It all started last Thursday evening. I was in my office trying to post a comment to one of my fellow POT bloggers, and when I went to submit it, another page opened up and informed me that I needed to sign in to WordPress, and so I did – from my MiraCosta WordPress site, and nothing. What I spent 15 minutes on disappeared into space. And, I tried again; this time already signed in – disappeared again. So, after a full day of teaching with migraine, I decided I have to leave it for the weekend.
At home, I went to the POT homepage, using my mini laptop for the first time. What a nightmare! Because the screen is “teeny tiny”, the page looked so foreign to me; well- you probably guessed it – it felt like I was reading some ancient Chinese manuscript. Have you ever tried reading letters vertically? I can read Mandarin vertically, but I know for sure I do not have the talent to read English in that format. Okay, what’s my point? After having spent an afternoon watching sample online courses, I came to the realization that simplicity is the best policy is going to be what I stick to if I ever do a full online course.
That wonderful online World Literature class from Yavapai Community College was mind-bending. I mean that guy is good. It’s his first time teaching that particular course and the set-up is super-sophisticated. And, I am thinking to myself – Either he doesn’t sleep or he’s really good at his craft? Then he proceeds to say that he’s going to do a video with a green screen for the next time to have scenes or visuals related to the lesson – and, now, my conclusion is: He doesn’t sleep. Did you realize that 15 minutes later the guy was still talking? Okay – in 1983 MTV was born and I grew up on a staple of videos that lasted no longer than six minutes with Hollywood production teams behind it all and a plethora of hot guys and girls to keep my interest; now, I am going to try to keep my students’ interest with a video of me talking, by myself, no Hollywood production?
Besides the obstacle with keeping interest, the frustration of having hardware and software to be able to interface with all the technological stuff can get in the way. Just look at how my weekend started – hardware and software issues besides a lack of technical skills. In my experience, I have had students who were programmers, software writers, hardware designers. And, then, there was my French MBA 50-something student that didn’t even know what a mouse was. I not only taught her English but I was also computer teacher. This takes me to all the great online instructors that included tutorials for their students. They’re not only teaching a subject they’re also teaching the technology-related stuff. Bravo to them! This ranting eventually leads to this:
Keep it simple and shut up already.
3 responses to “Shut up already”