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Orientation helps students start at the right
place. The screen shots in the
Complete Compute Guides show the entire window as well as a close up of
the particular button or command. In contrast, traditional computer training
is mostly text with a few isolated buttons
Another aspect of orientation is Navigation. Navigation is
the ability to start at the right place and go to the next appropriate
action. The Comma Method recognizes that there is a difference in how men
and women navigate the menus.
Men typically have the ability to see the map
first. This method of acquiring knowledge is called Breadth-first.
[1] Men tend to be immediately
aware that the Standard tool bar reads “File, Edit View, Insert, Format,
Tools” in all Microsoft software. Women tend to work with the details first.
They learn several commands, such as copy, cut, and paste, then they put
those concepts under the label, “edit.” This method of learning is called
Depth-first.
The Comma Method uses menu mapping to assist men and women to
see both the Breadth and the Depth. An example of the menu map is can be
seen here.
[1] Ford,
Nigel, Sherry Chen, Matching/mismatching revisited: An Empirical
Study of Learning and Teaching Styles. British Journal of
Educational Technology v.32 no1 (Jan. 2001)
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