I find it helpful to include some brief hands-on instruction for using the
web-based materials. There are a few students who are not experienced at
interacting with a web site. Most of the problems I have had stem from
students using a computer off campus that is typically an older model that
does not function well in today's higher speed environment. Other students
will try to connect once, and if they cannot, they give up and claim they
cannot get into the sight. Another gremlin is students using a Hotmail or
Rocket Mail account when I have granted them access using their campus
account. If you can eliminate the aforementioned issues, you might have few
if any problems. I continue to encounter new and unique problems using
technology, but my desire to solve them remains strong.
Chuck
****************************
Charles M. Huffman, Ph.D.
Chair, Psychology Department
Cumberland College, Box 7990
Williamsburg, KY 40769
(606) 539-4422
****************************
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of ANN MUIR THOMAS
Sent: Friday, September 10, 1999 3:31 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: def: where nothing exists
Subject: technology happens...
Hi all,
This may be a rant rather than something you can help with, but.... I set
up my intro. students with a web-based quiz system and discussion group.
So far, it's been a disaster -- students say they can't get into the site
[which is password-protected], or they could get in earlier this week, but
now they can't. Other professors here who are using the same system have
not reported any problems. I've had some very good tech people working
with me on this, and we are pretty sure that the problem lies with the
students, not with anything I am doing or with the technology. But the
students are all *blaming me* for the problems, and I am really freaked
out about it. I am "on probation" this year and if my student evals don't
improve, I won't be allowed to continue on the tenure track, and will be
out of a job at the end of A.Y. 2000-2001. I feel jinxed -- like I have
already poisoned this class, so why even *try* to make things better?
[BTW, I used the discussion group system last spring in an upper-level
class with relatively few problems, except for a student impersonating me
and announcing class was cancelled when it wasn't, before I
password-protected the group...]
WRT the students, I just sent them an email saying that their web-based
work for this week and next is cancelled, so they don;t have to worry
about it affecting their grades. But then, what happens when suddenly I
am making them do it again? Won't this just make them even more upset
with me?
Argh.
------------------
Ann Muir Thomas, Ph.D. http://erebus.bentley.edu/empl/t/athomas
"The Accidental Jewess"
Bentley College, Waltham, MA
"You aren't belittled by being little. Only by acting small." --- Red
