How Do you Teach People about Hardware and Software?

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This is a funny video ofChris Pirillotalking about how difficult it is to teach people software. In software training sessions I’ve given recently, I’ve learned that demos can be incredibly boring unless you do them in a certain way. People don

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I Always use the human body when relating to computer hardware example being Ram is like short term memory where as the Hard drive is long term memory or the Power Supply is like your heart or IDE or SATA our like your veins i think its the best method when even selling hardware to a person who knows nothing on what that part does or what it is for hope this works for any of you out there

Jammin

Chris and comment readers,

I know this is a tiny bit off subject, but they do have many good videos, so I thought this might help many people explain tech and other things to non-techies. In one of my other comments I mentioned one of their videos (Twitter in Plain English), but I figure someone very well may have not read that post, but is reading this post. Anyway, their YouTube channel is: http://www.youtube.com/user/leelefever and a quick overview of them is that they create videos ending with “In Plain English.” This means that you do not have to be a geek to know what the point of some of this is. I use these videos every once in a while to teach my family members about tech. I encourage people to take a look.

I hope this comment helps someone explain tech,
Brady (Computer|Nerd)

This aplies to my life very much so. I have an elderly grandfather who has been introduced to technology recently and it is very difficult for him to understand the “basic” concept of certain things, but i must say he has exceeded my expectations of him. He is using flash drives, cd’s, attaching files, and lots of other stuff. I consider this to be quite an accomplishment for a man at his elderly age.
Bradley Bradwell

What about those who doesn’t know how to watch a video or have codecs issues? how do you explain something to those who are unable to watch that video instruction, what do you do then? =)

Oh my god, chris you are so right. Every time my mom needs help with something tech related she will ask me and it is so annoying trying to explain something to her. she thinks that she knows what she is doing but she dosn’t. It is like trying to explain “why the earth revalves around the sun”! Then we will get into a fight and she will get all mad and i will get upset and all hell breaks loose. So now I am going to like you said to take a screen video and let her watch it!!:)
Thanks for the help!!

David/tonydk2

When talking about hardware with a computer illiterate I use the method of comparison. I find ways to compare parts of the computer to something that the person I am teaching knows about. Like cars. Power supply = battery
CPU = engine. Things like that. This works very well.

Having taught dozens of elders how to use computers, learn new computer tasks and how to blog – and being an elder myself – I assure you that talking LOUD and VERY slowly is not necessary.

Elders are not by definition deaf, stupid or any more slow to learn than people of any age confronting a new technology for the first time.

This post, these instructions are demeaning and ageist.

It’s really hard for me to teach people how to do certain things on computers. I usually become frustrated and so does my “student.” Screen casting should help me teach without saying a word. Thanks :D

lol nice tips for my mom because i got to teach her at least 30 minutes how to use the pc and she is not learning nothing not even if i tell her the same thing over and over maybe with those tips i can teach her better.

I’ve have a decent amount of tech illiterate family members, the second half of this list gave me some really good ideas for next time. I’ve always been an OS X kid so trying to teach someone parts of an OS that isn’t your own is that much more difficult. In my opinion, one of the most useful lists I’ve seen so far. Thanks a bunch for sharing. :D

hey chris, these are great tips i have recently been trying to help my grandparents get on the internet. They don’t like computers but i’m trying help them if you have any other tips please post.

To be honest, its much easier if you use Ghostmouse and leave the script for it right on the desktop if its needed often, if not, store it in a special Ghostmouse folder in My Documents or whatever. Thats what I did for my personal use when I had to check special boxes and there were a lot of them, or there was an easy to forget step, like turning off System Restore and whatnot.

Great tips! really love em and there gonna be really helpful as i wanna start my own tech business, thanks for all the tips and blogs/videos keep em up! Technology For the win!

i find my self in the same position alot Im usually the first person my family turns to when there is a tech related issue or problem and i know what you mean chris its ALOT easier to just do it your self…
ill some of these tips thanks!

its not easy to teach people about computers, but if you take your time and expalain things, it will work

Chris,

Thanksfor the tips on how to teach elder or non experienced people about hw to teach hem all abut coputer hardware or softwaretha they need to know.

Thanks Again,
blizzardjd1014

I may not know much about computers relative to others, but i love to learn. I’ve heard it mentioned from chris (and have used it for ever), I love to google search things as soon as i hear of them, once its mentioned, i look it up. Most people aren’t as assertive and depend on others to explain everything to them. I actually love to show people how to do things on the computer and usually people can follow me. I really enjoyed the 5 tips, i think they’ll help me in the future to not be as hard to follow.

Thanks!

Great tips by the way, but one should make a certain distinction between teaching people about the hardware and software and convincing people to buy the hardware or software in question. One is, needless to say, much simpler than the other as money (unfortunately) always complicates matters to a certain extent.

people should use video professor! it actually works. i borrowed the XP version from one of my friends and gave to my dad. he learned things fast!

chris, i feel your pain too!

I would recommend an e-book. Those seem to help. Big pictures, a good walk through.

I am the same way with teaching people. I try to teach them and then they just don’t get it. I get very mad then they get all mad at me. I just want to just do it myself but then again I don’t want to have to do it again so I in a way want to teach them how to do it. Maby these tips will help me share my knowledge of tech.

Great list! good advice.

I would like to add one thing to that list and that is: Keep it simple! Dont get too technical when explaining and showing them what to do. Dont use unnecessary command line dont use lingo that they wont understand, it will just confuse them and slow you down. keep it simple.

