Many people think you need a laptop to start learning digital skills. You do not. The phone in your hand can already send emails, join a class, fill in a job application and keep records for a small business. If you have a laptop or desktop computer at home, at school or at work, that works too, and the lessons in this section give the computer version wherever it is different. Shops, offices and NGOs in Ghana look for people who are comfortable with smartphones and computers, because so much daily work now happens on them.
This first section is about turning the device you already have from something you use to chat into a tool you use to learn and work.
What this section covers
- First steps on a phone or computer. The taps, swipes and buttons every phone app uses, the clicks and keys that do the same jobs on a computer, and how to turn WiFi and mobile data on and off.
- Settings, storage and battery. How to keep your phone or computer fast, with enough space and enough charge to finish a lesson.
- Saving data and money. How to make a data bundle last longer, so learning does not become expensive.
- Installing apps safely. How to get apps and programs from the right place and check what they are allowed to do.
Why start here
Think about Wumpini, who lives in Savelugu. She wants to join a digital skills course, but her phone is always full, the battery dies by afternoon and her bundle finishes in three days. None of that means she cannot learn. It means her phone is not set up for learning yet. After a few small changes, she can watch a lesson on WiFi in the morning, read notes offline in the evening and still have data left at the end of the week.