Lost in Cyberspace, part the first: Danger, Will Robinson, danger!

When was the last time you learned a new computer program? Did anyone teach you?  I recall one time I was learning a particular program when I had two different teachers.  They had different routes to get to the same endpoint, which surprised them.  Luckily for them, they learned something while trying to teach me, and so did I – when you get two different people telling you two different things at the same time, bafflement ensues.

An and Williams (2010) make two valid and valuable points: Do NOT introduce too many technologies new to students in one semester, and Do NOT use multiple technologies that do the same thing.  I would refine these, by adding that within the one technology you shouldn’t teach too many routes at an early stage.  Stick to one, if possible.

Microsoft, to take an everyday example for many people setting out into the dark reaches of cyberspace, has multiple ways of achieving a goal.  Think about when you edit a Word document – how many ways do you have of deleting a phrase you just wrote?  You can backspace, delete, use the right-click or Edit drop-down menu, to give a few ways.  Heck, just a simple ctrl + z will undo that to which you gave brief digital existence. Heck, don’t get me started on Dragon Naturally Speaking used in conjunction with MSWord…

All this will give your average entry-level user palpitations. For people who haven’t used a computer before, it can be a scary thing just turning the beast on, and the last thing you need is leaping around shouting at you: “right click and click paste – no, left click, I meant, no, wait, you’ve already used that when I impatiently grabbed the keyboard off you and pressed alt + e, so let’s try using some new keyboard shortcuts – can you see the control button?”

Beginner learners may have only just learned what a keyboard is, but many have texted enough to be thinking “WTF?” when subjected to this onslaught of information.  If you’re lucky, they’ll be back for another lesson.  If, however, they are never seen again, well, I just hope they haven’t gone home, burned their computer and gone to live in a cave.

Make sure that if two tutors are involved, they’re both on the same page with respect to target language/skills.  (And yes, I’ve been guilty of neglecting to do that.)  When teaching computing I’ve found it best to start with the basics of opening, saving and retrieving a document, then using simple editing functions from the drop-down menu along the top.  Once a learner is confident – and confidence is the key here – in their grasp of the basics, and has a good idea of how not to lose their shiny new document that they’ve worked so hard over (because for a beginner it is VERY hard work), then you can try introducing variations on the theme.  At some point, possibly a long way down the road.  As always, it depends on the learner and what they’re happy doing.  Move at their pace, not where you think they should be at.  It’s very dispiriting for a learner to pick up the impression from the tutor that they’re slow.  Much better to feel confident enough in the classes to know that support is available, and the real measure of success is measured in achievable, authentic goals, such as writing an email to a daughter or printing off an invitation. 

As an ongoing learner pulling in resources from all around her and trying to learn as fast as possible, I’m still in the process of figuring out various programs (this blogging website, to give a fresh example).  I’ve got one way, and for now I’m sticking with it. I haven’t destroyed the internet yet by pressing the wrong button, which is nice.  I know I’ve got a long way to go.  But by remembering not to overload myself with the dreaded Too Much Information, I have high hopes of not crashing into some black hole of befuddlement.

An, Y., and Williams, K. (2010). Teaching with web 2.0 technologies: Benefits, barriers and lessons learned. Retrieved August 6, 2011, from http://itdl.org/Journal/Mar_10/article04.htm