Isabella Dryden and Jean Johnson

Not long ago it was jokingly referred to as "Jurassic Park" because of the "dinosaur" XTs and 286s that comprised most of the hardware for the computer classes.

The classes taught by computer club members Isabella Dryden and Jean Johnson form part of Creative Retirement Manitoba's ongoing courses at the West End Senior Centre. While not boasting equipment on the cutting edge of technology, students have the use of 15 486DX/50 PC machines equipped with Windows 95.

The computer classes which are advertised in the Fall, Winter, and Spring/Summer CRM program are held three days a week and are invariably full, with students coming from all over Winnipeg and several outlying communities.

This success is almost entirely owing to the sterling volunteer instruction of Isabella and Jean. Windows 95 is taught all day on Wednesday, Thursday is WordPerfect in the morning and Windows 95 in the afternoon, and Friday is "potpourri" day, with one group of students being taught WordPerfect 5.1, because as Isabella says, "we do not feel that people not using Windows should be dropped from the class," one group in Windows 95, and one person in Works 4. Instruction may be either in a group or individually.

For Isabella, instructing the classes at the Centre is "like teaching in a rural school," which is where she began her long teaching career.

Jean says: "It is almost like a full time job, but I enjoy it. I became interested after my husband passed away. In 1990 I took a computer class for seniors at the University of Winnipeg. After that was finished I wanted to learn some more and took a class that Isabella was teaching at Infotech for Creative Retirement. I became interested and was bold enough when it was over to ask Isabella if I could stay around and help her. She said yes, and I have been with her ever since."

Isabella Dryden was a business education teacher and taught in several school divisions in the province before going to the Department of Education as a business education consultant. "It seemed only natural with the way business education was going that computers with word processing, spread-sheets and data bases would play a big part," Isabella said. In addition to teaching, Isabella writes the curriculum for the courses.

As well, she brings a wealth of computer knowledge and experience to the classes with her background in COBOL, FORTRAN and Basic computer languages. This together with her love of teaching people at all levels makes for an excellent partnership with Jean. Students in the classes range from retired professionals to people who wish to learn from the courses and use the knowledge.

"In addition to the software we also have to know something about how the hardware works because there is no technician to turn to if something goes wrong. Over the years we have learnt how to tackle minor problems. If something goes wrong we are not afraid to open the lid and try and fix it." Jean remarked.

The two instructors pay tribute to the work done by the computer club's hardware group who configured the machines.

"They put in a lot of hard work to con-figure the machines so that we can do a better job, it's good to know that we have somebody to call upon when the problems are beyond us," Jean commented.

Isabella Dryden and Jean Johnson are outstanding examples of the CRM credo, "seniors teaching seniors."

By Harold Marshall