Here\’s a strange thought. A computer can be a coping mechanism. Well why do so many people spend so much time playing computer games or posting on Facebook or watching videos or reading blogs etc etc. For many women the idea of going to a friends house for a cuppa and a chat is a coping mechanism. It seems so harmless that box in the corner but…
Actually being away from the computer is a tough assignment for me. I use it to research and write online books. Then there are the webinars and teleseminars that I listen to most days. There are my web sites, some of my domain names go back to 2001 or 2002. Others are far more recent. Not forgetting the emails to read and write as well. Its so tough that when I go to visit my family for the weekend I take a laptop with me to reduce the effects of withdrawal. That is one reason why I have has become such a competent computer user.
How did I get started with this computer stuff?
That\’s easy I wanted to develop the skills that I thought I needed to find a job. Then I did get a job, teaching others to use computers. This was a wonder because I thought that teaching only meant being a school teacher. Somehow becoming a primary school teacher was one of those things that although I tried to go in that direction I never quite made it. One day while at a training centre I was asked what I wanted to do next. I said it had always been my dream to become a teacher. That was how six months after starting the most basic computer course possible I ended up with a work placement as an IT trainer.
For many years I concentrated teaching IT. What is taught and how it is taught has certainly changed over the years. Being able to use a computer has become an essential skill on a par with English and maths. What learners are expected to be able to do as part of a course has changed. The workbooks that were once prepared on the computer and printed and bound are now likely to have been replaced by online learning materials. Tutors need to have the skills to deliver training online. For some this means being able to create a video of a task or set up a web site so that they are creating online learning materials. For others it means being able to use a computer as a tool within the classroom using materials other people have created. Times have changed.
What I do now with the computer?
I saw the writing on the wall about IT becoming more of a remedial subject than an academic one and looked at the possibility of doing basic skills courses. Not only that but I looked at expanding my skills into preparing web sites and online learning resources using video and audio. Problem was that it became so hard to find a job that I decided to bite the bullet and create a job for herself.
Along the way I picked up on the importance of giving the widest group of people access to computers. I had to do a presentation as part of one course and I looked at ways of helping those with visual impairments use a computer. One of the issues that came up while doing the Multimedia Applications course was accessibility or how to make websites available to all whatever their level of ability or disability.
The same issue of helping the most number of people access my learning materials is true today. This time though this is more likely to be by providing material in a variety of formats like video, audio, written version of the same content or trying to make sure that it is accessible in the widest possible means including mobile phones and tablet computers.
What started as learning skills to help me find a job have become skills to help me develop a business.