Marianne Sato used to hone her typing skills with "Mario Teaches Typing," a computer tutorial program with Mario and cohorts rewarding her performance by knocking blocks or jumping turtles.
Then she found she didn't have to set foot outside her home to find a real, live tech helper.
"You mean they come to your house?" was her initial reaction.
As she found out, they do. Her Traveling Technology Tutor (TTT) Jan Gray arrived, greeted by Sato's friendly dog, Enu. Sans Enu, they settled in the study room in front of Sato's monitor, where Gray begins the lesson by asking what Sato would like to learn.
"I don't know what I'm capable of doing, so I'm not exactly sure what I want to do," Sato replied.
The mainstay of her technology exposure had been Mario and personal experience. There's still much to learn; they decide to format letters and business cards on Microsoft Word.
Bridging the disconnect
There was a disconnect between what people were learning in class and how they applied that learning at home," explained Matt Pierce, Computer Technology Center (CTC) coordinator for the Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA).
That's when he decided to develop the TTT program for the elderly and homebound last June.
"Microsoft is a major player in office software, and they change their products often. Seniors have an even tougher time; it's a radical exposure," Pierce said.
He added that the confusion is heightened when both MacIntoshes and PCs are used in the populace.
Last year, Technology Matching Fund's $9,000 grant paid for TTT software, hardware and training expenses. When the grant ends in June, Pierce hopes the program will be self-sustainable with CTC staffing through AmericCorps/VISTA, "suggested" tutee donations or incorporating it into another PNA staffer's job responsibilities.
TTT is a prototype. The concept originated in Arizona, according to the Technical Assistance for Seniors Homebound (TASH) website.
There, the TASH program became a mobile engine for tech-savviness by furnishing 100 homebound seniors with computers, Internet, PC training and maintenance.
The idea is to show seniors "they're not going to break the computer, and that it's OK to explore," Pierce said.
Exploring is key to eventual comfort, Gray said, as she and Sato maneuver through menus and fonts. Word trick of the day: highlighting a chunk of text within a business card box. Sato claps her hands in delight.
"The more I learn, the more I want to learn,"Sato said.
Linda Amery, whose right hip has been removed, is a wheelchair user. She wasn't sure what she could do with the "very old Dell PC" that the Seattle-based Computer Bank Charity, which repairs and redistributes donated computers at no charge, donated to her.
On the phone with a technical helper, she used to watch the clock tick.
Pierce notes such helpers could charge as much as $20 to $30 per hour to explain file saving, with more advanced skills such as desktop publishing costing twice as much.
According to seniornet.org, a nonprofit organization promoting elderly computer literacy, 71 percent of seniors feel compelled to learn computers because they want to send e-mails. Thirty-nine percent were most interested in e-mailing photos.
On top of learning how to send attachments, Amery's priority was organizing photos of her cats. Before TTT tutor Paula Berman taught her how to make files, unnamed photos had been "scattered all over the desktop."
Next, she wants to learn how to compose a financial budget.
TTT's "hands on, one-on-one" dynamics appealed to her, the comfort of her own home proving more conducive to learning than the "class setting, which was too fast-paced, with 30 students and no one-on-one teaching."
Tech on Wheels
The "who else does this?" question arose as TTT took off. Meals on Wheels was one nonprofit concept that came to Pierce's mind.
Meals on Wheels volunteers prep, package and deliver meals; they were dubbed "platter angels." TTT volunteers dejargonize, examine software and debug viruses; you can call them "desktop angels."
Gray worked as a marketing ad director in the early '80s with Microsoft's DOS program. Things change so fast, she is relieved to see Sato has a recent Windows 2000, she said.
"Dealing with changes is very simple - I forget everything [about previous program versions]," she explained. When she works with someone who owns a Windows 97, she has to coax her memory out of its current XP mode, she explains.
Berman, an occupational therapist-turned-software tech writer, acquired a comfort "working with people and teaching them new skills. In rehabilitation, you must be very patient.... It takes a lot of repetition for someone to learn new computer skills. "
"When I step out of my apartment, I'm opening the door to the neighborhood," Amery said. "But when I go on the Internet, it's like stepping out into the world. You can go anywhere."
For more information about the Traveling Technology Tutors program, call 783-2244.
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