Forms

When you offer a class, you need to have various forms for students to fill out an sign – not just to make it seem more official, but to keep things organized! Here are some samples of forms we use in a variety of situations, with some explanations.

Sign-Up Sheet For time-slots: 

So, this is the sign-up sheet for when you have only two computers. Instead of offering a two hour class to two people, we set up 45-50 minute time slots, and taught two people at once. There are some natural breaks here at the end of each hour, and a break in the middle. The amount of time for each session is variable, of course depending on your needs, but anything less than 30 minutes makes it hard to both present new information and give the person time to put it to use a few times. 45 minutes feels pretty ideal to me, which gives time for teaching, experimenting, questions, and a short break before the next set of folks arrives.

Sign-Up Sheet for standard classes:

This is more of a standard sign-up sheet, for a single class. I think that any time you have more than three computers, it’s better to have a more formal class structure.

With one or two computers, your sessions will feel more like elaborate reference interactions – especially if there are two of you teaching! With three or more, you have to stick closer to your curriculum, to make sure everyone gets the basics.

Of course, every situation is different! If you have staff or volunteers helping you keep your students on track, you can do a lot more with them!

Registration Form For Classes: 

And of course you have to have a registration form to give to your patrons when they sign up for the class. You can “pre-fill” most of the form before you print it out for the patron, of course, but the idea is to give them something to help them remember that they have a class, and also to give you something to hold on to that has their phone number on it, so that you can call them the day before the class to remind them.

Trust me, most people need that reminder call. Either they’ve forgotten, lost their form, or they want to cancel, but since it’s a free class they’re less likely to call up the library to try to figure things out.