| Author | Thread |
|
|
08/30/2007 01:42:16 PM · #1 |
I'm looking for a good beginners book that can teach an older person how to use a computer. The basics of operations. In this case, a Mac.
I was just looking on Amazon at Macs for Dummies, and honestly, I think it's too advanced. She needs to look basic operations on a GUI, and a few basic PC and Web computing principles.
Here's some background, if it helps you suggest something:
My mother-in-law is struggling to use a computer. She's had one for almost a year now, and I just got off the phone with her, and she doesn't understand the basics of using a web browser and email. She seemed to be able to scroll, but it still confounded her when she needed to.
Whomever set her up gave her a couple of shortcuts to get to her email and perhaps a website or two. But she had a password problem getting into her emai, and so I was just helping her over the phone.
From what I can tell, they gave her enough information to do something very very limited. She needs to understand enough to at least get help from someone (like me) over the phone. I wonder if there's a good book anyone can recommend that teaches such basics?
Edit: Or maybe an flash tutorial I can point to for her? That might even be better!
Message edited by author 2007-08-30 13:43:01. |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 01:45:00 PM · #2 |
One thing I use a lot when helping my parents is the remote assistance features. You can use MSN messenger to start up a remote session (ask for assistance)
You would probably need physical access to the machine to set some of these things up, but basically when I have to help out, I walk my mum through the connection over the phone (click here, hit yes) and then I can demonstrate things to her by taking control of the screen and talking to her over the phone.
It doesn't answer your basic intro book question, but it might help with the follow-up if the Mac has similar features ?
Does it not come with a tutorial built in ?
Or maybe //www.apple.com/support/mac101/ would help ? particularly //www.apple.com/support/mac101/work/
Message edited by author 2007-08-30 13:49:41. |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 01:47:09 PM · #3 |
Nice job getting her a Mac. I can't think of any good books immediately, though it might be worth looking up a few titles by Robin Williams.
Here's one by Williams, unfortunately a bit dated but it should be fine for the basics of daily use.
Message edited by author 2007-08-30 13:51:05. |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 01:50:57 PM · #4 |
Another good site for accessing computers remotely is logmein.com .. I use it with my mac and it works quite smoothly.
I will call my mac guru (who got me started on my first mac) and see if he has any book recommendations and let you know. |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 01:54:16 PM · #5 |
| I taught computer literacy to adults at one time & for students who were confounded by the basics of the interface I found a neat trick to spark their interest & develop their hand/eye coordination--SOLITAIRE! You can't teach her everything at once, but when she finds a game to play it gets a little enjoyment in there, a little Yippee, which is a big ego-booster to a newbie. |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 02:06:33 PM · #6 |
Great suggestions. I was looking through them and I started to think, most have so much information (even at a basic level) that it's intimidating for what she needs to know.
So I think what I need to find her is a very specific:
Internet and Email for Dummies who own a Mac and use Safari.
I say that partly in jest, but seriously, it would be great to find a book that would just help you be a user of the web and email, not setting it up, and of course, specific to the type of computer and software. Maybe 50 pages long, with illustrations. I say that because I was explaining to her on the phone, and she said she needed to write it down. I said it's like driving, you need to just practice the basics till you can do them, writing them down is not practical. If there were an easy and short guide that would solve that problem. And an interactive tutorial would be great too, especially if after two hours of that, she would know enough to move on.
Perhaps the mac comes with a video tutorial on the hard drive? I never though to look for one, but I will now (if it came up on our mac when I started it, I would have just quickly dismissed it as jetsam.
|
|
|
|
08/30/2007 02:09:38 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by strangeghost:
Nice job getting her a Mac. I can't think of any good books immediately, though it might be worth looking up a few titles by Robin Williams.
Here's one by Williams, unfortunately a bit dated but it should be fine for the basics of daily use. |
I second the Robin Williams recommendation. Her "Quick & Simple" Series was great for beginning windows users at least. |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 02:15:19 PM · #8 |
Neil, I had to laugh when I read your message because I went through the same exact thing! To help, I trained up my sister-in-law so now she gets the phone calls ;)
Seriously, what I recommended to my in-laws was a course at the local community college. They had that very thing - a course that showed them how to access their e-mail account, and surf the web. One night a week, for 8 weeks or so. And it was free for the seniors!
They didn't pick up solitaire, though, for them it was the free on-line slot machines! Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
I was just looking at my local community college website, and they offer on-line, instructor led courses (they are videotaped). there was one for basic mac usage, just like what you're looking for. Now, of course, this means that she will need to be able to click on the Safari icon and log-in.
|
|
|
|
08/30/2007 02:21:28 PM · #9 |
| A lot of community colleges have courses though I wonder if they have any for Macs. It may be worth asking. |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 02:22:23 PM · #10 |
| Another possibility is to invest in a program like Timbuktu which allows you to see/control another computer remotely. If she calls with a question, you can show her how to do it (or watch while she tries) instead of trying to describe the steps over the phone. The evaluation copy is usually full-featured, and they've had great customer support in the past -- I've been using it since at least 1995 for telecommuting. |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 02:31:04 PM · #11 |
You could think about getting her a tutor to go to her house for a couple of hours and walk her through the basics...
|
|
|
|
08/30/2007 02:37:18 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by cpanaioti:
A lot of community colleges have courses though I wonder if they have any for Macs. It may be worth asking. |
When my mom was going through this, she found a free course at the local library. It was just what she needed. |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 02:47:58 PM · #13 |
A lot of the problem is that user interfaces, and the consistency of them, are lost on the older generation. I have been "training" my father-in-law for a decade it seems. He always wanted to write stuff down too, rather than just trying to understand the how and why. He certainly knows enough to get around now, but he always calls me with these questions like "I know we've done this before, but how do you do this?" and it is almost always a function available on the right-click menu, but he can never remember that's there or to try a right-click on different objects.
On the other hand, it's a whole different ball of wax with my parents -- they took the time to understand what user interfaces are all about (and it helps that they learned on a Mac) but now the only questions I get from them are networking or printer problems.
I did buy my F-I-L a beginner book, but I think he got confused and discouraged by even the first chapter which gave a 10,000 foot explanation of how computers work and what the Internet is, so he never made it to the rest of the book about how to get around, run programs, work with web sites, etc. I wish I could remember the book's name... |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 08:29:19 PM · #14 |
| Don't know if you still need it but this book was recommended for basic Mac knowledge which keeps it simple .. The Little Mac Book, Tiger Edition by Robin Williams Amazon Link |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 08:39:48 PM · #15 |
Neil, would she really find a book helpful?
I have struggled with helping my mother for years.
Gordon's idea of remote assistance via MSN would make much sense for most people (it totally confuses and freaks out my mother, though).
I end up concentrating on one thing at a time and making slideshows, vidoes, or powerpoint presentations for them.
I have sent her short articles, but she doesn't want to know about those - too impersonal and the computer lingo is too hard, she says.
Good luck, I feel for you! |
|
|
|
08/30/2007 11:47:18 PM · #16 |
| Mac For Dummies is a great book and about as simple as it gets. I work in the IT field and have found that some people are hopeless. I hope for you that this is not your situation. I would first ask her what her goals are and sit down and create a script. One way of doing something the same everytime. Then print it out and let her go from there. remember you have to be specific. DO NOT SAY PRESS ANY KEY!!! Good luck.. |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 09/12/2025 10:24:56 AM EDT.
