When you’ve been using a computer for a while it can be easy to forget how counter-intuitive everything up there on the screen can seem. Yet as computers find more and more places in the classroom, students who have had minimal exposure to computers can find the going getting tougher and tougher.

In October 2004 I hosted a discussion in the Australian Flexible Learning Community about the ways that we as teachers can provide support for technological newcomers (Newbies) and here's what we discovered:

Overcoming barriers

A lot of students new to using computers can be confronted by their fears of breaking the machine - getting them past this fear can take some work but can be a great encouragement.

The fact that computers will play up, regardless of who's using them, also comes into play - explaining this to students (and even occasionally venting at the machines ourselves) is very useful in helping them to feel more at ease when something goes wrong.

For older students in particular,  reinforcing the fact that while they might be daunted by the new skills they need to develop, it's very useful to remind them that their existing knowledge and skills will serve them very well when they get their heads around running a computer. The fact that content is the ultimate goal will ultimately mean that they are far more skilled than they might have thought.

Encouraging participants to learn new skills is all about motivation - What they will get out of it? Tap into their interests.

With new IT learners, show them how to surf the 'net for info on their hobbies:  look for crochet patterns, holiday destinations, football profiles, houses to buy and even ebay (one of my other addictions).

In the classroom

Peer mentoring seems to work well

Keep it fun and easy to begin with, giving quick satisfaction and a sense of achievement does wonders for confidence. It is good to start with some fun stuff eg instant messaging and blogs. Blogs can be particularly useful in encouraging return visits to the computer, as well as providing a handy tool for beginning to explore creation of basic web content.

Our approach to our students in these early days is of the utmost - for our students to see a teacher being patient with one of them provides valuable modelling that they too will be treated with the same care.

And finally, a tip from Dorothy -

If you want to learn something about using a computer and ask a family member/work colleague /classmate, they will frequently take the mouse and 'show you'!!!! and of course they click away at great speed and you both learn nothing - made to feel stupid so don't ask again - sound familiar? - just ask your students!

So the rule in my classes is - 'your mouth, my hand' and many of my students have enforced this at home - incidentally improving everyone's English - which is what I'm really paid for!