How To Help Someone Use a Computer

I could relate a lot to one of the things you have to keep reminding yourself, 'You've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner', largely due to my father's issues with computers and technology in general. It's difficult to try and follow his line of reasoning because our generation has grown up with the advances in technology, so we take it for granted a little bit. An important rule that stuck out to me was, 'Don't take the keyboard. Let them do all the typing, even if it's slower that way, and even if you ave to point them to every key they need to type. That's the only way they're going to learn from the interaction,' because that's how my father and brothers are with computers. They type so slowly, and sometimes it's frustrating because you know that with practice or a want to learn how to use the computer they could be so much faster and not need the constant hovering.

We as teachers can use this information to apply it to our own subjects; just because a student is having difficulties in your subject doesn't mean you have to hover or get frustrated just because they aren't going about doing things slower than someone with pre-exposure to the subject.

http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/how-to-help.html