How to help someone use a computer

The article found at http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/how-to-help.html gives some really good tips on helping people learn to use computers. Some of the tips are simple, and some are more involved--but all the tips are useful.

The tip "You've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner" really rings true to me. In order to teach something, you have to focus on the mindset and perspective of the person learning it. You can't use unfamiliar technology and hold unreasonable expectations when teaching someone to learn to use a computer. Another tip as to going about teaching someone using technology is this: "When they do something wrong, don't say "no" or "that's wrong". They'll often respond by doing something else that's wrong. Instead, just tell them what to do and why." It is important to stick to constructive feedback. This will save time and anguish.

I will use this information in my team presentation by keeping the mindset of an empathetic educator--something that seems very important to effective learning, or anything else that is technical and potentially frustrating.

Maine Memory Network

I would use the Maine Memory Network as a research resource in my class, as a social studies teacher. The MMN is especially important and useful because it provides a plethora of good local information. The multimedia aspect of the site is nice. The more I looked at the site, the more interested I became. I actually spent a good deal of time looking through the various photo albums sorted by town. It was very interesting to look at old photographs of Sanford, and I enjoyed the article on the Portland White Mountain Club. This is certainly a solid pretext to actually venturing out to historical societies in Maine for research.

One way to use this site would be to use it as a resource for photographs for a project on community tourism. Students could use images (with permission) to promote the history of their town in a Type II way, like a tourism wikispace.