Senior Computer Training
Senior Computer Training
Let’s face it - most seniors do not know how to use a computer, but would love to learn. My husband and I are currently teaching my parents how to use their computer and it takes a lot of work and time. You could easily turn this into a successful business. You could charge about $25 per hour for this service.
A few age groups today were never exposed to computers while attending school. Many would love to have the opportunity to learn to use a computer. If you feel that you have the skills needed to teach basic computer skills to others, this could be the ‘business idea’ for you!
Working with Seniors can be enjoyable, they are eager to learn this new way to communicate with their families, send and receive pictures, and surf the web for items they are not able to find in their area stores. It is such a good tool to use for looking up information such as Social Security Benefits, Medical plans for Seniors, and so much more. Learning to use computers can help them obtain new jobs also, that they may not be considered for without the understanding of computers. After all, most registers are computers now, in the greater majority of stores.
Remember that teaching people these skills will call on a person with patience. Keep the teaching very simple at first until your students master the very basic computer skills. If you are able to, the best way to teach others how to use computers is by letting them follow you in the basic steps until they are comfortable to start exploring a little on their own. Usually the closest skill they may have learned that is similar to using a computer, would be working with a typewriter. A good place to start, or if they have no typing skills, you might encourage them to learn the basic skills of typing first. Then show how a computer key board is so much better than a typewriter. So many more things are accomplished with a keyboard attached to a computer.
Because the population of seniors is growing yearly, this is a ‘business idea’ that could be very successful. This could last you a good 25 years or more. As your business grows you will be able to offer a variety of different classes on using the computer to send e-mails, how to type a document using Word, how to surf the web, using any number of software products that they may be interested in learning.
Because you are dealing with seniors you will find that they are eager to learn and willing to work on these new skills at home. They may be slow with some things because they are aged, but that is where your teaching skills will help them, have them accomplish repetitive exercises. This will help them learn and retain the information longer. Make the exercises fun, but stress also that they can look back and see how much they have learned to encourage them to not give up.
Help them build a little portfolio, printing up everything they have learned each day and help them see that they can reference the portfolio if they may forget a step or two. This is like a security blanket; they should feel comfortable looking back in it all of the time. If you choose to teach a class of seniors, it will make them more comfortable learning with other seniors. This also allows them to meet other seniors that have the same interests and motivations.
You could easily turn this into a successful ‘business idea’. You could charge about $25 per hour for this service. If you offer classes, you might bring the price down a little but you still will make a sizeable amount of money per class.
You might check with your local city and county services, see if they offer educational courses for seniors, if they do you can sign up to teach computer skills to them. Also, check with local retirement communities, convalescent homes, assisted living centers, just anywhere that you think might be willing to invest in classes for their members.
Resources:
http://www.aarp.org/learntech/computers/
http://tamingyourcomputer.com/
