The Haus im Niederfeld is a sociotherapeutic center for chronically impaired addicts. Men and women with alcohol and drug addictions who are overwhelmed by the challenge of living a temporary or permanent independent and abstinent lifestyle receive inpatient and outpatient care. The goal of therapy is to promote independence and social integration. Since smartphones can be a valuable tool for networking and accessing information, the Mobile City Lab was on site for five sessions to train residents in the use of the device.
Course leader Thorsten Hecht (VHS) received support from Nancy Teichmann, Fabian Jankowski and Anne Weisel (Digitalstadt Darmstadt GmbH).
The first session focused on the basics of operation. Participants first familiarized themselves with their smartphone’s buttons and tried out important quick settings like turning Wi-Fi, location, Bluetooth, airplane mode, and the flashlight on and off. Many terms were also explained, such as the meaning of the word “app.” Finally, participants were introduced to common scams and given tips on how to recognize fake emails or text messages.
The second session demonstrated clever phone features, such as saving and blocking numbers and managing contacts. At the end of the course day, participants received useful tips for composing text messages, including word suggestions, and using the dictation function.
The third session began with a brief review of what had already been learned before introducing additional phone functions, such as the use of QR codes. The course participants tried out various QR code examples. The next step was the notification bar and how to read and delete notifications. Installing updates was also explained in this context.
The fourth session was all about apps. First, a Play Store account was created and some helpful apps were introduced. At the same time, course leader Thorsten Hecht answered questions such as: How do I recognize free apps and how can I evaluate app reviews? How do I use different payment methods? Participants were also informed about the dangers of cheap online shops.
Mobile photography was on the agenda for the last session and was a successful conclusion to the course series. The group explored camera icons, such as the shutter button, switching between the front and rear cameras, zoom, format settings, self-timer, and flash settings, and this generated a lot of interaction. Afterwards, there were tips on composing shots, such as how to choose a good perspective. Filter functions and accessing the photo gallery were also tried out.
Although the participants entered the courses with varying levels of knowledge, everyone learned a lot and tried out additional smartphone functions – an all-round successful course series!
This course format is a cooperation between Digitalstadt Darmstadt GmbH and the VHS Darmstadt.
