tutorial for 8 year old mac newb... suggestions?

[whyrichard]

Hey mac people,

I will be giving a tutorial to two mac newbs in a week... one is an 8 year old with only windows experience, and the other is his mother with only windows experience...


... any suggestions?

they need basic mac vs windows tutorials... and some image based tutorials as well...

but perhaps some things for the mom... parental things... etc... user accounts... what do you guys think?

i know nothing about parental settings on a mac...


thanks,
r.

 

[macjram]

If you know close to nothing related on what you're going to teach, then why are you going to teach them in the first place?

 

[Ashka]

http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/work/

Have fun

 

[whyrichard]

If you know close to nothing related on what you're going to teach, then why are you going to teach them in the first place?

i've helped a bunch of people get into mac's in the past, just not a child and a parent... they are co-workers of mine...

r.

 

[wawanarchist]

I'm in the process of showing my parents the differences between macs and pc's, the problem is theres a lot there. Chances are the kid will jump right in and click around and figure it out, kids now days are very intuative. The mom on the other hand will probably take a while to catch on.

Here are a few things I've learned while teaching my parents:

1. Don't be snooty about the mac, no matter how much the person hates windows it just gets annoying when osx is being introduced as their new savior, treat things as 'different' not 'better' and then she can decide for herself

2. Let her do it, the mouse should not leave her hands, tell her about a feature, and let her use it and understand it.

3. The intro videos on apples website can be very helpful, and explain complicated tasks in simple ways. I don't know if your getting paid to do this and dont want to be showing other peoples films, but maybe you should watch them before you head over, so you can remember some simpler ways of explaining things.


Hope this helps, remember, patients.

 

[i.shaun]

if I were to teach anyone anything I would direct them to apple's site for tutorials and such, for them to review on their own time, then just show them that this strange new world isn't as confusing as it looks.


The dock holds most programs, I would explain about "aliases" and show them the *poof* thing when dragging items off the dock. They should know that there's nothing to worry about if it happens.


Personally for completely new people who are computer illiterate, I would have to set it up for them initially, then run through things with them. They can watch and ask questions as I set it up, but it would take time for people to really learn their way around it.


First thing's first:
- Safari is the internet, and Finder gives access to the computer.

-Applications folder is where all apps really are

-Everything in the dock is just an alias to an application in the folder

-Everything in the Finder Sidebar is also an alias

-Get them to Download Firefox, or some other app. They must learn that OS X downloads usually come in .dmg instead of .exe

-Show them how to install (drag it to the apps folder)

-show them the dock customizations, and other items located in System Preferences

-Create an admin account with a password that the mother knows, and 2 user accounts. Have her use the User account rather than the Admin account for security purposes.

-Let them download/install an app.

-Get them to change a program's default app

-Show them iLife, and how each program basically works.

-Show them that the TASKBAR remains at the top at all times. Make sure they get used to the fact that it's menus change depending on what window or app is activated. This may seem strange as the menus are usually on the application window itself in Windows.

Show them the Dock & Expose, and how they're usefull.

-Get them to burn a CD or DVD both in iTunes and in Finder.


And finally, show them Disk Utility, and the Verify Disk/Repair Disk Permissions options. They may need to know this for troubleshooting problems.



That's it for Lesson 1. If they need further assistance, I would give them my e-mail or something to stay in contact while they get used to their new macs.

 

[whyrichard]

thanks, very useful to keep in mind.

one question though, to what extent do "parental controls" go?

I know how to set up an admin or a non admin user account, and control the obvious (system preferences) settings for those, but what counts as "parental control"? does this just usually affect web sites that are allowed/unallowed?


thanks,
r.

 

[tMac85]

if I were to teach anyone anything I would direct them to apple's site for tutorials and such, for them to review on their own time, then just show them that this strange new world isn't as confusing as it looks.


The dock holds most programs, I would explain about "aliases" and show them the *poof* thing when dragging items off the dock. They should know that there's nothing to worry about if it happens.


Personally for completely new people who are computer illiterate, I would have to set it up for them initially, then run through things with them. They can watch and ask questions as I set it up, but it would take time for people to really learn their way around it.


First thing's first:
- Safari is the internet, and Finder gives access to the computer.

-Applications folder is where all apps really are

-Everything in the dock is just an alias to an application in the folder

-Everything in the Finder Sidebar is also an alias

-Get them to Download Firefox, or some other app. They must learn that OS X downloads usually come in .dmg instead of .exe

-Show them how to install (drag it to the apps folder)

-show them the dock customizations, and other items located in System Preferences

-Create an admin account with a password that the mother knows, and 2 user accounts. Have her use the User account rather than the Admin account for security purposes.

-Let them download/install an app.

-Get them to change a program's default app

-Show them iLife, and how each program basically works.

-Show them that the TASKBAR remains at the top at all times. Make sure they get used to the fact that it's menus change depending on what window or app is activated. This may seem strange as the menus are usually on the application window itself in Windows.

Show them the Dock & Expose, and how they're usefull.

-Get them to burn a CD or DVD both in iTunes and in Finder.


And finally, show them Disk Utility, and the Verify Disk/Repair Disk Permissions options. They may need to know this for troubleshooting problems.



That's it for Lesson 1. If they need further assistance, I would give them my e-mail or something to stay in contact while they get used to their new macs.

wow. that was great.

work at an apple store? haha

 

[i.shaun]

wow. that was great.

work at an apple store? haha

Lol, no I don't. There are no apple stores here, I got mine from an electronics/office supply store. I can also get them from future shop now.




I'm just good at explaining things properly to people that may not know what they're doing. This may require a lot of steps, but they're all very small. Experienced users can perform a task simply and easily, doing most steps automatically, where as a complete "noob" would need it all explained to avoid confusion.



I've had some good reviews already on my little Port Forwarding Tutorial I made for people having trouble with Call Of Duty: World At War/Modern Warfare on their PS3. The Tutorial basically explains how routers work, and how IPs are assigned/their problems. Then I explain how to set up a static IP to solve the problem, and finally how to set up port forwarding.

Link is Here