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Mother and daughter learning team

I’m coming to the end of my time teaching here in Guozhuang village and have taught the students many different things, including net browsing, word processing and email. But more than these specific skills I would like to think that I have also taught them how to learn for themselves, which is surely the skill to learn when learning about the internet, as it is the greatest self-learning tool that exists.

Here’s some information about how I go about doing this:

Start with concepts

I mentioned the word concepts a few times in my previous post, and I use that word because it’s a better description of what I try to teach. You could teach them to mechanically open the same browser each time and go to the same search engine to search for information. But it is far better to take the time to explain what exactly a browser is, what a website is, even what the internet is and how it works. Once they have the concept of a browser then they know they have a choice between Firefox and IE, and if one page isn’t working or displaying properly in one, then they’ll be inclined to try it in another, rather than throw in the towel.

Here are what I think are some important basic concepts:

• The parts of a computer and what they’re used for
• Using the left mouse button to select and right mouse button to open up context menus
• The caret (the little flashing bar cursor that indicates where text will be entered) and the return and backspace keys
• Using the shift key to access punctuation marks
• Tabs and windows
• Drives, folders and files (including different file types)
• What a program is

They may seem obvious to us, but they’re often strange concepts to people that have never used a computer before, so it’s important that a teacher think through how they will introduce each topic. For example, in explaining the caret you can use real paper and pen, and compare the caret to a pen hanging just over a sheet, ready to write. Typing letters will lower the pen and begin leaving text on the page. Pressing return will move that pen to a fresh line, whilst the backspace will replace the pen with an eraser and move backwards.

It sounds absurdly simple, but too often teachers will succumb to the quickest short-term solution to the question of “How?” with a “Just do this.” Teach them to understand a computer and you’ll save a lot of time in the long run.

Use the tooltips

When I first began teaching them word processing I taught them just a few functions, such as bolding and centering text. Thereafter though I demonstrated how they could get a clue about the function of each button by floating the mouse cursor over it and then just experimenting by clicking away. Pretty soon they become quite comfortable in finding out or reminding themselves of a function this way.

Searching for solutions

In one class I taught students, step-by-step, how to download images, and then music. I then showed them a video of youku.com and asked them if they’d like to know how to download that. Yes, obviously. But here I threw them a curveball: I asked them to use an internet search engine to find a method to download streaming movies for themselves.

This was no easy task and a lot of students struggled, but it was a necessary lesson. There won’t always be a teacher there to instruct them in how to do things, but just about all the info they need is out there, if only they can find it, and I needed a method to transmit this message to them.

Despite the difficulty a few students did succeed, and I got them to demonstrate not only their method to the class, but also how they went about finding it: what search engine they used, what search terms, which links they opened, whose instructions they followed. Peer instruction at its finest!

Making notes (and reading other peoples’)

Previously when I had taught computing classes I had always handed each student a notebook at the beginning of the course. Some students took good notes, some didn’t. This time I gave them a bit more structure by giving them advice on how to write notes during class. For example, as studying computers necessarily requires learning a few key English words (not all keyboards are going to have the Chinese words for Shift, Ctrl and Enter) I advised them to create a bilingual dictionary for themselves, writing down any unfamiliar words, their translations and functions.

I also encouraged them to write down any procedures that they had learnt for the first time, such as, say, how to open a browser. This way, any time they forget they can simply refer to their notes (which they did a lot). It’s also very useful for students to read others’ notes, as they can learn a lot of new functions this way.

Learning together

Pair learning

I remember when we were at ThoughtWorks developing our 嘿！我要教！lesson plan sharing platform being struck by how their programmers worked in pairs. Apparently this is a development philosophy that has been shown to increase productivity. The thinking goes that partners will be able to spot each others mistakes and also learn from each other.

Consequently this time round I organised pairs (and sometimes even groups of three) at each computer terminal, and the results were excellent. Students correct each other, give each other advice, share terminal time and discuss methods and solutions. The chatter of discussion about things like how to create attachments and shop for products online was really lively!

Originally I was hesitant about pair learning as I was afraid that each student wouldn’t get enough practise time, but students are generally reasonable, and you can often persuade them to swap around positions so that everyone has a fair go. I find the best strategy is to ask a strong student to give up his terminal so that he can guide a weaker student in how to do whatever it was he was just doing.

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