Roma’s internet resistance is wearing thin
Considering the reading for next week, I thought I would report on a brief conversation that I had with Allyson a bit ago:
We were discussing delicious accounts and I was admiring her lengthy lists and expressing the difficulty that I was having determining on what to post.
She gave me a good piece of advice: while she reads, she finds opportunities to look things up online that relate, and thus is able to create a variety of useful links. Unfortunately, (as previously mentioned) my lack of internet prohibits me from doing this.
Thus, we began talking about the ways in which technological savvy and/or access might influence students who are working with new media in composition classes.
Though this is an interesting way to approach teaching/assignment production, it does put those who are dinosaurs (like myself) in a position of needing to spend extended time in comp. labs in order to fulfill these requirements (I recall the chapter on technology in our pedagogy book that offered interesting insights into the differences between the ways in which reading and composition take place if the student is in a crowded lab, without coffee at hand nor the formatting of personal preference on the computer).
Luckily for me, the lab at Tate, because of its constant availability, in conjunction with my laptop and flash drive, lessens this inconvenience quite a bit for me. But, for students who don’t have this luxury, I think it is important to consider the challenges such approaches might present to those who have limited access to computers/internet.
My only point being (yes, I am getting at a point) that I find the potential to request computer classrooms to be very important for those who are going to teach in this way next semester, as it could put the students (who, as we discussed last time, will already be on necessarily un-even ground) in a more equal position to succeed.
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March 13th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Still, no one has no access, right? The library has a nice collection of PCs and Macs, there are open lab hours all over campus, one can check out a laptop at the library, and on a wealthy campus like Mizzou, I wonder what the percentage of students who do not have a computer at home is? Even when I taught in downtown Detroit, most students had a computer. Even you, a “dinosaur” at the age of…..has a laptop, right?
March 13th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I’ve been thinking about this too, not just because of access to technology, though it is something I worry about, but also b/c I know how incredibly shy I was when I was a freshman and how I probably wouldn’t have written my heart out (about all those corny things that freshman write about, the political “dilemmas” of the day) if I knew that my audience was larger than the instructor, who, for some reason, I felt like I knew in a way that I never knew the strangers around me that didn’t occupy the stage all through the semester. So, I think in order to take both issues into account, I’ll offer a paper option for the chronically shy or the chronically poor, since I can identify with both positions.
I do know that Mizzou is a pretty wealthy campus. But then when I was a kid I lived in a rich-ass suburb and went a whole winter w/o heat or electricity.
It’s not that I think that courses should be centered around the minority, but I guess I just want to make sure they’re not slanted against them.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:38 am
It’s a wealthy campus because it provides services. You should not be afraid of taking advantage of those services - which students pay for in fees - nor should the students. Remember, if “responsibility” to a student’s future is such a big concern for you all, are you sure you are being completely responsible if technology is ignored?
March 16th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
this is an interesting thread
i can totally respect someone who only wishes to assign papers. i guess such a person might be accused of “teaching to the university,” but even so, this might be a legitimate practice.
i think that giving a paper option on new media assignments is “dangerous,” however, because a lot of people are going to take advantage of this option, not because of chronic shyness or poorness, but sheer laziness/unwillingness to learn something new.
as far as the world being slanted, it is. not much we can do about that except direct people to the balancing tools and teach their use.