Teach to work with a computer

Lately, I increasingly began to resent the organization of our education: both secondary and higher. I can not say that I have any such rational proposal that it could be a panacea for all ills. But I would like to tell you what exactly I do not like, from what I have experience in and what I can judge by my own practice.

I am a programmer, but by the will of fate, I taught quite a lot. I started at school, but then I replaced teachers several times, and, oddly enough, English. Then, having entered BSUIR, I was a tutor, again in English. It was only later that I began to teach in computer literacy courses at our university. These were free courses for students of MGLU, where I told about the computer from scratch. Thus, I have been working in this field for almost 3 years. I have often been a tutor for those people who want to study the computer individually, knowing about it, only that it exists, sometimes that there is such a program as Solitaire Solitaire. In addition, I am from a family of hereditary teachers, and it seems to me that I can, at least a little, judge education and teaching.

Today I again faced the illiteracy of a man who had studied computer science for two years in computer science lessons! I can forgive when mistakes are made by a novice user, or by an older generation who rarely deals with computer equipment. But when young people who spend days and nights in contact or chatting on ICQ cannot print a document on a customized network printer or change the picture on the desktop ... Here I have a logical question: what did people do on computer science for two years?

I want to say that when I was in school myself, I could not understand for a long time what they wanted to learn in the end in computer science? Secondary education is comprehensive. Since I graduated from school, the program has managed to radically change. Finally, they released textbooks on computer science, teachers appeared who graduated from the university in this specialty. Last year, my sister brought a computer science textbook home. I, looking at the beautiful cover, opened it and decided to read, - suddenly, that useful will be found. And to my horror I saw a blatant mistake that made my hair on my head stand on end. It turns out in kilobytes 1000 bytes. Yes, yes, this is what the new textbook for grade 9 says. Alas, I did not make a copy, but then it struck me so much that I hid this terrible book out of harm's way and explained to my sister that everything was wrong there. Then she took offense at me for a long time, not having passed the computer science test: there was a question about how many megabytes in one gigabyte. Do not be surprised, there are, of course, exactly 1000 of them. What did you think?
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Another interesting thing. A lot of people studied with me at the university who complained to me about stupid users who do not know how to work with Windows. They all shouted that “they would have cut their hands” and “they would not allow them to reach the computers”. And how many times at the bachorge there were stories about stupid secretaries and accountants. I myself faced such people. I know what it is when the mouse is taken over by the tail, with the phrase “Close the window”, the window is up and closed, when on a flash drive 1 GB of one gigabyte is occupied by hidden folders and 10 Trojans inhabit it. But such people can in no case be humiliated and shot! They need to be educated, they need to inculcate in them a culture of using computers, the Internet, and technology. We live in the 21st century! We are not barbarians. Therefore, teach those who are nearby, be patient.

Why am I writing this? I would like to tell you how I taught my students, how I teach those who ask me to give them personal lessons, and how I am going to teach them in the future. I could be wrong, and any of you may have your opinion on this. I do not pretend to be the ultimate truth. Therefore, I will call this “recommendations” on computer literacy training. In my opinion, computer science in its current state is meaningless as such.

