Rend Lake College offering Community Education computer classes

From Reece Rutland, Rend Lake College Public Information

INA, IL – Have you ever wanted to brush up your computer skills? Well, with classes offered through Rend Lake College’s Community and Corporate Education Division there are plenty of opportunities to pick up some useful computing knowledge.

The cost for each class will be $45 and will be taught over the course of two class sessions.
The offerings start with Beginning Computers taught over two classes from 6 – 8 p.m. on Tuesdays 9/5 and 9/12. The class will be held in the RLC Murphy-Wall Pinckneyville Campus, Room 102.

Also in Pinckneyville, interested learners will have an opportunity to take Beginning Microsoft Word from 6 – 8 p.m. on 10/10 and 10/17. Students will be taught the fundamentals of work processing using Microsoft Word and will discover how to use the menu system and toolbars; pen, reopen, print, save and close documents; insert/delete text, reverse an edit operation, apply font attributes to text, and move text blocks. Students will also be trained on how to use Spelling/Grammar Checker, Thesaurus, the Help menu and how to customize the AutoCorrect Dictionary. Cost of the course includes the text book.

Rounding out the Pinckneyville offerings is Beginning Microsoft Excel. Taking place from 6 – 8 p.m. on 11/7 and 11/14, students will learn how easy it is to work with numbers by picking up skills in the fundamental operations of spreadsheets. Participants will learn how to use the menu system and toolbars; open, reopen, print and close workbooks; and enter labels. Students will also be taught adding values and formulas into worksheets, formatting spreadsheets by adjusting the size of columns/rows, using borders/shading, and changing the page setup. The cost of the course includes the book.

For those closer to Mt. Vernon, many of the same offerings will be held at the Rend Lake College MarketPlace campus, room 338.

Beginning Microsoft Word will be offered at the MarketPlace from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. on 9/19 and 9/26.

The MarketPlace will also have Beginning Microsoft Excel from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. on 10/3 and 10/10.

Then, in an offering unique to the MarketPlace, students can take Beginning Microsoft Publisher from 5:30 – 7:30 on 10/17 and 10/24. In that course, students will learn how to use Microsoft Publisher to create professional looking publications, such as flyers, greeting cards, brochures, and more. The class will cover basic skills needed in Publisher and will include how to find images/graphics online. The cost of the course includes the book.
In addition to those classes, there will be a number of Personal Enrichment offerings related to computers and technology.

In Internet and Email Basics, students will learn basic internet and email skills. Participants will learn about different browsers, links and web addresses to get started with the internet. Once internet basics are down, the class will show how to obtain an email account, check email, attach pictures and more.

The cost of the class is $10 and it will meet from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 16 in on the Mt. Vernon MarketPlace Campus, Room 338.

The course Linux for Home User will cover the basics of using Linux Mint, an easy-to-use operating system for personal use. The free system offers excellent security and provides all the basic programs needed to surf the web, send emails, create documents, produce presentations and much more. Linux also offers countless applications free to download, giving students limitless options for personalizing their own machine. Each student will get their own computer to customize. The instructor will be on hand to illustrate how to connect to the internet, help with downloading free applications and answering any questions. Thanks to local donations, all participants will be able to keep their customized computer, excluding the monitor.

The cost of the class will be $50 and it will meet from 5 – 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20 in the Advanced Technology Center, Room 175 on the Ina Campus.