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Mary first heard about GetSetUp at the end of last year when she was searching AARP’s website and saw it mentioned. She took her first class and was hooked, sometimes taking as many as 2-3 classes a day. She’s pretty sure she’s taken almost all the classes on the technology side at least once.
“You go and buy something at Best Buy and they offer a course with your Samsung or device, but the teachers are all in their 20s. They are so skilled, they race through it. This minimizes your ability to learn things because they just do it for you versus explaining the steps for you to accomplish the same thing when they are not there. To be able to learn something new in technology and be taught by my peers just de-stressed me to the point that I understood.”
Mary lives in Maine, which happens to be one of the oldest states in the country in terms of population age. She says many kids leave the state due to a lack of job opportunities.
“Many people are similar to me, isolated. In taking these classes, I really feel like I’m grasping and learning new concepts. I don't feel like I'm being left behind. It has been a godsend and in many ways a lifesaver for helping me make it through the pandemic because it lets me see and hear people.”
Mary sees this feeling of being left behind as an even greater challenge for those without children. While she has a stepdaughter, she often feels her stepdaughter whips through the instructions so fast she doesn't have time to learn.
“In GetSetUp classes, no question is a dumb question since everyone is there to clarify uncertainties in their skills. I'm glad when someone asks a question; often I was wondering the same thing.”
For many learners, GetSetUp is more than just patient instructors. It's instructors that respect them and know where they are coming from. That is what really sets GetSetUp apart from other educational platforms.
“The instructors are wonderful. They are your peers, so they look and talk to you in a way that you can see that if they can do it - so can you!”
Classes on telehealth have become essential and Mary really sees these as the way forward. Plus, she took a course on Google Sheets that is helping her to simplify the trying tax season.
“I have to do my husband's taxes. Google Sheets is free, and once I learned how to use it on GetSetUp, I created a spreadsheet. Now I can record what has to be deducted each month. Then at the end of 2020, I printed out the sheets and sent them into the accountant. In the past, I would have been collecting receipts and documents probably for 10 days. Now with a click of a button, I was done. It was wonderful.”
Mary has been retired for 10 years and spent much of that time as a caregiver for her mother and uncle. At the time, she wasn’t looking for work, but in a couple of weeks, she's planning to start looking for work again.
“I can honestly say if I went to an interview and they asked me certain questions, now I’m familiar with those tools and I wasn’t before GetSetUp classes.”
When Mary was working before, technology was something you gave to IT to fix. Now people are expected to understand basic platforms and tools to work as a team.
“All the GetSetUp courses with Gmail were beneficial. My knowledge was touch and go until I took the courses. I never knew what Gmail could do. I was afraid. I became paralyzed to touch something and mess it up. It wasn’t until I realized that you just have to go back out and you are back where you started. I learned it is okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are not unfixable and help you learn.”
Mary feels her classes on Gmail, Google Tasks, Google Sheets, and Google Docs especially have helped her prepare for future jobs that may interest her. Now she feels confident to work and collaborate with others using these tools.
“GetSetUp has changed me. I'm much more confident in exploring different technologies. And if I don’t understand one, I would turn to GetSetUp and say can you create a class on this?”
Older people and retirees need to acquire new skills. This can be especially tricky if their family is living far away.
“I honestly feel that before taking classes with GetSetUp I was terrified to think if I had this device or tool I wouldn’t know where to go to learn how to use it. I didn’t have a resource to learn.”
Now, thanks to GetSetUp’s easy-to-use platform, older adults have a resource. Classes are being added regularly to assure their needs are being met. One simple step at a time, GetSetUp is making sure older adults have a place to go to learn the skills they need to succeed and accomplish their goals!
“I tell people they really want to consider looking into GetSetUp. It’s been a godsend worth its weight in gold!”
Don’t let the fear of the unknown hold you back. Join Mary and other like-minded peers to learn the devices, tools, apps, and techniques you have been curious to explore!