UOO@PSUVM.BITNET (Jean Thompson) (04/20/88)
[an interesting reply to a message seen on the PSYCHNET mailing list] I have been working as an operator/technician in the college of business at Penn State, for 3 years. In that time there are certain methods that I use to help the students and faculty learn how to use the programs. At times they are so grateful for my help, that they offer me their first born. (Just a joke). As far as I can see, you are teaching just fine. Here are some of my guidelines that I use: 1. Always tell them to double the time that they plan to spend in the lab doing homework. This cuts down on the time pressure to get things done. Once a person feels pressure and begins to tense up, they forget to do what they have been taught, and are more likely to make more mistakes leading to frustration. 2. Get them to laugh! Sounds funny but true. Once you get them laughing, the tension eases up, and they are more likely to relax and learn more. Second, it's easier to teach someone when they enjoy it, then they will relate good feelings to working with computers instead of saying, "I'll never be able to learn this." 3. Always talk on the level of the audience. Talking with faculty is tricky though. You don't want to sound like you're talking down to them, and you'll want to make it look easy as possible. Avoid all the extraneous explanations, just give them the "meat". Learn to add to their self-respect, and they will be more willing to listen to you. 4. Show them how to use the equipment. One of my main gripes is that the teachers never show their students how to print out their copy. As a consequence, they ALWAYS wind up jamming the printers. Not only does this cut down on the lifetime of the printer but it adds to total student frustration. A lot of people don't know that the turn knob on the side of the printer is for initially feeding the paper into the printer. Turning the knob when the printer is on puts a strain on the motor. One should use the buttons "on line", "form feed", and "line feed", only when the printer is on. 5. I always talk the students through the motions of using the keyboard. They'll never learn it if you do it for them. So many times students tell me that I teach the best because, the other operators take the keyboard, and push the buttons so fast that the student could never do that operation again. The student must do it to learn it, even if it takes more time for one teach this way. 6. The teacher must learn to have compasion for the new user. If the teacher has patience, then the student won't have any reason to pick up on tension or impatience from the teacher. I always try to instill confidence in the people that I teach, by asking the student how they are going to handle situations in the real business world. I present them with real problems to make what they learn apply to them and their future. It's not just that problem, but how they face any problem in life that will make of break them in their future jobs. 7. I try to teach the students how to relax. If I see they are getting frustrated, I ask them, "why don't you take a break, get a drink of water, whatever", and then come back and work on the problem. Everyone needs to give their eyes a rest when working long hours. That's about it. The visuals in the lab are great! What we like to use is a device called "Datashow". It hooks up directly to the monitor of the computer. It directly shows what is on your computer screen when teaching a class. This way one can take them through the steps exactly as shown on the screen. It only costs $1000, as compared to the electrhome devices, that cost a couple thousand dollars. The "Datashow", which is actually a very large LCD crystal, is made by the Kodak people. Sounds like you're doing just fine overall, hope this helps in some way. It like learning anything new. Good Luck. Jean Thompson