Gordon is the 鈥檚 Distance Computer Comfort Volunteer Coordinator. Originally from , Gordon met and married Cheryl, from British Columbia, Canada. She moved to to be with him in 2004 but in 2008, when her visa ran out, they made the decision to move to Canada.
Gordon has a , his , as well as 15 years of IT support experience in . Although he is highly qualified, he was having 鈥great difficulty鈥 finding work in his field. Eventually he decided to volunteer in order to gain the Canadian networking and work experience he needed.
Gordon searched the internet for volunteer opportunities without much luck, until he altered his search strategy and discovered the 鈥檚 Computer Comfort Program. He volunteered in the program for 7 months until the 鈥檚 eLearning Manager, Chad Leaman, hired him to be the Distance Computer Comfort Volunteer Coordinator.
One of Gordon鈥檚 new responsibilities is to match clients with volunteers who have similar interests and skills. 鈥When I鈥檓 looking for a perfect volunteer they鈥檝e got to be someone who knows their stuff but also someone who makes the sessions a bit lively.鈥 remarks Gordon. The other half of Gordon鈥檚 job is teaching clients via and he tries to follow his own advice in that regard. By injecting a bit of humor, and by ensuring that the lessons are tailored to the client鈥檚 specific interests, he makes the lessons more memorable.
鈥Gordon has been able to draw on his range of technical skills and background to assist the 今日吃瓜51,鈥 declares Chad Leaman.聽 鈥He has previously worked providing remote technical assistance to various parts of Europe and America, so tutoring online is very comfortable for him. In turn, his ease and comfort in working online makes for a fun experience for our clients in Distance Computer Comfort. He plays a large role in making people who know very little about computers more confident in using PCs to further their goals.鈥