Any ideas on how to teach a first time internet user?
I’m going to go completely off of arts here and ask a question. Does anyone have any great resources on teaching a first time internet user how to use the internet?
My parents have recently signed up for Broadband Internet and it will probably pretty much come down to me teaching them how to use it. I’ve been thinking about putting together a series of screencasts to teach them the basics. Ultimately, I think my dad wants to get into blogging too. He would be great at it actually. But there is going to be a steep learning curve to teach someone in their mid 40’s (no offense to anyone) to use the internet for the first time.
Till now, it’s pretty much been freecell and a few other games that my dad has used the computer for. This will be completely a new experience for him. I don’t think my mom will use it much. We will see.
7 Comments
just show them the help feature sweetheart, and 40 is still young. it is very sweet of you to want to help them.
Well now I have a couple of folks 20 years older than yours…and well I was a long way away from them when they started – most communities have community education centers that will teach basic computing skills to total newbies. It depends of course on where you live but the best way to learn is hands on and a local adult education provider probably does do courses.
Alternatively – highly useful and noob freindly are ‘Dummies’ Guides. I had some of these myself for a while when I was learning all I could do in excel and other programs. For me it was the screenshots that made learning faster. Unfortunately for me in spite of passing these books on to my folks they still prefer to ‘ring me’as if I were a paid help desk person. No point me telling them to look it up in the book – they won’t….and believe me some of the things I see on their screen wouldn’t be in the book anyway. (Dad has a nasty habit of clicking and dragging a mouse and swears he didn’t do anything to put the tool bar over there, down there or off screen. recently it was MS Word – viewing at 500% – but of course he didn’t do it – it just happened one day!)
so..if your folks are as young as you say it should not be a problem with a class, a book and a little help from you when something whacky goes wrong.
I’ve decided on a medium to help them out. I am going to use a series of screencasts to help them out along with instant messaging through google talk. This way I either talk them through certain things. or put together a quick screencast to show them how to do something.
All in all, I look forward to them finally being online.
You would do much better just to sit down with them and help them as they come across things they need help with. Screencasts (whatever that is) and IM are just throwing another level of complexity into the problem. If they can handle that stuff, they probably don’t need much help anyway.
But quite frankly, with the attitude that someone in their mid forties is going to have a hard time with this, I don’t think you are the best person to be helping them. I suspect also that your expectations of what they will do on the internet, and theirs, just aren’t going to match. I agree with Jenny, find them a proper course of instruction and hands on help.
FWIW, volunteers at our local library help people of ages use computers and the internet. We have put on special courses for seniors and most have no difficulty whatsoever. So don’t write your dad off in his mid-forties. That will be you one day, and probably sooner than you realise.
yikes, didn’t mean to come across that way… lol
I guess nobody really knows them like I do. I love my parents deeply. They’ve pretty much been afraid of the internet for a long time now.
A friend of mine who is blind needed to learn to use the computer for college. Both the monitor and mouse were completely useless to him. But at the same time, teaching him was a joy, as I believe teaching my parents will be so as well. But I also know that a person can be so close to another as to not be any help at all.
It’s not because of their age Derek. I’m not writing him off at all. He is very mechanically oriented with a great mind for learning. Though at the same time, both of them never really bothered with computers too much.
The reason I posted this was more for ideas sake. What things would a first time internet user like to know nowadays? I know I am going to have to sit down with him and go over ebay in depth…lol. But what else?
Actually, I have been on this internet more than your dad. We both need lots of help,though.
One of the main problems is just time. Although we would like to learn and use the internet, we must reserve time for personal relationships. Typing on the computer is fine, but doesn’t compare to face-to-face talking and sharing life with the one (and ones) that you love. However, with this setup, we can actually talk to you more often in between those real times. We both love you lots too!
Becca will be jealous though if you don’t go comment on her blog.
http://www.motherearthsgarden.com