Unless the people at your work are very stupid, and I doubt they are, I think the problem is that they don’t have a model of how computers work. My wife doesn’t. I have to explain to her over and over that you can’t zip a file from within Word. While the screen of files in Word looks just like the screen in Windows in the file system manager, they are two different things. If you don’t have a good feel for the structure of the machine, it all seems very random.
I agree that teaching PC stuff is probably more useful than teaching smartphone stuff.
My brain fart. I meant high school education or lower.
As to clear some other circumstances, classes are free but there are limited slots in a given time. Program is supposed to end in 2022, but as for frequency I have no idea. Groups are ad hoc homogenized, but I’d expect my pupils computer-fu knowledge would probably be of around modern 10yos. :dubious:
Smartphone idea is basically meant to show the parallels with PC where applicable and thus give them some head start. Also to minimize effect of lecturing bland comp theory topics (bit/byte, data/information etc) and, as you pointed out, to soften “that button will start ww3” attitude. And I got all their emails and all but one is gmail. And I’d be really surprised to see an iPhone, giving the demographics here.
But you are right about something. How the heck should I teach them to install something without permission to do that? Installing something on PC is way more complicated (for that specific group) than just consuming something form Playstore.
I expect a lot of improvisation in the beginning. But I’m sure I’ll be ok. Thank you.
I’ll keep you informed, if interested. Report follows by the end of the week.
a note about “breaking” things:
Yes, you can break things.
It’s a legitimate problem and students must be taught to be careful.
Example: in Windows Explorer, it very easy to erase your file by accident.
When copying a file from one folder to another, the right-click menu is dangerous.
“copy” is adjacent to “cut”.
And after you’ve pasted it to the new location, there’s no notification whether you erased the original or not.
That’s a good example of what I was getting at. Anyone teaching how to copy files should also teach what the Recycle Bin is. That’s not something a novice is likely to figure out without help.
Teaching the right click menu is a lot easier for people who understand the basics of a file system.
As a Boomer myself (almost 60 years old), I’d suggest a course on smartphones, not computers. I’ve used computers at work since about 1986, watched them evolve, and am thoroughly used to them. Where I need help is my smartphone.
I can use a smartphone as a phone easily enough, and I finally got the hang of texting, but it’s all this “app” and “sync” stuff that confuses me. How do I download an app? Why would I download and install an “app”? How do I “sync” (whatever that means) my phone with my car and my home computer (and why would I need to)? Can I load music on my phone? How do I rip my DVD movies so I can load them on my phone? Can I stream TV shows and sports? If so, how?
Don’t answer, because they are rhetorical questions, and I have enough younger local friends that have helped me through them. Younger people seem to understand these things easily; it’s us older folks that need help with the gadgets that reside in our pockets. I don’t need a “How To Use a Computer” course; what I need is a “How to Use Your Smartphone To Its Fullest” course.
ooh, I just thought of another good tip!
When teaching people about computers, NEVER touch their computer (or phone).
Make them do it all by themselves.
i learned this while explaining to my parents (at age 80).
Clasp your hands behind your back,to avoid the urge to grab the mouse and show them (for the umpteenth time)how to do something.
Some things require hands-on learning. (like teaching a child to tie his shoes )
It is, but how often do you need to install something on a PC? Especially these days? Especially if you’re not a heavy computer user? If anything - you might want to teach to not install things on your PCs because you probably don’t need it and a decent percentage of things that are asking to be installed are malware.
(Or maybe I’m just alarmist)
What’s the purpose of the class? For people to do better at their jobs or get a job if they don’t have one? For people to use the computer they already have in their own home?
Do they have tasks that they already do on the computer, but do “wrong” (or in a less efficient way than they could if they had a little more knowledge?) I think that what you do really will depend on what the class is looking for.
I would have expressed some indignation to all this, as I’m 72 and am perfectly cromulent with computers and smart phones. But last night at a concert I watched a woman, who was likely not much older than I, struggle to take a photo with her friend’s camera, even after being told several times to “touch the big white circle”. And then there’s my cousin’s ex-wife who is four years older than I am, who can barely do emails. :smack:
I think there will always be a need to teach people computer literacy. But I had to laugh at the title of this thread when we all know it was BOOMERS who invented the WWW, USB ports, the ethernet and the Apple II. But yeah I suck at excel…
Yes. I would suggest teaching the importance of back ups. If you properly back up your system, you are not likely to break something in a way that isn’t recoverable. You may lose something, but it should be far less than everything.
2nded. These are the questions I think you need to answer before deciding how to teach the class.
Also, another suggestion, which can apply to smartphones or any computer: teach how to troubleshoot/search for a solution. I get asked all the time to solve people’s phone or computer issues. I’ve started walking people through it instead of doing it for them. I have no special knowledge of computers. For most problems, the basic steps are, explore the menus to see if there is something related to the problem. See if it leads to a solution. Google the issue. Try to assess the sites offering info/solutions for credibility and reliability. Try those solutions. At this point, the problem is usually either solved, or determined to be a “known issue” of some sort. Anyway – I’d set up everyone’s computer with something wonky one day – alternate keyboard layouts, monitors displaying wrong, mouse set up for left hand, etc. Make them explore how to fix it on their own after being told how to get started.
The biggest challenge teaching my parents and older students is that they hear the word “COMPUTER” and their brains freeze up: “Oh, oh! I had a box pop up with a warning!” Okay, what did it say? “How should I know?” Did you read it? “Good heavens, no!”
