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 you 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
i teach people to use there comon sence, like if you want to go to the last website what would make sence to YOU that you would half to do
*their* *common* *sense* *sense* *have*
I’m actually considering making a small business out of this ‘oppertunity’. My grandparents have just purchased a computer, and are always asking me or my dad on what to do with it, or how to use a certain piece of software (internet, word documents, email…..). I admit, the last thing O.A.P’s need, is an expensive tutor to come round to their home, teach them the basics – but be charged £30.00 an hour. I was thinking more along the lines of about £2.50 an hour? Any advice would be great, thanks.
Im teaching my Gran and my Granpa. H E L P! My gran, cant even find the letter “N” when its right infront of her. 🙁
They take 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 hours to write
one sentence. Anyway tell them to explore and if somthing goes wrong DONT say “Oh MY GOD WHAT HAVE YOU DONE YOU SILLY PERSON YOU’VE BROKEN YOUR COMPUTER NOW YOU’LL HAVE TO BUY A NEW ONE” say “oh its ok i’ll sort it out” be nice because its there first atempt in using a computer. Hope this helps. Bye :p
My next door neighbour has asked me to help him learn computers, I Googled this website up. I agree about being patient and showing people how to use the internet etc. I’m going to navigate to this blog through Google to give him an idea of the sort of things you can do on the net.
Hi Guys,
I think its best to get them started on the bare basics first. Try a computer typing course in order to get them typing fast and efficient. If they learn how to type then you have won half your battle. Its best they learn the right way rather then the hard way.
Hope this has helped.
Cheers
Neil
Folks might like to try SeniorDashboard.com as a starting place. It’s designed to act as a home page for seniors learning to access the web. Hope it helps!
Wendy
I am trying to teach my grandma and it is my first time teaching i do not know what to do!:(:(