The Becker Blog

Perhaps I should be more forgiving of people who really don’t know how to use “technology” yet. I try very hard to do that – when it is someone like my mother who’s never really had any need or use for it besides being able to surf the web and communicate with family.

BUT, we are rapidly getting to the point where NOT having access to the web and not having an email account is equivalent to living in North America in the 60’s and not having a telephone. Come ON.

I can also understand when someone who doesn’t really have any need to use the system in ways other than the ones described for my mom doesn’t know how to create and publish stuff online. Why should they? (Although I could also argue that this being the modern world and all, being able to do that is roughly equivalent to being able to write a traditional letter 40 years ago. So, get with it!)

These are mere annoyances. The ones that REALLY burn my toast are academics and administrative assistants who work in universities and colleges. I mean really. This isn’t rocket science. It’s been decades now since we started to be able to scan things, create and edit e-documents, and send emails (it’s been possible to do email at universities way longer than it’s been possible for the general public).

Here are a few items that top my list of bugs:

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5 Lessons Professors Can Learn From Video Games -

Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education

Nice article.

via 5 Lessons Professors Can Learn From Video Games – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The author suggests we might be in the “third level” of video games inside the ivory tower, one where people are

recognizing that games are often not the best tools in an educational setting, but when they are, they should carefully balance substance and sport.

At that level, it’s possible to deconstruct video games, looking for takeaways that professors can try in their own teaching, whether or not they ever pick up a joystick or click “play.”

I have some comment son each of those parts:

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Students failing because of Twitter, texting – Canada – Canoe.ca

“Thirty per cent of students who are admitted are not able to pass at a minimum level,” says Ann Barrett, managing director of the English language proficiency exam at Waterloo University.

“What has happened in high school that they cannot pass our simple test of written English, at a minimum?” she asks.

Even those with good marks out of Grade 12, so-called elite students, “still can’t pass our simple test,” she says.

via Students failing because of Twitter, texting – Canada – Canoe.ca.

I’m not really surprised. I’ve been teaching a technical writing course to 1st year engineers and many of them have poorer writing skills than my son did when he was 10. To be fair, some are quite good, but many (more than half, I’d say) are careless with their writing and proofreading.

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