Input desired: Teaching a "Basic Computer Use" course

I

IceWeasel

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 15, 2004
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Good morning all :) I volunteered to teach a "Basic Computer Use" course at a nearby facility, and there is no current curriculum in place. The course is geared towards very basic, intro learners to the PC, and I'm guessing it will mainly be attended by older generations. (Sorry if some of you fall into that generalization :D)

I would love to have your input into on what type of material I should cover in the 4 Wednesdays that I have with these people. I believe I'll have about 1.5 hours each week, so that gives me a total of 6 hours to get them ready to be comfortable with a PC.

Some current thoughts for how to run this are:
  • Hand out a survey during week 1 to get their input (chances are they may have no clue?)
  • Week 1 - Bring in some disassembled PCs for them to look at, pass around parts
  • Week 1 - Talk through the basic components of a PC, their function, etc and then have them log into their PC
  • Week 2 - Cover the keyboard/mouse, hotkeys & keyboard shortcuts(ctrl-v, etc), navigating the OS
  • Week 3 - Web Browsing, Downloading & Installing Files, Navigating OS file structure
  • Week 4 - Open up the floor to requests from students, Interactive teaching/review session of the past 3 weeks

Thanks for the input! :) If you have a link to any good teaching materials, that would be appreciated too!
 
Not sure if this is more advanced than you wanna get. You also might wanna briefly cover computer security. Just simple antivirus/firewall choices and tips to avoid scams/viruses. I find a lot of people who are not familiar with computers tend to be suckers for scams/viruses.
 
Great advice regarding security. Also, teach them how to learn on their own. The internet really is an information superhighway, so knowing how to get that info is key. ;) Google-Fu--whitebelt :p
 
Pretty solid curriculum there. The basic security recommendation would be a great item to teach during the 3rd week.

And in the final week, tell them the mantra of millions of internet denizens: "Google it":D
 
Very good ideas! I definitely will stick in some time to talk about computer security/basic guidelines to protect yourself ;)

And teaching them that even senior IT guys "Google it" will probably be the most valuable tool of all, maybe I'll make that my motto throughout the course and repeat it enough so it sticks in their brain!
 
Bringing in a dissasembled PC probably isn't the best idea, as its going to be mostly meaningless to them.

And in week one your probably going to want to address features as basic as what a field looks like, and what you can click on and what you cant. For everyone on this board a hyperlink is totally intuitive, but definatly not so for the people your going to teach.

And yeah, the general philosophy behind black hat and white hat forces and banking/shopping online concerns would be good. I'd make the point to these people that giving your credit card number to a website can be a secure as giving your credit card number to someone at a till, as long as you look for the big green address bar.
 
I would suggest leaving a portion at the end of every day for open floor questions, if you have 90 minutes, go over roughly 45-60 minutes of coursework (expect this to actually take something like 70 minutes) and then open it up to questions, sort of a "question of the day" type thing, maybe they have an issue at home, or something similar

I can tell you that after a month of "intro to von Nuemann architecture", reading "explain the basic components of a computer" has a different meaning to me (sort of like a combination of PTSD and knowledge) :eek:
 
I reccomend spending some time on how the file-system works. I'm astounded by how I run into people that do not understand this fundamental topic. For example, illustrate how Windows Explorer is the authoritative way to access the file system, and how file-save dialogs are just allowing you to navigate the authoritive file system. This will help people when the download files, or when they have a photo-CD and want to upload files, etc.

Cover shortcuts. We have all seen several times where people think they have copied something, but only made a shortcut. I suggest teaching them to right-click drag when making copies or moves.

Similar to shortcuts, cover how My Documents is a shortcut to the authoritative file system.

:Sigh: Your job would be easier if Windows didn't hide file extensions by default. (That's still the case, right? It is the first thing I turn off.)
 
Mention that the internet is not safe and that there are a lot of scams on the internet. Tell them not to download "free screensavers" and junk like that.
 
Jospeh said:
Mention that the internet is not safe and that there are a lot of scams on the internet. Tell them not to download "free screensavers" and junk like that.
Click to expand...

I think its teeth whitening and credit reports now ;)
 
alright guys, please keep it on-topic... i'd prefer not to have the last 2 posts in here.
 
Focus on keyboard and mouse FIRST. If they cannot master the input devices, the rest of the course will be meaningless. If you are teaching older gens- you've a good chance that a few may not know how to type.
 
MrWizard6600 said:
Bringing in a dissasembled PC probably isn't the best idea, as its going to be mostly meaningless to them.
Click to expand...

Its still a fun way to start the course, just be careful not to discourage anyone by making them think they're going to have to build a computer or something.

Focus on the practical use stuff. Not just how to navigate, but how to connect and access a USB camera or thumbdrive, that sort of thing. My grandma would fall asleep if I tried to explain the concept of folders to her, but if there's a task involved (getting pictures off a camera or CD) she can follow me easier.
 
yea, i'm going to design this to be interactive and with feedback. if they are getting bored then i'll be ready to improvise.
 
MrWizard6600 said:
Bringing in a dissasembled PC probably isn't the best idea, as its going to be mostly meaningless to them.

And in week one your probably going to want to address features as basic as what a field looks like, and what you can click on and what you cant. For everyone on this board a hyperlink is totally intuitive, but definatly not so for the people your going to teach.

And yeah, the general philosophy behind black hat and white hat forces and banking/shopping online concerns would be good. I'd make the point to these people that giving your credit card number to a website can be a secure as giving your credit card number to someone at a till, as long as you look for the big green address bar.
Click to expand...

I agree with everything except for the first part. He may very well get some visual learners in there. So as he explains each basic part, he can give a visual reference.

I also agree with the ones who mentioned security, and leaving the last 10 min or so for open discussions.
 
I'm with MrWizard, the first week looks terrible.

You can bring in a disassembled PC, but save it for AFTER class. Most of the information is useless to them. I get that you want to remove the notion of the "magical box", but you don't have to spend a whole day, really, a week on it. You should look at the first three classes as weeks. If you don't get your students curious, thinking or trying out what they've learned out of class, you've wasted some time.

The first day they don't get to do anything. That's no fun.

It should take you 5 minutes to go "This is a PC, this is a monitor, this is a keyboard, this is a mouse." Then let the people USE their computers.

At the very least, they should be able to browse the Internet after the FIRST class. It's the easiest interface on the whole PC, from it you can learn anything, it's ubiquitous to any PC, and it's possible future PCs may do away with OSes and use a Web based OS.
 
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