Start here
Everything a new pal needs in their first few weeks — the club, what the experienced pals pass on, who everybody is, and a bit of training while you start. Written for somebody in their first month, out of what the trainers here already know. No sign-in, and nothing on it is a test.
The club
Computer Pals for Seniors Northern Beaches has been going since 1995, started by Nan Bosler so that seniors struggling with technology had somewhere safe to go. That is still the whole job: bridging the gap. We are all volunteers, most of us seniors ourselves, and nobody here is paid.
We teach one to one and in small groups at The Tramshed in Narrabeen. The person in front of you is usually nervous, often apologetic, and has very often been made to feel stupid by somebody else before they got to us. Undoing that is most of the work.
Your first few weeks
Come and watch
Sit in with an experienced pal for a session or two. You are not expected to teach anything. Watch how little they touch the mouse.
Take one member, with somebody beside you
Anne pairs you with somebody whose needs match what you are comfortable with. The other trainer stays in the room.
Take your own hour
Same member each week where we can — continuity matters more than expertise, and they will forgive you not knowing something far sooner than they will forgive starting again with a stranger.
Put your first question up
The moment you are asked something you cannot answer — and it will happen in week one — put it on the board. That is not a gap in you, it is the job.
What the pals here pass on
Four things the trainers who have been doing this longest tend to say to somebody starting. If you have been here years, none of this will be news — it is written down so a new pal starts where it took you a year to get to. And if any of it is wrong, say so and it changes.
Ask what they came for, before you open anything. Very often it is not what was written on the form — it is a photo they cannot find, or a message that frightened them.
Their hands, not yours. The strongest habit to build early is sitting on your own hands. If you do it for them, they will be back with the same problem, and they will feel worse about it.
Write it down for them. Steps on paper, in their words. Most people cannot hold a new sequence for a week, and there is no shame in that.
Stop before they are tired. Forty good minutes beats an exhausting hour. Finish on something that worked.
Who everybody is
The club records what each trainer is comfortable teaching — 44 skills across 24 trainers at last count. If you are stuck on something, the fastest answer is very often the person two tables away who has done it a hundred times.
What we do not do
Not rules to catch anybody out. These protect the member, and they protect you.
- ✕We never do somebody’s bankingNot even when they ask, not even when it would be quicker. Show them, sit beside them, let them press it.
- ✕We never take a passwordNot written down, not read out. If it needs typing, they type it.
- ✕We never take the device awayEverything happens in the room, with the member watching.
- ✕What is said in a lesson stays thereMembers tell us things. It goes no further, and nothing personal goes into a record.
- →What you pass on, and to whomIf you think a member is being taken advantage of, or something is going on beyond a computer problem — that is Anne’s, straight away. You are not expected to handle it, and you are not expected to be sure.
When it is not a technical problem
Every trainer meets these. They are the harder half of the job.
Say yes — and do it with their hand on the mouse. “I’ll talk, you press.” They came to learn even when they ask you not to make them.
First words matter most: “This happens to very clever people. It is designed to.” Take the shame out before anything technical.
The same thing, patiently, as many times as it takes — and the steps on paper to keep. Do not test them, and do not say “we did this last week”. If you are worried, tell Anne quietly.
That is not a wasted hour. For a lot of members it is the point, and the computer is the excuse. Do a little, talk a lot, and count it as the job done.
A bit of training while you start
Every Train the Trainer hour is recorded and kept, so you can watch one at home in your own time. Nothing is compulsory and nobody is told what you have watched.
Free training that is not ours
Nobody expects you to know all four kinds of device. Twenty-four of our thirty-one trainers are down as knowing one. If a member turns up with something you have never held, that is normal, and there is somewhere to go.
Be Connected · the eSafety Commissioner Practise on a device you do not own An Australian Government service written for older Australians. Every platform has a working simulator — you can tap through an iPhone or an Android in your browser without buying one — and a free course behind each. Windows, Apple laptop, iPhone, iPad, Android. Plus scams, passwords, Wi-Fi and myGov. Learn it yourself →Anything you would tell a new pal that is not here?
Only if you want to
You have been doing this a long time and this page is written for somebody who has not. If there is something you would say to a new pal that is missing — or something here you would say differently — put it below and I will work it in. Nothing chases you, there is no rota, and saying nothing is a perfectly good answer.
Computer Pals for Seniors Northern Beaches · The Tramshed, 1395a Pittwater Road, Narrabeen
Bridging the Gap · Established 1995 · compalsnb.org.au