[CDU eNews] - IT STUDENT GRADUATES, 30 YEARS AFTER LEAVING SCHOOL

[Peter.Hurt at cdu.edu.au]

Valda changes her world at CDU

Alice Springs resident Valda Crabtree is living proof that anybody can
learn how to use a computer - no matter how frightening it might be.

Most people under 30 - or over 30 for that matter - take computer skills
for granted, but there is a large minority of people for whom the very
mention of keyboards, mouses, software, floppy discs, booting up,
applications and all the rest of it sounds like some weird language.

Valda, 54, tomorrow (Friday) and five other proud students will proudly
step up at the Alice Springs Convention Centre to receive their
Certificates II in Information Technology (Applications) as part of Charles
Darwin University's Alice Springs campus graduation ceremony.

Mrs Crabtree will be among about 100 university students from Central
Australia who will receive formal recognition of success in their Higher
Education or Vocational Education and Training studies at the 7pm ceremony
at the Alice Springs Convention Centre.

The Chancellor Richard Ryan, AO, and the Vice Chancellor Professor Helen
Garnett will give the welcoming address.

For Mrs Crabtree it's all a far cry from two years ago when she couldn't
even turn on a computer. Last year, she also graduated with a Certificate
IV in Education (Teacher Aide) - yet she hadn't studied since leaving
school.

"When I started, I had no idea about computers," she said. "But doing the
course has taught me many new skills - and also I am now quite prepared to
tackle things that I would never have dreamt of doing before.

"It's opened a whole new world of communication for me, with the Internet,
Publisher and Power Point, and I can now email my sons in New York and
Perth."

Mrs Crabtree said she did the course to assist her husband, Geoffrey, a
Minister with the Seventh Day Adventist Church. "I'm the go-between; I've
become his secretary," she said. "He leaves computer work to me, although
he has learnt Power Point.

"I didn't find the course hard at all, actually, I enjoyed doing it. And
the staff, Brian Brierley and Trina McEwin, were very helpful and
considerate."

·     Charles Darwin University's Alice Springs campus offers several IT
courses. A new one, launched this year, is Pathways Through Information
Technology, already proving very popular. It provides basic computer skills
and gives people access to further VET study in IT. A similar course
operates in Darwin and a high number of participants continue or return to
enrol in VET courses. It is designed for anyone on unemployment benefits,
people over 45, including retirees, parents re-entering the workforce or
people with a disability. Details from Trina McEwin on 8959 5242.


Peter Hurt
Media Manager
Charles Darwin University
Tel: 08 8946 6019 or 0438 466 439

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