Exploring the Marvelous Milieu of Mac OS

Description

Are you a long-time Windows user who has wondered about other computing options? Are you interested in buying a new computer but are intrigued about the operating systems that are available? Have you always been curious about the Mac, but want to know more about it from a blindness perspective?

Introducing Exploring the Marvelous Milieu of Mac OS, a comprehensive six-week course from Mystic Access and our guest instructor, Emily M Romero. You can meet Emily, find out her credentials, and learn why she loves the Mac in this Mystic Access podcast. Whether you’re bran new to the Mac or want to learn how to use it more efficiently, this course may be just what you’re looking for.

In This Course You’ll Learn to

•Describe the origin, purpose, and function of a Macintosh computer.
•Control the keyboard, trackpad, and touchbar using VoiceOver.
•Customize VoiceOver to suit individual preferences and needs.
•Interact with native Mac apps including the iWork suite.
•Know where and how to seek assistance and support for questions about the Mac and VoiceOver.
•Know how to access new software applications.

What You’ll Need

If you choose to attend this course, you’ll need the following:
If you plan to follow along on your own device, you need a Mac running OS Sierra (Version 10.12 or later),
Time, patience, and the willingness to learn new and different concepts,
Curiosity,
The desire to have fun and learn a lot, whether you not you currently own a Mac.

When is the course?

this course runs on six consecutive Tuesday nights beginning Tuesday October 8 and going through Tuesday November 12. Note that we will not be meeting on November 5, since that’s election night here in the US. That particular class will move to Wednesday, November 6. The time won’t change, though. Each class session runs from 8:00 PM ET to approximately 9:30 PM ET. The course is taught via Zoom, and you’ll receive joining information prior to the first session. If you can’t attend a session live, recordings will be provided soon after each class.

What to Expect

At the beginning of each class, Emily will introduce the topics for the night (see below). At that point, we will play the class audio for the week. Follow along on your own computer if applicable, and do not worry about the pacing; we’re just giving you a tour of the functions, and we understand that most of your practice time will be outside of class. That being said, we do not assign homework in this course. The final segment of each
class session will be devoted to Q&A.

Feel free to ask Emily anything in this course that you wish, and if she doesn’t know the answer, she will go and find it.

Optional Assessment

At the end of the course, Emily will present an optional assessment with multiple-choice and essay questions to help you see where you are on the journey toward your Mac mastery goals. There are no grades in this course, the assessment is just a tool to give you data, if that kind of thing is interesting or motivating to you. If that is not your cup of tea, please feel free to ignore the assessment; it is not necessary to your learning from or enjoying this course. Students who choose to take the assessment may have a call with Emily to discuss their results and make a plan for further self-study of the Mac.

The following is an overview of what to expect from week-to-week in this course. Please bring questions to class!

Week 1

I. Welcome
A. What is a Macintosh?
B. A brief History
C. What is Voiceover?
D. How do Macs and PC’s differ?
II. Turning on the Mac
A. Sights and Sounds
B. Get to know your Voiceover Voice
III. Q & A

Week Two

I. Learning Voiceover
A. More about Voiceover
B. Voiceover Practice
C. the Voiceover Utility
D. Choices about Voiceover
E. Voiceover and Siri
F. SIRI and Braille Displays
II. Finder and the Dock
A. Exploring Finder and opening files
B. Closing Files
C. Launching Applications from the Dock
II. Q&A

Week 3

I. Siri
A. Automating Tasks
B. Siri and Fun
C. Learning from Siri
II. the iWork Suite
A. Pages
B. Numbers
C. Keynote
III. Q& A

Week 4

I. System Settings
A. An Overview
B. Internet Accounts
C. Setting up your Email
II. Mail
A. Checking your mail
B. Sending Mail
C. Organizing your Mail
D. Special Feature: Scheduling Email
III. Calendar
A. Viewing your Calendar
B. Multiple Calendars and Shared Events
C. Scheduling Events
D. Cancelling Events
E. Rescheduling Events

Week 5

I. Browsing the internet with Safari
A. Introduction to Safari
B. Opening and reading webpages
C. Form fields
D. Online transactions
E. Bookmarks and the Reading List

Week 6

I. Getting to know other Native Apps
A. Reminders
B. Notes
C. Launchpad
D. Photos
E. Music
F. Messages
G. App Store and Installing New Software

Your mac-learning fun starts now

We’d love to have you for these six weeks of comprehensive Mac content taught in a fun and engaging style by a blind Mac user and professional. Your investment for six weeks of content, demonstrations, explanation and fun is $90. If you don’t think this is for you, but have friends or colleagues whom you feel may be interested, please send them the link to this page with our thanks. We’re so excited to have you in the course.