was the senior citizen, the 18-year-old and another professor from the college. Together they struggled with their lessons, hoping to understand the technology in front of them, much like their teacher Melanie Lipman first did about 15 years ago. At the time, Lipman was in her 40s, teaching shorthand shorthand, any brief, rapid system of writing that may be used in transcribing, or recording, the spoken word. Such systems, many having characters based on the letters of the alphabet, were used in ancient times; the shorthand of Tiro, Cicero's amanuensis, was used , keyboarding and other business and secretarial skills. But when computers ousted the Selectrics she knew what she had to do. ``I saw the writing on the wall and knew I wanted more years of teaching and knew computers were on the way,'' the College of the Canyons College of the Canyons is one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the state. According to the National Junior College Research Association, College of the Canyons consistently ranks in the top 50 community colleges in the nation. computer teacher said. So she sat down with her husband, Victor Jadaon, and the couple taught themselves about computers. They bought computer books See how to find a good computer book. , had computer discussions and, of course, bought a computer -- then nearly the size of their kitchen counter. Lipman recalled those daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin days as she walked around her classroom Wednesday, helping her students navigate through the control panels on their computers. It took a lot of learning before she arrived here. But eventually she mastered the mouse, the monitor and manuals. She went on for her master's degree master's degree n. An academic degree conferred by a college or university upon those who complete at least one year of prescribed study beyond the bachelor's degree. Noun 1. in educational administration and instruction. She took some computer classes to top off her home schooling home schooling, the practice of teaching children in the home as an alternative to attending public or private elementary or high school. In most cases, one or both of the children's parents serve as the teachers. and began teaching in the college's information technology department in 1990. ``I have a lot of students who are my age, and there are a lot of returning women to the work force,'' the 56-year-old said. One of those women is Gina Roscigno, a 50-year-old mother from Stevenson Ranch Stevenson Ranch, California (in the 91381 ZIP Code) is a Los Angeles County, USA, unincorporated community west of Santa Clarita a few miles south of Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. The Stevenson Ranch fountain was redone in 2007. who returned to school after her husband had what they thought was a heart attack. They realized she needed to end her PTA PTA or parent-teacher association: see parent education. duties and become marketable to get a job. So the small-framed woman enrolled at College of the Canyons and landed in Lipman's computer class. She knew nothing about computers. That was six years ago. Today she's part of the department's teaching staff. Nearby sat Maureen Jamgochian, an adjunct professor in the school's health-science department. Jamgochian said it was time she learned the technology and added that she was tired of her teenagers teaching her about computers. She recalled a time when her children changed the background color of their computer screen at home to white, making it difficult to read anything. It took her husband three days to figure out how to change the color again. But now in her first computer class, Jamgochian thinks those days are behind her. ``There are a couple of things I've learned here that I've taught my kids,'' she said. sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com (661)257-5254 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Melanie Lipman teaches Microsoft Word A full-featured word processing program for Windows and the Macintosh from Microsoft. Included in the Microsoft application suite, it is a sophisticated program with rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities that has become the most widely used word processing application on the market. to students at the College of the Canyons. (2) Melanie Lipman teaches at the College of the Canyons. David Crane/Staff Photographer |
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