A Double-Edged Sword

I have come to the point in the semester where I begin to teach research. I began today by asking my students where they go when they want information. The answer-Google and Wikipedia. I'm never surprised by this, but it does make me cringe. Breaking students of this habit is difficult, if not impossible. There are ways to prevent this, by requiring a certain number of scholary journals, books, etc. for a particular assignment, but it can be difficult to traffic every single source a student uses for a paper. Annotated bibs help, but I always feel as though students will never go the extra mile to find decent sources beyond the required minimum for their papers.

The other issue that I often run into when working on research is plagiarism. It has become so easy for students to take material from a website and pass it off as their own. Of course, it is just as easy to catch them, especially if they are too lazy to cover their tracks, (I love it when they leave hyperlinks in their papers). I look forward to teaching the research paper, but I also know the stuggles that come with it as well. Technology has made research much more accessible and teachable within the classroom, but it causes just as many problems as it solves for the instructor.

I Want You to Know that I Didn't Cry...

My whole technological world has gone haywire. After class Monday night, the fan on my computer started making some very loud noises. I shut it down, and didn't really think much of it; my laptop is only 5 months old, there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. Anyway, I tried to turn it on yesterday morning, and the only screen that would come up said it was thinking and trying to log off. I tried the usual remedies, turning it off, unplugging it, and taking out the battery, unfortunately, none of these tricks worked. I'm not the best troubleshooter, so these were the only weapons I had. I started to panic.

I finally called Dell, and spent 2 HOURS, yes 2 hours, on the phone trying to fix it. The rep finally told me that everything was lost, and that I would have to upload Windows to the computer again. I finally got off the phone with the rep, and began installing Windows-it didn't work. I kept recieving a message saying that there were problems, and that it was unable to install the program. Now I'm beyond panicked, but I haven't actually cried yet. So I keep trying to install Windows, and finally by some miracle, it works (after the 5th try). I don't know what was different that time, because I did everything exactly the same.

My only issue now is that I have lost everything, and have to reload every program again. I have most of my work on flash drives, so I'm not too worried about that, but I hate the fact that I am at square one again. I was too frustrated and tired to deal with it last night, and I'm really not looking forward to taking care of it today. Hooking up the wireless router is the worst, and I hope I can get it done successfully without too much swearing and frustration. The last time I had to hook it up, my husband was very, very scared of me. What can I say, computer problems bring out the worst in me.

I suppose things could be worse; the entire computer could have been shot, or I could have paid someone hundreds of dollars to fix it. It's times like these that remind me of how dependent I am on my computer. I feel disconncected from the world without the internet. I didn't check my e-mail once yesterday, or check the breaking news. I couldn't wait to get to school this morning to see what I had missed. My relationship with my computer will always be love/hate. Love it when it's working, hate it when it's not. Wish me luck...

Everyone knows Everything!

Our conversations about Facebook are very timely; I have just realized how quickly news travels in a Facebook world. I am one of the few technological dinosaurs who does not have a Facebook account. I don't know why exactly, but I just haven't pulled the trigger. Anyway, a friend of mine is getting married, and I am a bridesmaid in the wedding. Her wedding was originally scheduled for February 21, but her fiancee is in the military, and they will not give him leave to attend his own wedding. So, the wedding has now been postponed until the end of March. Of course the bride notified her wedding party and has sent out notices via snail mail to inform the guests of this change. Since then at least three people who are mutual acquantainces of myself and the bride (but are not invited to the wedding) have discussed this change of events with me. Like a dummy, I asked, "How did you find out about?" It's posted on her Facebook page. Of course, why didn't I think of that? It just amazes me how small the world is because of these networking sites. Maybe I need to join the 21st century, so that I can stay on top of things.

Getting Stood Up

To continue the thoughts from my last post about the frustrations that can accompany e-mail, I have a new grievance (well not exactly new, but I'm dealing with it again). I have scheduled conferences with my students for the past few days, which I love doing. I enjoy working with my students one on one and helping them with particular aspects of their writing. But the problem that I face each time I schedule conferences are the last minute e-mails saying "I'm not going to make it, can I reschedule?" This would be fine if they gave me some sort of advance notice, but the message normally pops up 5 minutes before the scheduled conference. It hasn't been a major problem this time around, but it can be, and I am annoyed beyond belief when it happens. Would they stand me up if they didn't have e-mail? I suppose it's better to know if a student is not going to show up, rather than to sit and wonder.

Truth and Consequences

E-mail has been a god-send. It is so much easier to keep in touch with students via e-mail. While I love e-mail, I have to wonder if it has made it easier for our students to "pull the wool over our eyes." Students don't ever acutally have to speak to us when an assignment is late, or if they are missing class. Obviously, I will talk to them about it in class, but I think that it has become too easy for students to give excuses. The consequences won't catch up to them until I actually see them again. Maybe I should be more trusting of my students, but when I receive the "I'm sick" message, or the "I couldn't get my assignment done because_________" (fill in the blank with any number of excuses), I tend not to believe it. If I can't see them, I can't try to discern whether or not they are being truthful. The consequences will be the same regardless of whether they tell the truth or not, but it just seems so much easier for them to get away with it. Maybe I just need to accept it as it is....

Yet another use of technology in the classroom...

I was at the book fair the other day, talking to one of the reps (an overfriendly rep, in my opinion), and he asked me if I used technology in the classroom. I replied, "Yes." Unfortunately, we were talking about two very different things-he was talking about CD-Roms as supplamentary material for a course, and I was talking about the technology I use in the classroom. He tried to sell me on using these in my classroom, but frankly, I'm not on board. I don't see my students using these CDs on top of reading their texts, etc. I'm all for integrating technology into teaching, but this doesn't seem like the most effective way to do so. I'm sure there would be certain students who would benefit, but I don't see a large number of students using these. Maybe I'm still old-fashioned, but I like my books.

It's Lonely in CyberSpace

As I said in my last post, I can be reluctant to change. I think that one of the main reasons for this is the fact that I still find technology to be slightly impersonal. I still crave face to face interaction with my peers. Although I was pleasantly surprised by the MOO experience last Monday night (plus the fact that I didn't have to brave the cold), I still miss actually talking to people. I know that most people may not feel this way, but I still enjoy the interaction that takes place in real life. Although I am part of an on-line community, it feels lonely at times. I also began to wonder if I could conduct my own class on-line. I'm not sure I would feel connected with my students if I never actually met them. I'm sure that I would give it a try if presented with the opportunity, but I would miss the interaction that takes place in the classroom. I also have to wonder if this is the way of the future-given the state of the economy.

Can't It All Stay the Same?

I hate to say it, but I am not a big fan of change. So when a new technology comes into my life, I am often slow to accept and use these innovations. I also have to admit that I have a very short fuse when this new and wonderful technology doesn't work to my expectations (setting up my wireless router was an experience that led to a lot of colorful language). I was a bit skeptical about MOO- I didn't know if I would be able to keep up, or that I would even be able to log on. But as always, I surprised myself by how quickly I was able to pick it up. I know it's not rocket science, but I'm always worried that I'm not going to catch on. That is one of the most interesting aspects of technology-we will never know everything, but if you have some background knowledge, you can generally learn to use just about any program. I may not want to accept change, but once I do, I'm always glad that I have learned something new. The most intimidating part of using technology is the fact that it is always changing. Once you master one thing, it is already obsolete. It's frustrating, but this seems to be the direction in which our society is headed-everything is disposable-so I had best get used to change.