Going the Distance with Distance Education

I teach online courses.  All of my college courses this year have been online, so I have rarely felt a need to visit my dusty office, much less come to campus. I refuse to meet students who are in my online classes anywhere but online (because isn't that part of the point of these classes?)  Yes, I have become a cyberghost professor.

This does not mean, however, that I have become a negligent professor--I am very much present online--and what's more, I see a lot going on out here in cyberspace.  I also see a large educational void developing.

There is this myth about online courses that seems to have developed rapidly: online courses are supposed to be easier than in-class courses; online courses are not as time-consuming as in-class courses; online courses do not require as many hours' work as in-class courses.  I don't wish to acknowledge from where these myths might be developing, but I do wish to speak to the fact that this is indeed a myth in my own classes.

In place of classroom lectures and discussion, my students are required to read written lessons and supplemental materials, view video lessons and supplemental materials, and discuss everything (lessons and assignments) in an online forum.  Some students have complained that they are putting "way too many hours" into my class.  One student, recently, informed me that a 3 credit class should require only 6 hours of work each week.  That sounds to me like advice given for an in-class course, advice that has been twisted: 6 hours of HOMEwork in addition to the 2.5 hours spent (at my school) in the classroom: a total of 8.5 hours each week.  Regardless, this is not a written rule.  Some students are naturally going to work more quickly or more slowly than this guideline.  Time is not the issue.  Content is the issue.

So I have to wonder: if I put all the requirements and information for an in-class course into an online course and students are complaining that it is more work, what are they thinking?I have to wonder even more when a student complains about the technological challenge: there's no excuse for not having access to a computer for an online class, for example.  Furthermore, why would a student who has no clue how to use a computer take an online class in the first place?

I am happy when the first two weeks of the semester are over, when the students who are scandalized by the work required and/or the technological ability needed have all either dropped or conformed.  That's when I can really get down to the business at hand--to the business of teaching.

I Don't Know What to Write, So....

I have this ritual that I'm trying to maintain: writing one entry each Sunday for this blog.  The trouble is, sometimes I just don't know what to write.  Well, that's not quite true.  Most of the time, I know exactly what I want to write, and I am even uber-prepared for those rare times when I am feeling uninspired (drafts of posts to complete later).  But today, none of those drafts of pre-conceived notions appeal to me. 

And so I sit

at this computer,

WAITING

for inspiration to come.

So far, aside from the idea of doing a little stream-of-consciousness babbling, this blog still seems a bit uninspired.

But wait! There's more!

I posted a little poem on my Facebook entry today:

It's cold outside, but the sun is bright.
The coffee pot has died, and this poem ain't right.

This is a Dylanesque (as in Bob Dylan) poem--as some of my Facebook "friends" seemed to note. Writing and posting it made me feel better about the death of our coffee pot.  It isn't great poetry; know that.  So the comment about how I shouldn't quit my day job was, I felt, kinda' inappropriate--not inappropriate in a bad way.  I just felt misunderstood (like an inarticulate teenager feels when she's not really trying that hard to state anything profound, and yet still hopes it comes off that way, just the same).

Must poetry be great in order to make one happy?
What's wrong with writing something a little crappy?
I believe I will aspire to be a bad poet.
I hope that I don't blow it.
Sometimes a bad day deserves bad poetry.
What's the crime in that?

My Linux Ate Your Apple: Now it's Sick

Recently, I set out to buy a computer. I have particular desires for this computer: power, the ability to edit high quality video, and happiness.  I am familiar with all three of the more commonly known operating systems, so this decision (I knew) would not come lightly.

It has been fairly well established that Apple operating systems are superior to Windows operating systems. If you don't believe me, take a look at Chris Pirillo's "50 Reasons to Switch from Microsoft Windows to Apple's Mac OS X" as just one excellent summation of this argument.

The fact is, however, that Linux still struggles to compete with both Windows and Apple.  The average buyer (particularly the average geek) seems to be lazy (for lack of a better word), wanting something familiar (even if it is actually uncanny in a creepy, nagging sort of way).  Users of MS Windows are addicted, willing to suffer the side-effects of numerous viruses and other attacks upon their hard-drives, willing to suffer the limitations to creative computing imposed by weak imitations of Apple's user-friendliness. The real debate should be, now, between Apple and Linux.