If it has to do with a computer, they assume (sometimes subconsciously) that they’ll never understand it, so they don’t even try.
I teach a class called “Introduction to Computer” at a local tech college… What a catchall of ages and skill levels and goals. One semester, I claimed I was going to paint a yellow dotted line down the middle of the classroom. Millennials on one side, Boomers on the other.
Now, here’s where that really made a difference: the “kids” (who’d grown up gaming) instinctively tried different things over and over when something didn’t work the first time. The “oldsters” froze up or waited until an authority* (moi)* told them what went wrong and gave them permission to try again. I noticed one (grey-haired) woman sitting at her iMac with her hands in her lap… she “didn’t want to break anything.”
(Lest you think I’m being ageist, I’m a Boomer with grey hair myself… who grew up pre-PacMan and is older than the oldsters in class).
So if you can figure out a way to get your audience to get over an innate fear of the unknown and technology and “doing something wrong”, that’s half the battle.
Indeed. Demonstrate the difference between downloading software from a valid website and downloading software from >>>DOWNLOAD HERE!!!<<< and how a once happy and healthy computer can turn into a barely functioning disease box with a few clicks.
It’s also useful to be able to pull up the basic system specs and disk properties (available space, etc.)
Yup. Please teach them about recognising and avoiding phishing emails, and advance fee scams. It’s not just the older element of the population that falls for these, but the damage when they do is often greater (i.e. getting scammed out of their life savings/pension/retirement fund)
Here’s another Boomer perspective on computer fear. I think I’m likely to be judged at work whenever computer skills are in question. It’s not just a question of embarrassment, there’s an issue of career survival, sort of – I don’t think I’ll lose my job, but neither do I want to be a floundering “oldster”.
I think our tools for hosting meetings online are too complicated. The instructions are 76 pages long, and they’re detailed numbered steps that all seem arbitrary, not connected by any logical structure. Yet somehow we’re supposed to be able to do it.
Maybe we can, and maybe we can’t. It’s very common for our meetings to be delayed by 10 or 20 minutes or more because of “technical issues”. We had a very planned meeting weeks ago for which content was prepared and several panelists were brought in, and the first 45 minutes were lost because the young and technically savvy people in the room, plus the person from the IT department brought in to fix it, couldn’t get the online part to connect. Everybody shrugs and considers it common. As a Millenial commented to Boomers during a meeting last summer, “The difference between you and us is that we don’t expect it to work. When it doesn’t, we just move on.” Only thing is, when we have presenters waiting and slides cued up and panelists cooling their heels, and we can’t connect to half the audience, I don’t know how to “just move on”. I wind up thinking the rest of the world’s crazy.
But here’s the thing: while nobody did actually figure out what was wrong with the connection, and everybody accepts the delay as a meaningless phenomenon without explanation, I am pretty sure what the explanation would have been if it was a sixty-something trying to run the show. Never mind that software I wrote in assembly language more than 30 years ago worked for us for more than a decade, never mind that now I’m learning computational fluid dynamics and write my own code for statistical nonlinear iterative modeling and finite element modeling.
I could go on – sorry. The point is that there’s something big wrong here, and it isn’t that older people are stupid. I think there’s something about the computer world that keeps growing less workable.
I think the OP would be well served by explaining some basic components- what an application/program is, what the file system is, what the network/internet is, and how they’re all separate but work together.
In my experience, the muddying of these concepts is an impediment to actually learning how computers/phones work and being able to subsequently continue to learn/solve problems.
I mean, when someone talks about “loading the internet” onto their PC, it’s clear they don’t understand the difference between the browser application and the network that it communicates through, and without that basic understanding, they’re going to have a hard time troubleshooting or even describing the problem to a tech support person.
Well, yeah, it’s an absurd idea to those of us in the know.
But that’s what I’m talking about- they don’t draw a distinction between a website, the browser used to view it, or the network that gets the data from there to here.
I always have liked the analogy of a browser as being kind of like a magic mirror, or some sort of optical device that lets you see a website- it’s an enabling device. It fulfills the role of the television set- it receives a signal and displays it, in a more interactive way than a TV, but ultimately very similar.
Meanwhile the server is like the TV station, and the network is the broadcast signal.
Because of the name of the class and the audience, I wouldn’t go with the smartphone angle. I’m not sure that’s what they are looking for. I think you should teach them to use typical PC programs at a medium level. For example:
I would guess that they are familiar with browsers, so probably don’t need to spend too much time on that. But maybe spend some time showing them how to get the most out of the web. Go to YouTube for music and how-to videos. Go to wikipedia and look up stuff. Show them google tricks to optimize searches.
Since these are school computers, you won’t be able to delve too much in the low levels like installing hardware, software, changing settings, etc. That should be okay. They can always call their children to help with that stuff
Also, teach them a bit about how to avoid scams, viruses and trojans. However, I’m not sure if it will do any good. I’ve been helping my in-laws for years and they still click on popups without reading or understanding them. Anyway, teach them some of this:
read popups
don’t click things they don’t understand
if they get an error, take a picture or write down exactly what it says so that the person helping them will be able to figure out the problem
don’t install anything unless you really know what it is
don’t install toolbars or browser extensions unless you really know what you’re doing
don’t open attachments unless they know what they are
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