How to Help Someone Use a Computer

I read an article on how to respectfully help someone with a computer issue. I really liked this because I am a beginner and really appreciate not being treated like I am stupid because I don't know how to find things. I especially liked the line in the things to tell yourself section that said, "Beginners face a language problem: they can't ask questions because they don't know what the words mean, they can't know what the words mean until they can successfully use the system, and they can't successfully use the system because they can't ask questions." This sums up the frustration most beginners feel. They don't even know what questions to ask and are afraid to experiment because the have found from sad experience that there are serious pitfalls for the unwary when messing with settings without knowing what they are doing. My favorite quote in the important rules section is, "Don't take the keyboard. Let them do all the typing, even if it's slower that way, and even if you have to point them to every key they need to type. That's the only way they're going to learn from the interaction." Somewhere along the line someone was patient enough with you to teach you how to do it. We will always be dependent if we can't learn how to do it ourselves.

I will definitely try to remember these tips when teaching my classmates about Google Earth. We will have a tutorial session on how to use the program and our students will have the opportunity to use the program themselves. When we are helping them, we will be patient and tell them what the words mean so they can use the system and have success using it.