Wow, thanks!

I’m the only person the house that knows anything about computers, and they’re always asking me how to do something, or how to fix something. I’ll keep this list in mind next time.

Analogies are sometimes the only way the point can get across.

im switching to mac i dont want vista screwin up my comp

I don’t know how many time me and my mother has gotten into an argument over computers! I have tried to teach her the basics of it and, show her how to do stuff but all she knows is how to open up i.e. and go login to her work email account. Now when it comes to my cousin, She knows some stuff about computers’ but forgets stuff on a daily basis. it is so hard to teach them anything without them getting mad at me so i go around once a week and do check ups on their computers to keep them up and running

Wow…. I should really use these tips… I try to tell people about software and technology… and I just can’t.. I don’t like repeating myself.. and I have such a short temper when it comes to it… I will save these tips some where for future reference.

I agree with you Chris, I think that people who teach other people about gadgets should not expect people to get it in an instant. If you do that, you’ll get nowhere.

This reminds me of when I had to teach a uncle to use software on a computer, it take a while but they do eventualy get it after a while.

When I am trying to teach someone to use their new tech tools I take out the time to really show them what were working with. I also like to write everything down and even with pictures because it can help some people if you have a picture of how to fix something and then it will help them a lot. So if you get the time take a few pictures and edit them so you can show them how to use their new hardware. It works very well.

i have been trying to get a webcam for a while plz

Chris, i completely agree, all the time its really hard to get someone to help me so if they know what to do, i do a GoToMeeting and allow them to control my screen. I also have my friends, or whoever i happen to be helping, open gotomeeting.com/join/ and control their screen, it just works!

Yeah it’s hard to teach people how to work a computer i tryed once and got mad. And it was kinda funny too i usually just tell them to explore around. I have been using a computer since i was 5 years ol

Using cam studio is the easiest way. Or pretend you don’t know how to fix it. Or don’t answer your phone and “appear offline”.

My Grandpa Taught Me How To Use A Computer. Then He Forgot A Lot Of Things About It And He Asks Me Questions About Things Like Copying And Pasting And Backing Up To His Thumb Drive. My Grandpa Can Use A Web Browser And Other Things Like Microsoft Office And Outlook Express But He Can’t Seem To Remember How To Copy And Paste And Using His Thumb Drive.

Chris, This Is A Good Video And I Hope It Helps Me Teach My Grandpa.

ahh! good tips i say! usually, i just show them how to do it and sometimes they get it. and when they dont i just show them again. i just cant explain stuff that good so i usually just stutter >.>. but i still try to keep them happy and not get fustrated. hard to keep them satified you know? great tips maybe i can use them for my parents who arent as good with comps as me! thanks for the tips!

you are crazy dude… good title;)) ” Tehnology”

woulden’t you hate to write the help text?

is he wearing a firefox hat?

Agree totally, been there, Lord still there.

i cant belive i had to teach a high school teacher how to drag and drop

“negative 4 miles an hour” u cant even get that ya dumass!!!

has anyone else ever noticed that theres a subject in the help files for everything except the one thing you need help with. funny that.

you are like my idol

lol i have to teach alot of people stuff….and its very very very hard…where you make it soooo easy to comprehend…yet they cant

and it took about half an hour to do

lol 30 minutes! im glad i dont take computer classes at my school…id have to teach everyone it would suck lol

Wow…, is this the right site I am looking for ?

Thanks Chris…

i know what you mean, in my school we had a sub and as he was trying to teach us basic stuff i noticed he was just reading out of a book, and didnt know him self, so i just got up and started teaching, and ever since i teach Adobe Photoshop to several class’ in my lunch times

lol my cousin takes computer classes at his school….they always have basic stuff (of course)…the teacher had problems with the basic material so he got up and started teaching…

basic’s are funny as well, in my school rr recently had a P.E. teacher become a I.T. teacher, and just as he did a small course and just as he can make a good power point presentation he thinks he knows everything, i recently had to help him get onto the school network with he’s laptop, all i had to do was plug in the ethernet cable and set it to main preference to LAN not Wireless

Nice tips Chris. I myself am technically challenged and I understand how yall techies get frustrated with those of us who are not techies. lol. Screencasts are the way to go! Thats how I ask people to help me.lol. cuz when u dont understand u get frustrated along with the techie.lol. oh, I *HEART* GOOGLE!!

lol i hate it when people buy expensive hdtvs and dont buy power protection. so i tell them they really need to get power protection for their tv to protect it and that power surges can happen on a sunny day-no lightning. yet they dont listen.and if they do they buy the cheapest one available lol

hahaha- I remember computer class in high school – it was way different back in the old days…

my brother recently got my mom a new dell to replace her old dell which was about 7 years old- she only uses it for email to me- funny because i have the same old model dell as my backup computer and it still works… i have no idea what happens to her computer… recently i had to contact a family member to get my mom to delete the junk mail from her inbox as my emails were bouncing. it must suck to not know what ur doing.

my significant other called me today to tell me her new computer might have a virus. she goes to work and brings things home on her flash drive and her computer is not connected to the internet so she is not getting virus definitions and windows updates. I have been trying to tell her to just get a GPRS modem she can use with her phone but she insists her phone can’t connect to the internet which is ridiculous – i know it does. sigh….

would have been easier if my high school computer teacher explained it like that

I just wanted to thank you a lot. My dad just got a mac book and he has never used a computer in his LIFE. (60 years old). Now I have to teach him, this list helps SO MUCH!

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