Resources: Ask Jean
About a decade ago, when Jean Andrews taught in the Math Department at Motlow State Community College in Tullahoma, Tennessee, someone asked her to create a course on PC repair.
Accepting the challenge, Jean began taking classes in her new field, but quickly concluded that the only way she could teach people how to repair computers was learning how to do it firsthand. The school had four computer labs and about 100 machines then; when one stopped working, the school sent it to an outside service for repair. "So I made a deal with the Director of Information Systems," she recalls. "Every time a PC broke, he would call me first. At first, I was able to fix just a few and then I got better and better. After a few months, I was ready to teach my class."
Thus began a prolific journey that has made Andrews, today a first-time grandmother at age 55, one of the leading experts in the US on PC maintenance and repair. Author of the best-selling text (more than 100,000 copies sold) Enhanced A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, she has also written Enhanced PC Troubleshooting Pocket Guide, A+ CoursePrep StudyGuide, and a text for CompTIA's i-Net+ certification exam, called i-Net+ Guide to Internet Technologies. The first title is now in its fourth edition, with many more to come as the hardware and software worlds continue to evolve. "We've split the newest edition of the Enhanced A+ Guide into two editions," says Andrews, "one focused on software and one focused on hardware."
When she's not writing or re-writing in her current home outside Atlanta, Jean hosts the very popular "Ask Jean" section of the course.com Web site (www.course.com/askjean). Each week she can count on receiving dozens of questions from students and teachers on topics ranging from curriculum development and exam preparation to reviving apparently dead PCs. The depth of her answers (in an average week she can respond to only a few queries) sets "Ask Jean" apart: ask her how to re-boot a non-functioning Pentium PC when neither the hard drive nor the floppy will respond and you'll get a two-page step-by-step response. Likewise, her answers to queries about course materials or other information resources are amazingly thorough.
Jean still enjoys teaching. "My favorite questions are from students who want to know what is really going on inside a machine, not just trying to get something done," she says. About two-thirds of her queries come from people asking for troubleshooting help; there are a growing number of questions from high school teachers and curriculum developers who want to pick her brain on establishing PC Repair and A+ certification classes in their schools. "PC Repair and certification used to be almost exclusively a college thing," she says. "It's moving rapidly down into the high schools."
The popular image of a PC troubleshooter is someone young enough to still need Clearasil. How does a middle-aged grandmother lead the pack? "Actually, people our age have a big advantage," says Jean. "We got to grow along with the computer industry, so we learned layers and layers of information one layer at a time. I learned to program using Assembly language, then COBOL and Fortran. It's virtually impossible today for a young person to absorb every aspect of hardware and software. There just isn't enough time. Besides, people need to choose a specialty to make a living."
Happily for all those who need to specialize, there's still a general handywoman in the neighborhood.
For more information about Jean Andrews and her books, or to ask Jean a question, visit www.course.com/askjean.
Footnotes
Where does Jean Andrews go for help?
Here's a list of her favorite PC Maintenance and Repair sites (besides her own). If readers know of other good sites, please let her know.
Advanced Services Network (Networking & Windows) - www.aserve.net
CNET, Inc. (Technical information) - www.cnet.com
CyberCollege (Multimedia technology) - www.cybercollege.com
Internet.com Corp. (Encyclopedia of PC terms) - www.pcwebopedia.com
Kingston Technology (technical info about memory) - www.kingston.com
Micro Firmware (BIOS upgrades & technical info) - www.firmware.com
PC Guide (Technical info & troubleshooting) - www.pcguide.com
Tom's Hardware Guide (technical info) - www.tomshardware.com
Zoom Telephonics, Inc. (Modems) www.modems.com