Welcome! This course moves gently, one step at a time. You cannot break anything by learning — that is a promise.
The pieces in front of you
- Monitor — the screen. It only shows things; it is like a television.
- Keyboard — the board of letter and number keys, for typing.
- Mouse — the small device you move with your hand to point at things.
- The computer itself — on a desktop it is the box (some people call it the "tower" or "CPU"). On a laptop, the computer is inside, under the keyboard.
- Ports — the holes on the side or back where cables and USB sticks plug in.
- Power button — usually marked with this symbol: ⏻
Same ideas, different shapes
A desktop, a laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone are all computers. The screen may be bigger or smaller, and you may touch it with a finger instead of a mouse — but the ideas you learn in this course work on all of them. Learn once, use everywhere.
Sitting comfortably
- Sit with your back supported and both feet on the floor.
- The screen should be about an arm's length away, top of the screen near eye level.
- Take a short break every 30 minutes or so — stand, stretch, look away from the screen.
Try it now
Point to each part of your computer and say its name out loud: monitor, keyboard, mouse, power button, ports. Say them again. That is your first computer skill — knowing what things are called.