UPEATING COMPUTER SKILLS Students keep returning to N. Van CIT SINCE OPENING one year ago as a prototype micro- computer training centre, the BCIT Open Education Access Center has proved itself an invaluable local resource for people smitten by the micro-chip bug. Douglas Smith, M.B.A., BCIT assistant head, part-time studies, school of management studies, said about 40 per cent of the 850 to 1,000 people who have made use of the centre, at 145 Chadwick Court, Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, have been individuals returning to the workforce looking for upwardly mobile career skills. “Thirty-five per cent can be classified as entrepreneurs looking for a variety of skills to trim their staffing. requirements. imately 20 per cent are middle managers who don’t have the lux- ury of attending classroom courses. .We’re open to serve the user,”’ said Smith. The training centre includes 16 individual work-stations each in- corporating an IBM PC-compati- ble, a’ synchronized interactive video-disc player and a printer. BOS, the acronym for the entry level Basic Operating Skills option, is designed for individuals with lit- Approx- - ‘News Reporter tle or no prior micro-computer ex- perience. Fifteen hours of self-paced, hands-on learning familiarizes the studunt with business programs such as Lotus 123, word processing and MSDOS. ‘“‘Although adult learners take approximately 15 hours to complete each course, the cost will not increase beyond the time limit. If it takes 100 hours, that time is free for them to take and learn as needed,’’ assured Smith. Other software programs available at the centre include Multimate, DBASE HI Plus, Pascal Turbo, PFS family of chart, graph, file and write, Autocad and MS Word (QREF). A computerized accounting package, a comprehensive integrated business program and desktop centre publishing are on tap for the near future. Programs may be reviewed at the centre’s library. Flexible individual access is en- sured with the option of renting a station at the centre on an hourly basis of $41 per hour. Smith says corporate users can rent the entire facility and organizations, including North Shore Continuing Education and Whistler International, have used the centre in the past. Future directions for the centre include the facility becoming an adult literacy centre. ‘‘We’ve just been chosen by Health Edutech, the largest interactive video