Teaching Adults With Computer Anxiety

Question: What do you think is the biggest challenge when it comes to teaching adults how to use computers and various computer applications?

Many of the adults that I have taught over the years (since 1996) have had varying degrees of fear and anxiety over the very prospect of learning how to use a computer.

This anxiety is perfectly understandable. I have taught many adult learners who must become computer literate in order to be employable and to be able to provide for their families.

Dealing with that fear and anxiety has always been my biggest challenge as a computer teacher (inspiring the title and content of my first computer help DVD).

I have found humor, positive reinforcement, hands on experience and real world analogies to be quite beneficial in alleviating computer anxiety for adult learners.

Real World Analogies

I use real world analogies such as comparing the "To" box on an email compose screen to the front of a regular envelope and a "Web Address" to a house number and street name.

Computer technology terms such as "browser", "URLs", and "hyperlink" can sound really arcane to computer shy adults. The more I demystify such terms the more receptive my adult students seem to be the material.

Humor

Many adult learners feel self-conscious enough about being "computer illiterate". I suspect they feel even worse when they are being taught by somebody who is considerably younger than themselves.

I often begin classes by telling the story of how I gave my father all kinds of whiplash when I was learning how to drive a car with a standard shift (but of course the more I drove a standard shift, the better I got at doing it).

I conclude by emphasizing the "morals" of the story (i.e. the importance of practice and how you can't learn it all in one day.)

This story (and others like it) can both reduce the often present intimidation factor and reinforce your image as a knowledgeable (but down to earth) computer instructor.

I also try to work some general humor into the class to make the class a bit more fun and to help relax the adult learners.

Hands-on Experience

I fell flat on my face the first time I taught a computer basics class in a classroom setting.

I created a very cool PowerPoint presentation (state of the art for 1997) with animated bullets and talking graphics that explained basic computer operations. I thought that would "Wow" the class but they quickly became confused, bored, and borderline hostile!

I learned in short order that there is simply no substitute for hands-on experience. We learn by doing. Plus task mastery is a proven mood enhancer and confidence builder.

Positive Reinforcement

I always begin a class by stating "if you learn three things from this class, you are doing really well." Not only is this a true statement but hopefully the adult students will not feel as bad if they don't remember or fully understand everything that was covered in the class.

I thank anybody who asks a question during class. I always want my students to know that are not asking "dumb questions" and are in fact making a contribution to the class.

Whenever somebody completes a task (such as highlighting a web address), I'll say something like "excellent, thank you".

If an adult student has some difficulty completing a task, I'll say something to the effect of: "You're doing fine. This just takes a little practice, that's all".

Basically I'll throw in everything but the kitchen sink to make the adult student's computer learning experience a positive one.