This week has me reflecting on my relationship with computer technology as a student, instructor, and as a "regular" person. And, as I consider those different types of relationships that I have with computer technology - I feel as if it is slowly making me so dependent on it that its beginning to take over my life.
As a student, I've seen a steady increase in the amount of time that I spend using computer technology. Where I once mainly used a computer to word process or occasionally use the electronic mail features associated with computer technology, I now find myself using computer technology, in one form or another, more than I sleep. My current scholarship has me using computer technology to do virtually any and ever thing. I can research, word process, electronic mail, skype, tweet, give presentations, and a panoply of other features which, in theory, should assist in making me a "better student". However, with all of the "assistance" that this technology is allowing, it is sometimes hard not to psychically go through the actions of researching, writing, conversing, etc in real time and not in the time of computer technology. I'm beginning to feel lazy and less creative as a student because the allowances of computer technology sometimes have me taking the easier way.
Even as an instructor I've seen my dependence on computer technology greatly increase. At the start of last semester, my first time instructing at the college level, I was determined not to use computer technology in my pedagogy because I felt that it would be more of a hindrance than a help to my students. I was unsure of how to teach them how to most effectively use computer technology in the scope of our class without feeling like they were using digital spaces such as easybib.com because it did the work for them, and not because they knew how to do it and were in a time crunch. Aside from actual instruction with my class, I also depend heavily on computer technology to keep me current with the questions/concerns that are vocalized by my students which are sent to me via electronic mail and the facebook profile that is a part of the course. I find myself checking my email routinely throughout the day and night so that I may assist my students with the work that they are doing. And now that this type of technology has infiltrated my student/instructor side in the way that it has, I've found that it is now greatly affecting me as a "regular" person.
Currently I have a Blackberry which has my student and instructor emails, access to the facebook group that I have for my English 101 class(s), my twitter and blogger accounts for my scholarship as a student, and every other form of computer technology that I should need. I can now do everything from my phone, which has made separating my personal and academic lives somewhat of a nightmare. I'm constantly getting messages and updates throughout the day and into the night from both sides of the spectrum. The computer technology helps me maintain and stay abreast on assignments/tasks that I have, but it makes time outside of academia virtually nonexistent and now a part of my personal life. I've been seeing, and using, these different forms of "new media" routinely for the last few years and it is hard to imagine that I'll be stopping any time soon.
Anne Frances Wysocki, in her piece "Opening New Media to Writing: Openings & Justifications" states that "new media texts do not have to be digital; instead, any text that has been designed so that its materiality is not effaced can count as new media. New media texts can be made of anything; what is important is that whoever produces the text and whoever consumes it understand" (15). Due to this understanding of new media, I feel that in order to redefine the relationship that I have with computer technology, I need to reassess how I've been using it and currently understand its purpose - and not let it take over. I use computer technology and new media(s) so much, currently, that I have looked past just how effective it has been and focused on my over use of it. The new media that I've incorporated into my pedagogy has greatly improved the instructing that I do, as well as the new media that I'm using in my scholarship as a student. I think the lack of understanding that I'm dealing with, is how to keep it from seeping into my personal sphere.
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One of the things I had a hard time understanding in the Wysocki piece was her emphasis on the fact that people are in charge of technology - not the other way around. I found myself thinking, "Well, duh."
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think your situation is an excellent example of why this concept is important to highlight. I haven't taught yet, so I don't have that experience to draw on, but you seem to think of it as the last straw in your technologic overload. Technology isn't so much the problem as that it has helped your academic side seep over into everything else. I generally find the opposite to be true - that technology allows my personal side to spill over into the academic.
I wonder if and how you would change your teaching strategies in the future to deal with this personal overload?
I know exactly what you mean by technology creep--where you're often unaware of just how much of your life is influenced by technology. My advice: constant vigilance. :D
ReplyDelete(yes, I'm aware of the irony in that last statement)
I think one of the lessons that Wysocki is trying to convey is that we need to use technology, but not let technology use us (again, ironic considering how prevalent phrases like that are in the treatment of chemical dependency). I said last Thursday that I started playing WoW again, but that "I'm not invested in it;" I played about two hours on Saturday night, and that was it for the weekend. Considering how much of my life used to be devoted to that game (raid night, running dailies, etc.--if you're at all familiar with the game, you'll understand these terms), I'm determined to play it only when my brain has honestly shut down for the night. This same vigilance is necessary for negotiating the use of new media: don't let it use you, shape it to your needs and wishes, and make it clear how it's to be used.
Malcolm- As I mentioned in class, I wrote this response really early this morning, but did not save a copy after I thought I had successfully posted it. But I had intended to propose that you have suggested some really important ideas about not only the boundaries between public and private space, but also between public and private time. When we engage our students in a digital space, without explicit effort to the contrary, we invite them to a level of immediacy with us that we may have a difficult time managing. I notices that a professor (in a different course) set up a threaded discussion and posts responses to students both late at night and early in the morning. She has communicated to the class that she is pleased with the content of the discussion and feels it is valuable to the group. But I just notice that she is expending effort that may come at a cost to personal time/space I might not want to offer my students. Should students expect immediacy? Do we really want to offer it? Do the educational outcomes warrant the personal cost to the teacher?
ReplyDeleteMalcolm,
ReplyDeleteJust as computers have advantages, they have disadvantages, too. One of the disadvantages of computers is that the texts displayed through them can not be used for the long run. My idea is that since meaning is socially constructed and computers depend largely on visual Rhetoric, the meaning that a picture carries serves for a particular historical society at a particular time or a particular place. For example,it will be difficult to use pictures of some American cultural aspects in order to teach writing for Irish students. It will be hard for them to understand the meaning that you want to communicate. Otherwise,Computers are great. I think that the most effective use of computers is that in which the instructor creates a social place like blogs and tweeters.