One of the central arguments that Linux geeks put forward is the case for free software, as put out by the Free Software Foundation; however, that argument is not universally supported by all Linux users.  In fact, many Linux users are promoters of Open Source, as explained by the Open Source Initiative.  Having checked the most recent price of Final Cut Pro, I was ready to try something new, especially if it was going to be cheaper!  However, at last September's Ohio Linux Festival, I found myself both intrigued: such a friendly atmosphere, such intelligent and confident people, such logic, what wonder, hallelujah!

I also knew that Linux is rapidly replacing Apple editing software in the film industry (see, for example,  "Disney, Dreamworks, and ILM Experts Reveal Linux Secrets this Month in LA"). Also, politically, I hate this copyright obsession, which has forgotten the original purpose of ownership laws and instead exploits such laws to limit accessibility to only those with the most dollars.  (For a lovely explanation of how corporate media industry has abused copyright protection, see "A Fair(y) Use Tale"--an animated dare made to Disney.)

Ultimately, however, I was disappointed.  I saw a demonstration of KDE video editing, which certainly seemed better than Microsoft's film editor, and clearly less complicated than the latest, disastrous, version of iMovie. However, it was still a bit glitchy and did not have the power of even the older, usable version of iMovie (iMovie 6), much less the numerous and complex capabilities of Final Cut Pro.  And, after much internal struggle, I bought an Apple and the latest version of Final Cut Pro.  It will probably be my last Apple computer.

Five years from now, however, I'm sure that I will be completely switching over to Linux.   Then again, maybe I'll go with something else that is out there on the horizon, such as BSD?  Life is a mystery.

The FreeBSD Project

What Schools Should be Teaching You

Cracked.com published an article back in June, 2010 on "The 10 Most Important Things They Didn't Teach You in School"

This is all very nice, but makes me think the question: why must these things be taught in school?  Why are schools held responsible for life lessons?

I remember once reading an edition of Henry J. Perkinson's book The Imperfect Panacea: American Faith in Education, which (if I remember correctly) argued that the American society has placed too much responsibility upon the public education system--so much so that the true purpose of public education (the development of  skills in reading, writing, mathematics, history, etc.) has become lost.

Certainly schools should be teaching us a lot, but teaching us life lessons? No.  I think such lessons should come from community and family.

The Importance of Ritual Cleansing

If I stay honest and do not back-date my blogs, you might notice that I haven't written on here for several months--over half-a-year, actually.  I do know that at least two people were reading this blog, and one of these two readers even approached me about why I stopped.  There were a lot of little reasons, most of which added to the main reason: I was becoming too stressed.  However, I do not see the point in sharing all my personal and professional "dirt" with the general public; I've successfully tamped down the stress by eliminating certain contributing factors. Where have I been?  I have been at "home" within myself, "cleaning house" because I was long over-due for a ritual personal and professional cleansing.

I'm not a religious person.  In fact, I'm a secular humanist/environmentalist; however, most institutionalized religions practice something that can be quite powerful--so powerful, that even industrial and education institutions have adapted it.   In other words, I (once again) realized the importance of maintaining ritual, a way of maintaining the illusion of control over one's life. Rituals help make happen whatever it is that you want to happen.  From daily rituals of self-cleansing, eating, exercising to weekly rituals of doing bills and the budget, cleaning the house, and cleaning up the dog poop in the yard--such patterns of life-living not only provide a structure upon which to build, but also a structure from which to generate chaos.

Yes, with ritual construction, I believe there must also be ritual destruction.  I'm thinking, now, about my attic and the fact that it has been deprived of its annual clearing out of junk that was stashed up there because I or someone else in the house just couldn't quite let go of it at the time: shoes, printers, old toys--even CANDY!  To the garbage it all must go.

And speaking of clearing attics, there is also the spiritual attic to consider.  As someone who does not believe in gods or spirits, I have to make clear that when I write of the "spiritual attic," I am writing of an mental/emotional metaphorical attic. (Maybe some of us have a basement, and maybe some of have both, and maybe others have even more than these "spaces," and maybe some of us are really shallow and have neither.)  Whatever we have--and I think I have an emotional/mental attic, basement and garage--many of us keep filling these "spaces" with emotional and mental treasures, as well as garbage.


And that, folks, in a nutshell, is what I have been doing since late April: clearing out emotional and mental garbage (from unfinished work to unfinished personal business) from my mental/emotional attic, basement, and (oh yes) the shed. 

Having performed this major deconstructive task, which hadn't been done in YEARS, I feel ready for the new year (only by coincidence), ready to pick up the ritual practices of construction again.


See you next Sunday!