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How do you teach someone to use a computer
April 6, 2008
There are many people around the world who never touched a computer before and are just now learning how to use a computer and if they’re lucky they will know someone who can teach them basic computing and hopefully show how computers can enhance their lives.
There are many senior citizens who are just now learning how to use a computer, so where do you start? What would you teach them? Remember to patient with them when teaching someone how to use a computer, things that seem really simple to may not be as easy for the person you are teaching.
Go through some basic hardware that makes up the computer and how it all works together. Stuff like the monitor, show them where the power button is to turn on the computer and the power for the monitor, basic functions of the keyboard and mouse ..blah..blah…blah.
Now the fun stuff. The vast majority of people who are just learning how to use a PC are probably only interested in how to use the internet to do things like research or exchanging emails. That’s all they really want to do when they first start out. Forget about teaching them Photoshop or Dreamweaver. Teach them how to use the internet and how to use it safely. The first thing I would teach someone who knows absolutely nothing about the internet is “what a web browser is and what it can do” and the next thing I would teach them is “what Google is and what it can do”.
Here are some general tips that might help :
- Be patient with the person you are teaching
- Don’t move to fast from one task to the next
- You may need to repeat the same stuff many times (see tip one)
- Plan ahead. Have a list of things to go over and thing to do. This will make the learning and teaching process much smoother
- Youtube and other video sites are a good source of tutorials be sure to check those out
- You can also use screen recorder programs to record “how to lessons” with your voice talking over it. CamStudio is free and works very well
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