Computer literacy is still a huge problem

Rilot said:
I work in a school and it never ceases to amaze me how many new teachers (we're talking people in their 20s) have no grasp of simple IT concepts or cannot do something simple like operate Excel.
The main issue is that IT (sorry ICT in education) teaching is entirely based around programming. There is no teaching around infrastructure or how networks work or how applications are installed or what drivers do. It's all coding.

It makes me really sad to be honest.
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Don't you have teachers training days for stuff like that? In one of my prevous roles working in a college, I would proof read the training documents for IT classes for the teachers to take, just to make sure that they was basically right. (as well as all my "real" IT tasks. ;) )

Where I work now; we are part of a univeristy by name, so our staff are allowed to go on/do online all the training courses for both students and lectures.. I have strongly suggested to some members of staff that they may want to look at certain courses.
 
people don't know basic mechanics
people don't know basic DIY
people don't know basic electrics
people don't know basic plumbing

They were all around well before computers

If you haven't used it before you are not going to know. for some people knowing how to use computers is pointless for them most of the time.
 
kaptainmarc said:
people don't know basic mechanics
people don't know basic DIY
people don't know basic electrics
people don't know basic plumbing

They were all around well before computers

If you haven't used it before you are not going to know. for some people knowing how to use computers is pointless for them most of the time.
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Computers and technology in general are now a part of everyday life, though. Doing an oil service on your car or fixing your toilet isn't.
 
shifty_uk said:
Computers and technology in general are now a part of everyday life, though. Doing an oil service on your car or fixing your toilet isn't.
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It is amazing how many people don't know how to wire a plug or change a fuse that operates the equipment. Probably the same reason why so many are sealed nowadays with the pop out fuse chamber.
 
kaptainmarc said:
people don't know basic mechanics
people don't know basic DIY
people don't know basic electrics
people don't know basic plumbing

They were all around well before computers

If you haven't used it before you are not going to know. for some people knowing how to use computers is pointless for them most of the time.
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Can agree with this. Particular the older generation who get on just fine without the use of technology. I do however believe that if it has a use in your workplace, then efforts should be made to learn it.
 
shifty_uk said:
Computers and technology in general are now a part of everyday life, though. Doing an oil service on your car or fixing your toilet isn't.
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Arguably fixing your toilet should be a life skill. You never know when you might need to.
 
shifty_uk said:
Computers and technology in general are now a part of everyday life, though. Doing an oil service on your car or fixing your toilet isn't.
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So are all those things I just listed.

you have an electrical problem,

your computer now doesn't work. You are now completely useless.

in regards to what the OP is saying, a lot of people wouldn't even check the fuse board and would say ring the in house fitter/handyman.

The problem is not just computers, It is EVERYTHING.
People want to do there little niche and then pay someone else to sort everything else out.
 
kaptainmarc said:
So are all those things I just listed.

you have an electrical problem,

your computer now doesn't work. You are now completely useless.

in regards to what the OP is saying, a lot of people wouldn't even check the fuse board and would say ring the in house fitter/handyman.

The problem is not just computers, It is EVERYTHING.
People want to do there little niche and then pay someone else to sort everything else out.
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Good post and most older ones would be fixing the problem and then getting on with the technology.
Just off the top of my head I can think of around 10 young couples with their own houses where the male (or female) haven't got a screwdriver between them.
 
After 14 years of IT and end user support, I think it's actually this

Kosh: Understanding is a three-edged sword


To paraphrase my favourite Vorlon:
What am I doing?
Why am I doing it?
How do I do it?

The problem is if someone doesn't know just one of these things for a task then the whole process breaks down, so they require help. The problem with IT is you always need all three to be successful.

Over the years I've found the "Why" to be worse than "How" because it means people don't know what they are really required to do let alone move onto the "How" stage.

I suppose I'm lucky, computers came along at the right time for me (36!) because I've no idea what career I would have enjoyed without them. I suspect a lot in here on the support side will be like myself, dyslexic to lesser and greater degrees, because computer support lends itself to more logical approaches to problem solving because of shorter term retention difficulties.

I follow a logical process... so the "What, Why" always seem so easy, you just apply thought until you determine "How"!


End users without the "Why" are the biggest drain, because there's no connection for the "How" to be retained. Users who know why they are doing something will eventually learn.
 
Rilot said:
I work in a school and it never ceases to amaze me how many new teachers (we're talking people in their 20s) have no grasp of simple IT concepts or cannot do something simple like operate Excel.
The main issue is that IT (sorry ICT in education) teaching is entirely based around programming. There is no teaching around infrastructure or how networks work or how applications are installed or what drivers do. It's all coding.

It makes me really sad to be honest.
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Not from my experience (I've been working in education for 15 years). The ICT curriculum is all about using computers; word processing, spreadsheets, databases. I was flicking through an ICT textbook yesterday and there's stuff about wireless routers, anti-virus etc. The ICT curriculum was designed around teaching people how to use computers.

No real programming content at all. It's now being phased out, though, and replaced with a more coding-oriented curriculum to try and help people to become developers rather than users.
 
My neighbour frequently enters her email address in the search bar and wonders why it doesn't work.

Would be funny if she didn't work in an admin style job. :D
 
Hiijinx said:
My neighbour frequently enters her email address in the search bar and wonders why it doesn't work.

Would be funny if she didn't work in an admin style job. :D
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One of my 18 year old nephews always puts the URL into the Google search box and he is 1st line PC support for a bank.
 
I watched a manager at work type google into the search bar, load google, then search for ebay in the google search to show me a listing he had.
 
We've had staff who write an email containing three different fonts and sizes for no real reason. How could anyone look at that and think, "oh that's ok". Meant to be experienced workers.

Some days I want to crawl under my desk and eat a gun. Carrying stupid isn't the life I want.
 
It blows my mind that people who have been using computers for 20 years don't know how to right click and save, or that ctrl + c = copy and ctrl + v = paste.

Yet I regularly have to tell colleagues how to do this.
 
Housey said:
The issue is this...

Many IT people think they are a vital component to a business because what they do is special, not possible for others to do and without them the world would not work.

I was one once...then I lived a bit. What most IT people do is fix boxes, write code, make stuff talk to other stuff and help important people find porn on Google. Millions of people can do this these days, it's a commodity, they just think it's a unique skill and think they still work on the west coast in the 70's and 80's when most of them were not even born.

Tis a tough fact, but tis a fact :D
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Yeah... The problem is that millions of people think that they can do it, but many can't.

IT SHOULD be a commodity, but it isn't, because the education is so bad, and most people are terrified of anything technical.

I agree that lots of IT people are a bit up themselves though, but so are lots of sales people, managers and pretty much every other job you can think of.
 
Camalot said:
Try explaing basic web browsing to someone who is basically deaf !! I've never got so angry in years :P
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On the contrary, one of the best experiences I've had was contracting for 6 weeks in a company run almost entirely by deaf people.

Anyway, my input to the thread - I think a huge problem is some IT support staffs attitude towards people lacking computer literacy.

I've had people on the phone for their standard weekly password reset, they might not 'get' IT - but does that make them stupid? No. They just excel at other areas which would make us IT staff look stupid if we tried to do.

Yeah some people are just uninterested and blame computers for every single problem because they don't have an answer otherwise, but thats more ignorance in my opinion. I have no problems explaining, sitting and talking through or helping someone for the 1000th time if it makes their day a little bit easier or better and they're willing to listen and be taught. Thats the gold stuff in IT Support. You walk away and they feel like you're a hero and you know you've done everything you can.

Bit of patience never hurt anyone.
 
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