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I spent a year building an Android course for the elderly

kopiascsaba.hu

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Re: I spent a year building an Android course for the elderly

#71

Post by VyseofArcadia »

What I have discovered about teaching[0] is that some people just don't want to learn the fundamental interaction principles. They just don't. They have a small list of specific things they want to do, and they would rather memorize those specific workflows than something that generalizes. Of course they'll have to learn it all from scratch again when Google decides to change the gmail UI for the gazillionth time, but that's a problem for the future.

I'm curious how much feedback you'll get of the form, "don't teach me all this stuff, just teach me how to look at photos of my grandkids".

[0] and not just the elderly, although I feel the elderly are worse about this in general

Re: I spent a year building an Android course for the elderly

#72

Post by Jaxan »

cruffle_duffle wrote: post #28
pinum wrote: post #18

This looks like it could be very valuable for quite a lot of people- thank you for making it! Just a couple first impressions from your site... loading it on a phone, the first thing I see is this: https://imgur.com/4maP1vV (1) The entire contents of the site is completely covered by a cookie warning. This is honestly quite annoying even for an SWE like me, never mind your target audience. I know at least one older p…

People should just stop including those warnings. Unless they are a google, FB or some other juicy politically rich target for the EU to make an example of, they are a complete waste of time. Nobody is going to hassle you about it.

Or they just stop with all this nonsense by not having third party tracking cookies in the first place. Legitimate usage of cookies doesn’t need such a banner.

Re: I spent a year building an Android course for the elderly

#74

Post by PopAlongKid »

>Our parents and elderly relatives didn't grow up with smartphones.

Neither did about half of the millennials, so why don't they need similar help?

I don't think the qualifier is age, rather it is prior computer experience. I am elderly, and only started using a smartphone (as opposed to feature phone) about four years ago, but I have had my hands on computer keyboards for over 50 years, so learning to use all the basic features of a smartphone didn't require any help.

Likewise, many millennials did grow up using computers. If you already understand basics on a PC like bootup, shutdown, login, system settings, installing a program, starting a program, finding a program, copy/paste, upload/download, the smartphone should not present much of a challenge. Otherwise, learning a smartphone is mostly just learning how to use a computer.

Re: I spent a year building an Android course for the elderly

#75

Post by doublepg23 »

atoav wrote: post #67
meigwilym wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But isn't the cookie banner for asking permission to use third party cookies? I don't think I ever have seen a cookie banner asking if I agree to my data being sold.

Yeah but the law didn't invent cookie banners, people who (intentionally mis-)interpreting the law did. Then in the public eye it got reduced to "You need a cookie banner" and people jumped on the bandwagon, because other sides had them so apparently you need to have them too. Many of those cookie banners are factually at odds with current EU law. But hey everything is a cargo cult these days. Legally the law is just…

If it’s factually at odds with current EU law why does the official EU website use them https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en

Re: I spent a year building an Android course for the elderly

#76

Post by lucb1e »

onetokeoverthe wrote: post #56
lucb1e wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe i should go up to random strangers and PAY THEM in order to give them something that would benefit them It is pretty normal to compensate people for their time in my limited experience (both as subject and from what I hear about user testing). Usually it's a pretty small amount, not like a normal salary but a bit more than a cup of coffee for maybe 30-45 minutes of their time (assuming they don't have to trav…

Used to give $5 starbucks cards or relevant swag (pens, cups, t-shirts) in exchange for 15-20 minutes of one to one f2f feedback.

That sounds appropriate. I think I've usually seen slightly higher values, but then also usually for half an hour or a little bit more time so that matches up

Re: I spent a year building an Android course for the elderly

#77

Post by evanjrowley »

kcsaba2 wrote: post #10
evanjrowley wrote: post #7

This is fantastic. I can think of a handful of people who I'd recommend this course for. I have a question about something I noticed in "Preview of 03.07. Finding & launching apps" - In this lesson, what you refer to as the "desktop" is something I typically refer to as "home screen" - Is "desktop" really the preferred way to describe that screen?

Thank you, it's an honor you think that! I don't know of any higher authority on what to call it actually. Technically that "app" (it is an android app just like any other) is called a launcher, i went with desktop, but I also like home screen, and I think I probably use these terms interchangeably in the course. (You actually can install a different launcher if you are not happy with yours.)

Honestly, I think you're right about "launcher" being the technically correct term. I don't know, maybe the correct way to approach the challenges to just mention that there are multiple ways to refer to the same thing?

Re: I spent a year building an Android course for the elderly

#78

Post by multimoon »

doublepg23 wrote: post #75
atoav wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but the law didn't invent cookie banners, people who (intentionally mis-)interpreting the law did. Then in the public eye it got reduced to "You need a cookie banner" and people jumped on the bandwagon, because other sides had them so apparently you need to have them too. Many of those cookie banners are factually at odds with current EU law. But hey everything is a cargo cult these days. Legally the law is just…

If it’s factually at odds with current EU law why does the official EU website use them https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en

Because it’s a poorly designed regulation and there is a group of people who can’t accept that the EU over-regulates and is bad at writing any regulation remotely related to technology.

If a government has trouble complying with the “spirit” (as many people use in argument) of their own regulation then the regulation is poorly designed and not useful.

Re: I spent a year building an Android course for the elderly

#79

Post by kelvinjps10 »

qwertox wrote: post #45

I just watched the power phone on / off preview, and it has the issues which I assumed it would have. Long-press to turn on a powered-off phone is not a standard. Even I don't know how to turn these devices on, so I do a combination of multiple short presses, multiple long presses until it works. Powering the phone off via the button won't work on modern phones, since the hardware power button has become the tool to…

If you press it long enough, it will shutdown, even if you didn't touch anything in the assistant.

Re: I spent a year building an Android course for the elderly

#80

Post by lancesells »

noirscape wrote: post #65
meigwilym wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But isn't the cookie banner for asking permission to use third party cookies? I don't think I ever have seen a cookie banner asking if I agree to my data being sold.

Why do you think website operators want to place those third party cookies on your PC? There's only one legitimate use for them, which is for ancient corporate login workflows that shouldn't exist anymore. Every other use of them generally is just for targeted advertising, and with it sale of data, or using them for internal analytics. Usually they don't really mention the selling data part upfront; it's hidden somew…

I would imagine 95% of cookies are not selling data but giving your data away in exchange for the other services.

1. Because they are using GA4 feeding info to Google.

2. Because they have some advertising pixel / api set up feeding info to Meta.

I would guess sites like Hubspot, Salesforce, or Github might actually be selling data.

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