Computer Skills

Beginner

60 mins

Teacher/Student led

+70 XP

What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC or iPad/Tablet

The Operating System: Settings You Can Actually Use

Learn to navigate your device's Settings or System Preferences and customise volume, brightness, keyboard, date/time, and at least one accessibility feature to suit how you actually work.

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1 Introduction
2 Key Concepts
3 Step-by-step Task
4 Common Issues
5 Independent Practice
6 Lesson Summary
Quiz

1 - Introduction

Welcome

Your operating system is the big program that runs everything else. Today you'll stop using it on the defaults somebody else chose and set it up so it actually suits you: volume, brightness, keyboard, date and time, and at least one accessibility feature. This matters on any machine you use later: a laptop on Work Experience, a shared computer at home, or a college library PC that someone has left on bright white at full volume.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Navigate Settings or System Preferences on your device
Adjust volume, brightness, keyboard and date/time
Turn on and use one accessibility feature on your own machine

Warm-up

Think for 30 seconds: one thing about your current device that annoys you (screen too bright? keyboard too slow? notifications popping up constantly?). By the end of today you should know where to fix it.

Teacher Notes

Students will be on mixed devices (Windows, Mac, Chromebook). That's fine; the lesson is designed for all three. Remind them to use the tab for their own OS.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Key Concepts

Every operating system gives you a control panel for changing how the machine behaves. The name and layout differ, but the ideas are the same everywhere.

Concept	Why it matters	Example
Settings / System Preferences — the single place where you change how the computer looks, sounds, and behaves	If you don't know where Settings live, small irritations waste hours over a school year	—
Accessibility — built-in features that make a computer usable for different needs (vision, hearing, motor, reading)	They help anyone, not just people with disabilities — noisy workshops, bus-window glare, fast note-taking	Live Captions turns a video call into running text on screen
Screen reader — software that reads the screen aloud (Narrator on Windows, VoiceOver on Mac, ChromeVox on Chromebook)	Trying it for 5 minutes changes how you design documents forever	A screen reader skips past the headings in {{code:05_polished_proposal}} if they aren't real headings

You'll meet two more features, zoom/magnifier and dictation, when you pick your own to try in the independent practice task.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Step-by-step Task

Open Settings on your device, adjust a few basics (volume, brightness, date/time), then open the Accessibility area and try one feature together so you have a template for the independent practice that follows.

Teacher Notes

Students are doing this on their own machine, so the three tabs below are real — a Windows student ignores the Mac tab completely.

+15 XP

4 - Common Issues

Common Issues

Issue	Solution
The Settings page on my machine looks different from what's described	OS versions change layout regularly. Use the search bar at the top of Settings and type the word you're looking for (e.g. 'brightness', 'accessibility', 'time zone'). It will jump straight to the right page.
I turned on a screen reader and can't turn it off	Screen readers can feel overwhelming if you've never used one. Windows: {{kbd:Ctrl+Win+Enter}} toggles Narrator. Mac: {{kbd:Cmd+F5}} toggles VoiceOver. Chromebook: {{kbd:Ctrl+Alt+Z}} toggles ChromeVox. If the shortcut isn't working, ask a classmate to help you navigate Settings with it on — that is genuinely the point of the exercise.
I don't have admin rights to change a setting	On a school device some settings are locked. Move on to one that isn't — there are plenty of accessibility features that don't require admin rights (text size, cursor size, colour filters, captions).
The feature is on but nothing looks different	Some features only apply in specific places (Live Captions needs audio playing; high-contrast mode only changes system chrome, not every web page). Check the description of the feature again and use it in the situation it was designed for.

Teacher Notes

The 'can't turn off screen reader' case is the one students panic about. The shortcuts listed are the fastest rescue.

+10 XP

5 - Independent Practice

Independent Practice

Your goal: Turn on one accessibility feature, use it for at least 5 minutes on real work, and write up what it does — so you know what's available the day you actually need it for yourself, your Something Real project, or someone you work with on placement.

Time: ~20 minutes

Task: Open your {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} folder and create a new document called {{code:07_accessibility_audit}}. Pick one accessibility feature different from the one you tried in the worked demo — screen reader, zoom or magnifier, colour filters, dictation or voice typing, live captions, or high-contrast mode — and turn it on using the toggle-on / observe / toggle-off pattern you just practised. Use it for at least 5 minutes on something real: read a news article for your Something Real research, dictate a paragraph for your proposal, or play a short video with captions on. Then write up what the feature does, who it would help, and what changed when you used it.

Success criteria:

{{code:07_accessibility_audit}} is saved in your {{code:Digital_Portfolio}} folder and names the feature you tried and the OS you tried it on
The write-up explains in your own words what the feature does and roughly how you turned it on
It names at least one real situation or person — at home, in school, on Work Experience, or in your Something Real project — where this feature would make a genuine difference
It includes one honest sentence about what was easier and one about what was harder or weirder with the feature on

Teacher Notes

Walk around. If a student has turned on a screen reader and looks trapped, point them at the toggle shortcut from Common Issues.

+15 XP

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This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland 2017 - 2025. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.

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The Operating System: Settings You Can Actually Use

Teacher Class Feed

1 - Introduction

Welcome

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Warm-up

2 - Key Concepts

3 - Step-by-step Task

4 - Common Issues

Common Issues

5 - Independent Practice

Independent Practice

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