1. I always start with the fact that the computer can not be afraid! He won't bite. Yes, a person can break something and spoil it. But for this you need to go the wrong way. Or rather in the wilds. And if the user thinks what he is doing, treat the equipment with respect, and not with fear or neglect, then everything will be fine. Help the user move from "you and whisper" to polite and confident "you".
2. You must acquaint the user with the computer device. No, it is not necessary to tell him that there are capacitors and resistors on the motherboard, to go into the circuitry, to tell about how the power supply unit is made or what material the disks are made in the hard drive. For starters, you can tell how it all began and that before the hard drives were only 64 KB. But remember, the user should already know what kilobytes are, and how many bytes are in them!
3. The computer device is best shown on a disassembled computer, and not in the pictures. This will ultimately help to avoid questions like “Can I insert a disk into this processor?” Or “Where is the“ Any key ”button?” It would not be superfluous to say in what form the information is stored on the hard disk, and why, if the user has if something breaks, it’s not always possible to recover lost files. Develop the myth that all “programmers” are obliged to know how to fix the computer in which the video card has been burned. Tell us what to look for when choosing a computer. You will become a hero!
4. After that, the user must be enlightened and tell what Windows is. But do not go to extremes. Do not assume that if you yourself know this, then the novice user will definitely know. We were not born with this knowledge, we also received them somehow. We read literature, articles, asked more experienced acquaintances or strangers, we studied through trial and error. Not everyone can do that. Many can understand, only if they show how to do it. Do not be indignant: "How can you not know!?" You can! Are you sure that you are well versed in string theory and quantum physics? Or you can accurately write an accounting annual report for your company? Can you My sincere congratulations. Then teach the other. So it is with a computer: a person, by definition, cannot know everything. Otherwise, he would not make mistakes, and certainly he would not have come to you with a problem. Pay attention to practice. Let the user himself opens the window, switches the tab, puts a "tick" and presses the "Save" button. This will help him to remember how to do this or that action. So about Windows. If you have time, tell us which operating systems existed before and which are now. Yes Yes! Do not just talk about the main differences between Windows 98 and Windows NT in terms of the programmer. It is necessary to present everything in a more or less understandable language. Do not forget, you should be able to translate from your language to the user's language. You ask the doctor to explain what is colonoscopy or pancreatic-junction anastomosis or sphincteroplasty. Why does the user need to know in advance what a hard drive, motherboard, power supply is and how SATA differs from IDE, and also why there are shortcuts on the desktop or what is formatting? Tell the user about the benefits of Linux and about Mac OS, tell why you are sure that this operating system is better, but do not say that it is the best from what you have decided. Be objective. And note that most of the institutions in most countries have Windows operating systems installed on their computers.
5. Told, showed? And the user is able to type? Only now, when the user is able to start the computer and knows which operating system is being loaded, teach him to type. Tell us about the "nEtiket" (etiquette of communication in the network) and wean it from CAPS LOCK. Explain what hot keys are and how to use them. Then constantly remind the user about them, and in the end he will learn how to use them no worse, or even better than you. You may wake up an inquiring mind, and one day you will be shown a "solo on the keyboard", completely giving up the mouse.
6. And now security. Spend as much time as possible to teach the user how to handle the system responsibly. Tell us about antiviruses. Detailed and with examples. Frighten that your friend lost all his scientific work due to the fact that he had a Trojan on his computer. Tell us what viruses are and where they can come from. List paid and free antiviruses. Advise, in the end, the one that you think is the best. Using Linux is counted as an example only. Why so read above. Tell us how a user can see hidden files. Try to develop a habit in the user not to download the first available program and install it thoughtlessly. By the way, I always talked about all the antiviruses that I know. Gained about ten pieces. As a result, none of my students brought me an infected flash drive, and then long acquaintances from MSLU complained that they had got those who scan the flash drive before opening the file from it.
7. Now the program. Be sure to tell about shareware and open source programs. Say that the latter are no worse than the first, but at the same time, keep in mind that in many institutions it is the paid versions of “offices”, etc., that are installed. Teach the user to install and uninstall programs. Thereby you will save millions of system administrators from a painful headache. Now many will say that learning to install programs is impossible. To not installed too much. On the contrary. If you do not teach this, teach others. But who will give you a guarantee that they will teach you correctly? Teach the user what kind of players you can listen to music and watch videos. Yes, do not forget to tell you how the resolution differs from the extension. And which extensions relate to the video, and which to the music. Then always remind you that you open a file with a .doc or .ppt or .ogg or .xlsx extension. Your student will learn to understand what it is and why, but not in one lesson - there are no miracles, it is verified. Tell the user why, changing one extension to another, he will not get a GIF image from .jpg and vice versa. By themselves, many problems will disappear. Introduce the user with file managers. Explorer is good, but I'm sure you have a favorite file manager. Bring it to the user. You will be glad later. Be sure to teach the user to take a screenshot and save it using, for example, Paint. Teach the user to resize the image without Photoshop. Do you have a program that you do it yourself?
8. Then go to the development of any office suite of programs. Most often it is MS Word, MS Excel (write the word on the leaf / on the blackboard, type in a notebook, spell it), MS PowerPoint. Yes, there is OpenOffice. Only you know a lot of places where it is installed (except for your work, of course)? Explain the name of an action - text formatting, working with formulas, creating a presentation. Yes, if you began to teach, you yourself must know this and must yourself understand this. Give users a job. Practice and practice again. Until you try it yourself, you will not understand and learn. I hold this opinion. But do not force the user to solve the problem of movement in Excel and reprint "War and Peace" in the Word document. Give a fascinating task. Think of something unusual, but useful. Many who have studied computer science at school can write in the programming language Intal, but cannot use styles in Word, compose the contents of a file, insert page numbers, animate presentations in PowerPoint, and print documents from Excel.
9. Have you taught all this? Secure knowledge. Give the test, offer to perform the exercises. Check it out. And do not forget - the knowledge that you tried to put into the heads of your students should be applicable in practice.
10. And now the Internet. Yes, tell me how to use search engines (after all, even a request to make is a whole science). Explain how you can find an abstract, what is Wikipedia and how to use online stores. Help the user register his first email inbox. Tell us about ICQ, Miranda and Skype. Using the example, explain what spam is and how to distinguish it from useful information. Again, focus on online security, instructively talking about online fraud. Teach the user to listen to music and watch videos, download programs and books. Remind that the antivirus needs to be updated and show how it is done (preferably, the antivirus is free, although I confess that I always told you what a crack is and why it is needed). And do not show the user a useful website with pictures - he will find. Better tell us how he can write a letter to the council of representatives, see the bus schedule from Minsk Transport, find the street in the city on a map or make an appointment with a doctor. If you teach among children, even pravo.by will be useful. No need to tell the user how the information runs through the wires, tell better about how the Internet is arranged, why there may be interruptions in the work of the provider, what a “server has fallen” and why letters may not reach the addressee.
11. And finally, I would teach my students to use peripheral devices, such as a printer, a copier, a scanner, even a modem, a webcam and a microphone.

