To serve Adult Literacy students, MSAD#5 Adult & Community Education has implemented a 12-station computer lab equipped with a teaching computer and an oversized television for optimal student instruction. This lab is housed at the Central Office of MSAD#5 and is available from 9:00am to 8:00pm Monday through Thursday during the regular school year. Though the purchase of the computer lab components was made possible through grant funding, all maintenance and technical support for the adult education computer lab is supported by the MSAD#5 technology team.

MSAD#5's College Transition students receive direct instruction in this lab to ensure that they are technologically prepared for the rigors of post-secondary education. In addition to their computer classes, College Transition students access the lab for work in both mathematics and English. Instructors use the lab to ensure that students are comfortable with the Internet to conduct academic research, locate resources and access math quizzes and other self-propelled modes of study. As Maine begins to build a state-wide College Transition initiative, MSAD#5 is positioned to continue its services and will serve as a mentor site for other programs implementing College Transitions in 2007.

MSAD#5 also serves as a site for ASPIRE's Job Club program. The computer lab is an essential part of the Job Club curriculum as it is used to explore learning styles, locate local-area job openings, research fields of employment and ultimately, to help clients produce a resume and cover letter. Job Club clients all learn how to use Microsoft Word to build their resume and they learn how to negotiate the Internet for professional purposes. MSAD#5's Job Club clients are among the best served in the state of Maine due to the resources provided by the in-house computer lab. Few sites are able to offer year-round daytime technology instruction to their Job Club clients. Because Job Club is offered under MSAD#5's Adult Education program, we are able to offer programming in the summer months where many other Job Club sites cannot. As DHHS continues to evolve services to their job-seeking clients, MSAD#5 will continue to be seen as a best practices partnership due to the availability of services and technology curriculum.

MSAD#5 Adult & Community Education has a long-standing partnership with Literacy Volunteers of America. The local affiliate of LV occupies an adjacent space to the McLain School computer lab and the lab is available for instruction to all GED, ABE (Adult Basic Education) and Literacy students. All literacy students have access to individualized instruction on the computer or open access to use the computers to enhance their learning. The collaboration between LV and MSAD#5 is seen as a state model as the partnership has born many success stories for literacy learners. MSAD#5's available lab will continue to allow students to progress from the lower levels of learning straight through to College Transition if the students so desire. The continuity throughout all of this programming is the physical space of the Learning Center programs and the computer lab. Students feel comfortable and supported in all of their academic ventures and consequently achieve high levels of success.

MSAD#5 Adult & Community Education has increased vocationally-based technology classes over the past year. As such, we have been able to offer web-design courses such as our Web Design Program which focuses on the marketing and customer service side of web design and includes both HTML and FrontPage designing. In addition, we offer FrontPage courses which focus primarily on building web pages with the Microsoft-based software. All of these web-based classes have been well received and well attended by community members. Our lab also serves as the hub for more basic community enrichment computer classes such as Introduction to Internet and Microsoft Word for Beginners. We offer the Microsoft courses of Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint for beginners and intermediates in the fall and spring of each year. In addition, MSAD#5 has become a test site for ParaPro, an assessment tool for educators seeking to become highly qualified as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative. The McLain School computer lab is used to administer the computer-based exam. Additionally, courses are held at McLain to prepare local area educators for the exam. In the coming year, MSAD#5 will continue to expand the technology-based course offerings to the public as there is a vital need and constant demand from community members. We are fortunate to have a pool of highly qualified technology instructors who are flexible enough to meet the changing demands of local learners. In addition to the lab at McLain, the RDHS high school lab is also available for enrichment programming during after-school hours. Having multiple labs allows MSAD#5 to continue to offer diverse technology classes at different hours of the day, therefore increasing our offerings to learners who are bound by personal schedules and need diversified opportunities for learning.

MSAD#5 Adult & Community Education maintains the computer lab to the benefit of the greater public. Local not-for-profit organizations often use the McLain School computer lab for trainings. In the past, we have sponsored many agencies such as the Maine Department of Education assessment trainings, daycare provider training sponsored by CEI of Wiscasset and several employment-related workshops by Women Work and Community. The lab is an integral part of creating professional partnerships throughout mid-coast Maine. Using MSAD#5's computer lab to bring community agencies closer together will continue to grow in the coming years.

MSAD#5 Adult Education maintains a website under the parent MSAD#5 website that showcases updated course offerings for General Enrichment, Middle School After-School Program, English as a Second Language, College Transitions, GED and ABE, High School Diploma, Literacy Skills and Driver Education. The Adult Education program is extremely lucky to have the support of the MSAD#5 administration and technology team. Many Maine adult literacy providers cannot offer the variety of technology courses or the variability in day-time/night-time offerings as their spaces are available only in the evenings. Having the support of the MSAD#5 technology team ensures that our course offerings continue to grow with the purchase of licensed software and trouble-shooting when needed.

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