G. Marc Turner writes on 10 Nov 99,:
> I was curious how those who are currently accepting assignments via email
> handle the virus issue. Do you request students to scan documents for
> viruses prior to submission? Do you inform them of the potential threat of
> viruses? (Also, I would not require students to submit assignments this
> way since many of our students are not terribly computer literate.)
>
> Thanks for your input...
> - Marc
I have also received macro viruses. Certainly, students aren't the only ones to send
virus-infected messages. I once received one from an administrator at the college. I
suggest encouraging your students to scan for viruses as a redundancy but if you
are using your virus protection software, there shouldn't be a problem. Most macro
viruses are not very destructive and are easily repaired. The more damaging viruses
that can be in attachments can be caught by your virus protection software. BTW,
our college uses Pegasus Mail (at least for now) which seems to be much less
vulnerable to most of these e-mail security threats than MS Outlook.
As to the computer literacy of your students, I take that to be an important challenge
in
educating students. It certainly helps if you have adequate computer facilities on
campus. If you are teaching mainly commuter students or your computer labs are
inadequate, then you may not be able to use computer assignments. However, I don't
believe anyone should graduate from college today without computer skills. In fact, I
require e-mail assignments, internet tutorials, homework being turned in as an
attachment to an e-mail message and, after the first few weeks, there are very few
problems. I feel pretty good about the fact that there are students who take my
psychology classes and leave with a bonus of having learned and gained practice in
a very useful skill that they may not learn in any other course. In fact, it is
probably
quite possible that students can still graduate without being challenged to develop
their
technological skills to the extent that will be required in the workplace. My wife
knows
someone who went to apply at a temp agency and one of the first things they did was
test her on her ability with Excel and other familiar programs. If we are not even
preparing our graduates for temporary jobs, what are we doing? They will almost
certainly have to use technology over the course of their lives. Computer phobia or
computer illiteracy should be as rare in our graduates as reading illiteracy or fear
of
public speaking. I know that fear of public speaking may not be very rare yet, but I
think it is a disservice to our students if we do not challenge them to develop these
skills that will be useful for a lifetime.
Rick
Dr. Rick Froman
Psychology Department
Box 3055
John Brown University
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.jbu.edu/sbs/psych
Office: (501)524-7295
Fax: (501)524-9548
"Happiness is not found by searching, but by researching."
