As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
So I'm designing a class on the internet for beginners.
waywardryan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
What basic topics would you guys suggest? Here are what I have done so far (mostly by request of my superiors). These are really just to help people who are not tech savvy do basic things:
• Activity 1: Using the address bar and searching the web.
• Activity 2: Advanced searching using Google.
• Activity 3: Getting the weather forecast.
• Activity 4: Using online phonebooks.
• Activity 5: Using Mapquest and printing.
• Activity 6: Adding and modifying favorite webpages.
• Activity 7: Using a shopping cart and online buying.
Do you guys have any suggestions for added activities? They need to be fairly useful, common and easily taught. Imagine teaching these classes to the guy at work who says the printer is broken every time it says "PC LOAD LETTER" or the middle aged mom who has 12:00 flashing on every single electronic in her house. It has to be that easy.
Thanks!
• Activity 1: Using the address bar and searching the web.
• Activity 2: Advanced searching using Google.
• Activity 3: Getting the weather forecast.
• Activity 4: Using online phonebooks.
• Activity 5: Using Mapquest and printing.
• Activity 6: Adding and modifying favorite webpages.
• Activity 7: Using a shopping cart and online buying.
Do you guys have any suggestions for added activities? They need to be fairly useful, common and easily taught. Imagine teaching these classes to the guy at work who says the printer is broken every time it says "PC LOAD LETTER" or the middle aged mom who has 12:00 flashing on every single electronic in her house. It has to be that easy.
Thanks!
Lemon - Bright Wizard
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
waywardryan on
0
Posts
Activity 2: E-Mail
Activity 3: ???
Activity 4: Profit!
Activity 2: Google "furries"
(Note: Do neither of these things at work.)
Flamewars and deviant behavior... that about covers it.
-So sayeth the wise Alaundo
Mario Kart friend code: 227.692.747.075
Tetris friend code: 742.696.731.030
Pokemon code: 2921 5590 8486
Super Smash Bros. Brawl: 0602-5937-3565
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
Heh. Not sure what you expected.
What is this training for? What are its objectives? (And who are these "superiors?") It's hard to suggest topics, activities, objectives, etc. not knowing the context for the training.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Make it poster sized and put it up on the wall.
I file this under "things I've never ever used the internet for".
Do my homework.
What's that? You won't do it? I'm insulted.
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
or maps.yahoo.com, I might add.
Also, teach them Flickr and such, the whole idea of sharing photos online
I'M A TWITTER SHITTER
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
The best training starts with a fundamental understanding of what you want the trainees to be able to do.
So, put yourself in their shoes. As a lower income member of the community, what do you need to do when you go to the library or the local workforce development office to use the internet? Some possibilities:
1) Learn about and request city/county/municipal services (for example, in my city you can request bulk trash pick up or graffiti removal online)
2) Check job boards
3) Complete a resume.
4) Register for an use a free e-mail account
5) Avoid obvious SPAM and don't get scammed by e-mail
If you want the training to be compelling and to stick, it needs to be relevant to what they want to actually do with the internet. If they don't care about the weather, for example, or get their forecast from the paper, radio, or TV, checking the weather online will not have much training impact.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
EDIT: Beaten by a much more thorough post.
Thank you for your well thought out response. Those issues are important and we do address them, however they are again not within the scope of this course. I'm obviously not being specific enough. Things like job boards, resumes and interaction with local government are our primary goal here. However, this class is simply a class taught to mostly middle aged people who don't know how to use the internet and wish to learn how to use simple resources. As far as the Email and spam things go we set them up with that as soon as they register as a student. As far as spam goes... Well we try to teach them but it is a fairly fruitless endeavor.
The phonebook part was taken from overwhelming requests for it. I don't know why they want to use an online phonebook so bad but I'll teach it to them if they really want to know it. Online shopping has been very important to the students as of late as well. I think the affect of iTunes is to blame.
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
Also, one of the chief hurdles for this group is fear. So if you can, hold off on e-mail at first. Start with Google searches and the motto, "You can't break the Internet!" Say it a lot. You may get a few smiles and hopefully will encourage them not to worry too much about getting everything perfect. Then add e-mail later (since you do have to gently warn them about the ways they can trigger viruses.) Also, you may not have the flexibility to do this, but I would recommend having them register for their own free e-mail account. Teach a man to fish, and whatnot.
Godspeed. Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. Let us know how it goes.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
probably included in the online buying section, but I know that alot of people often ask me for advice on them things. Also, downloading files, and the concept behind file tree's and such, depending on how basic you want to go. Other than that, seems like a good list to me.
I make these students go through a Word class first, so they will know how to use a mouse and keyboard and be able to type reasonably well. The E-Mail is given to them along with a lecture regarding spam and viruses that does no good whatsoever in my opinion. The school is stuck on hotmail right now, which makes me sad. I want them to switch over to gmail but nobody here uses it yet... As far as them being afraid, that isn't a problem. In fact I WISH that were a problem. Rather, they are completely happy to do whatever without any idea of the consequences and I'm left to repair whatever damage they can do to our computers.
It is a crappy job sometimes but in general we are able to do some really great things. Once in a while I just have to teach a fluff class that annoys me more than anything. I prefer teaching the job skills courses or the English courses because I feel like they do a lot more good.
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
Home Inspection and Wind Mitigation
http://www.FairWindInspections.com/
There are far FAR too many people who think that the big blue e is the internet, and why don't I have the internet on my computer?
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
If you get them to do google maps, you can throw out the phone book one too. Time saver!
The general masses use the internet to accomplish tasks, so I think you're on the right track with teaching them to find a weather forecast, find a phone number, or find a map.
Most people, however, will want to use the web to accomplish specific tasks that you can't anticipate. i.e. finding a college for their kids, researching new cars, etc ... So when you teach them how to search, use real world examples of these specific tasks so that they understand. As them if any of them is considering a major purchase, then show them how to research, find specs, find customer reviews, etc ...
And if they don't know a technical term, make them go to dictionary.com.
Activity 2: Ladder theory.
Oh, hey, mods usually lock threads like this, don't they? Oh, shit, a mod posted on the first page, and the topic is still open. Swell.
Try to explain to them the purpose of firewalls and explain to them what spyware is. It's like, the STD of the internet. It'll help them understand where to surf and where not to surf.
I didn't ask anybody to do the work. I asked for people to share ideas, which is what I assume message boards are for. I didn't ask you to create a lesson plan, flesh out the actual assignment and then grade and teach it. I asked for very simple, single sentence, IDEAS. And if you had no ideas to share, or didn't like the very idea of sharing ideas, nobody forced you to open the thread.
If you had any idea how much time I have spent trying to get the school to switch over to firefox... uggg
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
Oh hey good idea... The only trouble is teaching them what is what and how to install any of it.
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
OpenOffice is a good one, isn't it? I think you should, if you want to be thorough, go over open source stuff, shareware, and all the other stuff. Your ass is going to need an outline.
We actually have some sort of licensing system that allows us to give out a certain number of copies to our students as long as they are still students. I'm sure that nobody deletes what we give them after they leave.
Bijaz - Ironbreaker
Bijaz - Ironbreaker