User groups are great. User groups for seniors are exceptionally great. By the time one gets to be a senior, many of the issues that get in the way of effective learning in a group environment have been scrubbed off by a lifetime of experience. At least that seems to be the case for seniors who want to improve their computer skills.

So if you are a senior who wants a cheap and relatively painless way to advance, find the nearest operational user group and join it. If you are a prospective tutor and would like to meet new potential clients, join the same group and volunteer. If nothing else, you will learn the needs of your prospective clientele.

Throughout this month I have agreed to organize the meetings of our local seniors PC group while the gentleman who normally runs it takes a much-needed vacation in another state. It’s different being responsible for organizing a loose agenda than simply participating and offering comments. A well-run users group will cover a topic the coordinator has picked and publicized in advance without giving the appearance of being well-organized or scripted. A coordinator must have an idea of where things should go, but not be as rigid as a formal class would be. It’s a delicate line.

With practice, one can guess where questions will interrupt the development and lead toward other topics. Such questions should be treasured because they indicate an interest and involve the participants. Do not dismiss questions or attempted broadening of a topic unless they are completely off the wall. Do this without giving up the overall direction and goals for the evening.

I am still not very good at planning or executing such coordination, but from watching others and from my own experience, one can expect to cover about half the prepared material would one in a formal class presentation, but the group will profitably explore material that might not have been on the original agenda.

At the last meeting of our group, the topic was digital photography. We reviewed image formats and applications for organizing photos such as Picassa. We only hit the highlights of the possibilities of image processing. As we neared the end of the session, I asked if anyone else had anything they needed help with, and a newcomer smiled. She reached down and handed me a large bag that contained her digital camera, the documentation, all the cables, and her laptop with power supply. “I took pictures. How do I get them into the computer?” she asked.

I started to show her how to remove her SD chip and put it into her laptop (it was equipped with an SD port), but another user asked me another question about the time that one of the regulars said he had a laptop similar to hers and this is how he does it. Without thinking, he sort of pushed me away and proceeded to work with her. That was great. It freed me up to address the other problem and shortly we had several little working groups going. When my helper showed the new lady how her pictures could be rotated to the correct orientation by blocks, she was ecstatic. Out of the corner of my eye I saw them re-naming some of the numbered images.
This woman later stopped me in the hall and, within minutes, she had become a new client. I had not mentioned that I tutor or tried to force myself on anyone. In fact, I didn’t even help her do what she had come to learn how to do. But because of the cooperative environment in which she found herself, she overcame much of the stage fright she felt about using her camera and laptop. The high that she got from that little success was enough to make her decide she wanted more.

Being part of helping people get that high from learning to do something previously thought to be too difficult to attempt is a high in itself. I hope this week the group will be as good.

Click here to read about my new tutorial on helping seniors. The new version has grown considerably over the original. It has more topics and anecdotes, and fewer typos. While you’re at it, check out my expanded tutorial on decision theory.