Modern digital technologies continue to have a tremendous impact on the way we live our everyday lives, in terms of speed, efficiency, and geographical reach. You can pay your bills with a few quick mouse clicks, have your groceries delivered straight to your doorstep, or chat with someone halfway across the world. But learning how to use these technologies isn't always easy, especially since new ones are being released every couple of months or so. It's also a special challenge if you haven't grown up surrounded by this technology, and instead have had to adapt to it after living without it for so long.
Our founder, Steve Black, found all of this out the hard way when his older relatives asked him for help with adopting digital technology. A busy entrepreneur, Steve only had limited time to be able to sit down with his family members in one-on-one coaching sessions on how to use computers and the Internet. This soon proved to be a problem when his relatives continually reported that they had forgotten a step in how to do something, or the instructions no longer made sense because a website had changed its interface.
As a compromise, Steve tried to find an online resource where his family members could learn how to use digital technology on their own, at their own pace. When he couldn't find one that was free, up-to-date, and user-friendly all at the same time, he decided to make one himself. That's how Techboomers.com got started.
So what does Techboomers do?
Techboomers is an online discovery and self-learning portal that contains courses on how to use popular websites and Internet-based applications; we also have a section on basic Internet information and skills. Most lessons contain detailed instructions and screenshots (and sometimes video accompaniments) that allow even novice digital technology users to follow along and learn a website or app's core functions. Though our target audience is people over the age of 50, all are welcome to learn with us.
Though registration is not necessary in order to use the website, users can register on the website to be able to track their progress in courses that they are currently taking. When they complete a lesson, they are able to mark it as completed; when all core lessons in the course are completed, then the course is finished. There are no time limits for finishing courses, and users can go back and review courses that they've completed at their leisure. We also send out a newsletter each week to registered users, letting them know about our new weekly course, as well as popular lessons that they may not have taken yet.
Some of our most popular courses:
TechBoomers also helps other organizations teach technology
Besides building the content library on our website (so that people can learn more digital technology stuff), we're very active in supporting the efforts of libraries and other technology training organizations to promote digital literacy across North America (and the world). We encourage these groups to use our training materials to supplement or serve as a base for their own lesson plans. We also invite them to refer their patrons to us for further learning, or to answer a technical question that they might not immediately have the answer to. Finally, we have also written numerous guest articles about various digital technology topics (from website overviews to online safety tips), and participated in numerous online seminars about promoting digital literacy and streamlining digital technology training.
Well, that’s a quick introduction to what we have to offer at TechBoomers – all 100% free to both website visitors and partners!
Feel free to send any questions about us that you have to contact@techboomers.com. Also, if you'd like to discuss subscribing to our partner newsletter, joining our library partnership program, or having us write a guest post for you, contact CEO Steve Black at steve@techboomers.com.
Corbin Hartwick joined TechBoomers.com as its first employee in November 2014. He heads up the researching, writing, and editing of all educational content on TechBoomers.com. He also creates all content for their marketing campaigns. Since joining the TechBoomers team, he has written over 850 tutorials and 60 guest posts.
Techboomers.com is a free educational website that teaches older adults and others with limited computer skills how to popular and trusted websites on the internet.
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