Probably, this is all that I would tell the user. Then I would only answer their questions. Of course, somewhere in the learning process, I would tell about the archives and why they are needed, how to get rid of red eyes on a photo, how to defragment and format a disk, and what is the IP address of a computer.

For schoolchildren, I would introduce a course of algorithmization without reference to a specific programming language. For older people, I suppose this is not necessary.

But about what I would never tell:

1. No programming on Pascal FOR ALL . I would only mention what it is. I would show an example of a program and suggest that children try to write something like “Hello world!”, And also a simple program for calculating x = a * b + c. And that's all. If anyone is interested - at the elective. For those who are really interested. I can tell by my example how to teach something that will never be needed again. I studied in the humanities class, with in-depth study of a foreign language. I had programming on that Intal, with its Draftsman and Robot. Nothing, I tell you, I did not notice anything useful or similar to programming. Pascal nobody ever offered us. But I can imagine what would happen if my classmates were given to write a program. Tears and hatred of computer science, programming, and in general computers would be provided. We did not understand why to study solving math problems in Excel, but I am silent about writing programs. At electives I would suggest not even giving Pascal, but immediately C. Although Pascal is very good. I would also explain the HTML layout at school in class, give a set of basic tags and suggest making my own primitive page. No more. To do this 5-6 lessons, in my opinion, is meaningless, and even harmful. Who needs and is interested - optional. No, not on your own learning! The child should be told this, he should be watched, guided and motivated.
2. I would reduce the theory and definitions of computer subjects. It is better to see once than hear a hundred times, read and memorize. The definition of a block of memory that I taught in computer science has never been useful to me. At the university, while studying the course of the structural and functional organization of a computer, I had at my disposal a completely different definition, which gave a full explanation of how memory works. At the same time, I explained everything to my students much more simply, and then everyone remembered what it was.
3. I would tell about obsolete devices and means of information storage as a story. Why learn to use floppy disks if floppy drives stopped being released a few years ago? But I would never force to teach what it is and how it works. I would not even tell about the scanner device. Would tell how the laser printer differs from an inkjet one, and that would be quite enough.

And the last. I would admit to teaching computer science only those people who understand what they teach. So that they themselves first passed and passed (not fictitiously) the test for the information that I set out above. I remember my computer science teachers ... They had no idea about programming and, in principle, about computer. But worst of all, at the university, teachers know what they are talking about, but they absolutely do not know how to teach. They often cannot even explain their subject. Not all. There are unique personalities who can both tell, and teach, and interest in their subject.

The main criterion for me is how to teach a user to work with a computer - to give basic practical skills of working with him under the supervision of a teacher, and then deepen the direction that the user will need in his work activity. And further. Programming should be taught to programmers, practitioners. A computer can be taught by any IT specialist who has PATIENCE and the ability to explain. Have patience with a novice user and teach him correctly!