After working for a local nonprofit/community technology center for the past year as a part time employee, I have seen a variety of people walk in and out of the doors. The article for module 3 entitled "Quick Tips for a Senior Friendly Computer Classroom" provided some rather useful ideas that I wasn't previously aware of. After reading it, a few other ideas and comments came to mind.
Someone new to computers is not going to be well versed in lingo that regular computer users are familiar with. Take the action of scrolling. Many of us are aware of clicking and dragging the bar up or down the page, using the touch pad, or the rolling wheel on your mouse. Telling a computer novice to "scroll to the bottom of the page" may result in a blank stare. Instead, telling them "Go to the bottom of the page" is easier to understand and may result in the desired action.
The above becomes especially true when writing out directions or instructions. In some classes, there will be people who can hear and see fine, but there will also be people who are hearing impaired and some who are blind. Writing out directions for these 3 different persepectives requires addtional thought. For instance, incorporating a video clip into your instructions is a great way to demonstrate a task. However, a deaf person would not be able to hear what you have to say, thus you would have to incorporate closed captioning or a text writeup of what you said.
The article makes a great point that instead of using the mouse to scroll on a page, taking advantage of the Page Up and Down keys on the keyboard makes navigating the page easier. It is odd however, that horizontal scrolling has no keyboard duplicate action; a mouse must be used.
Trying to hold a mouse stable, while fast double clicking and focusing on the screen can be difficult for some people. A great trick is to get the user to single click on the desired action, and then push the enter key on the keyboard.
Taking advantage of the Accessibility features in Windows XP and Vista can benefit both the end user and the instuctor. Using screen magnifiers, screen readers, changing the screen resolution/contrast, slowing down the mouse movement speed/double click speed, and increasing font sizes can make using the computer easier for a senior citizen.
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For me my parents are completely computer illiterate so of course they are always calling me to answer questions over the phone about using basic computer programs (word,firefox,sending/receiving emails). I found that when trying to explain something to them calling things simply what they look like help out the most because they defiantly don't know what anythings called.
ReplyDeleteI definately agree with you. After working with senior citizens for an internet introduction course, I realized how even the most basic terms to persons of our age are completely foreign to them. Concepts as simple as a "right click" take explanation and patience. It is also important, I feel, to encourage their questions to enhance their learning experience. We are the computer generation, the idea of not having computers is as foreign to us as having computers is foreign to them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you. My parents, grandparents, other family members, even coworkers and people I work for are always asking for technical support and trying to explain something to them can be a waste of time sometimes. Thankfully there is remote desktop along with other software out there that allows my patience to be spared. But I guess my question is that I wonder what my grand kids are going to have to teach me when I get older and will I be as impatient and just want them to do it for me, as my grandparents do?
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