When technology gets sick

I am not a luddite. Sometimes though, technology pisses me off. I teach a graduate course on Academic Libraries and part of the course delivery is through WebCT, an online course software. That was for you Auntie Annie. Last week my course disappeared, at least from the student perspective. I was happily oblivious and had no idea until students started contacting me. This may not have been a crisis if it hadn't happened during the last few weeks of the class. Anxious students were concerned that they wouldn't have access to course materials so that they could study. Knowing that even though they have an open book final many of them would appreciate being able to see the course lecture notes and to ensure that they have all the appropriate readings.

Thanks to several of my more technologically advanced colleagues, I realized that a wiki would work in the interim until the course returned. (which it still hasn't) In any case this serves as a real world example of how commercial products frequently don't work as promised. The IT people responsible for the program are scratching their heads and have been very good about providing updates. As in, "we still don't know what happened but we are working on it," and "this has never happened before," and "WebCT isn't supposed to do that." My friend Jane has frequently critiqued ALA for using commercial products when open source programs can do as well or better. In my current situation I have to concur. My class wiki is functioning as courseware and so far my class doesn't seem the worse for wear.

Death and Reflection

Sometimes when we have lost our perspective events occur that help us find it again. My mother contacted me to tell me that a school friend of my brother has died. Darcy was 32.

We had a shared childhood that I don't believe exists anymore. We were a roving pack of children who moved freely and without thought of danger. Our pack incorporated all age ranges and genders and it seems now that the socialization processes that occurred within that group were an anthropologist's dream. We learned about fairness, protecting those who needed protecting, and rebuking those whom we needed protection from.

Our lives were linked through school, scouting, and sports. I am sure when I go home at Christmas that I could look through any one of our photo albums from that era and see pictures of Darcy and his twin brother Duane at birthdays or in Halloween costumes. Having lost my older brother to suicide about nine years ago, I believe I understand their loss. 32 is far too young to say goodbye and at future family events there will always be a hole where Darcy was.
In time, the feeling of loss will decrease but there is no way to fill the next 32 years with new memories of Darcy. In the end the Darcy I will remember is a slight kid who never seemed to lack energy and had the brightest smile, as if he had just discovered the most amazing secret.

Marking

In academic libraries we talk all the time about measuring learning. What are the outcomes that we are looking for with each instruction session? Most of the time we are too rushed to seriously contemplate assessing our instruction session. This semester, more than most, has been a series of flurried actions. Planning three graduate classes in different subject areas that last an hour and a half in the space of a week had me gasping particularly hard.

So, it is a luxury when I have the opportunity to teach my semester length course on Academic Libraries. I enjoy working with graduate students when the possibility of extended discussions that are not a faint fantasy. However, my empathy for faculty always spikes when it comes to assessing my very own graduate students. I understand my faculty's frustration about poorly written answers on exams and papers that seem to meander widely without addressing the stated topic.

I need to practice my empathy skills when I first look at a pile of papers to mark. It wasn't long ago that I was on the other side of the rubric. Measuring learning is not as simple as applying a rubric to blog post or presentation. Personal writing needs to be evaluated on how far the writer has come from their first stumbling attempts as well. Did the technology cause the student to not explore ideas as fully? How will I know? It is moments like this that I realize that teaching needs to address the affective as well as the intellectual. Have I seen growth in the student's work and how does that balance with essays that don't quite meet the given grading criteria?

These are questions that I hope I will wrestle with for the rest of my career for the day I believe I know what the perfect essay looks like will be a day when I have my lost my willingness to explore the possibilities of personal development and exploration.

Faith renewed

This past weekend I headed out to Las Vegas planning to enjoy myself and taking some time to just relax. Unfortunately, someone decided that my wallet looked far too lonely in my bag and took it away for some bonding time. This is course happened at the airport after the security checkpoints but before getting on a plane. Meaning I have no way of remembering or running home to get all of those pesky credit card/debit card numbers and other miscellaneous forms of plastic. So armed with a cell phone and borrowed pen I set out to salvage the weekend.

First helpful person that I encountered was the gate agent who urged me to not give up my seat until the very last minute just in case I resolved my bank stuff in time. He was later responsible for getting me a standbye seat for a not much later flight. Thank you anonymous gate agent I wish that I had gotten your name to commend you to your supervisors.

Second helpful person was an extraordinarily patient woman at Capital One Bank. I know that all their advertising can get a tad annoying but they went above and beyond for me. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to go at all if I didn't have some form of credit card I asked if they would send an emergency replacement card to my hotel in Las Vegas. They said yes it would be there the next day! I was shocked but very pleased.

Third helpful person was the husband of my husband and wife seatmates on my standby flight. He talked to me so sweetly and was so generous of heart that he nearly made my cry. Upon parting at the airport he insisted on ensuring that my luggage was there from the earlier flight. He also pressed his business card on me and told me to call him if I needed anything. He apparently also has the perfect guy for me so I will be calling you Ben.

Last but definitely not least, was my friend Richard who was getting married the next day. He paid for a cab from the airport to the Moroccan restaurant where he was having dinner. He also ensured that I was fed and secured my hotel room with his credit card until my emergency Visa arrived. I am so glad that I was able to attend your wedding after all and I hope that you are still enjoying your honeymoon.

I know that its a corny saying but crisis does bring out the best in most people. Even though I was thinking hurtful things about whomever stole my wallet it was the small kindnesses of others that took away the sting. From the bus driver in Vegas who let me on even though I was fifty cents short to those who made sure that I had rides to and from wedding events, I give thanks.

Wheeeee!

Well its a rare day when I can look at the newspaper and smile. I have to admit I enjoyed reading the stories today about the Democrats taking back Congress. Even better was Tom Delay's seat (eventually) going to a Democrat. And the sugar on top was the first female speaker of the house.

I know that as a Canadian my interest in American politics is a little extreme but one things Canadians understand early on is that events in the US always eventually impact Canada. I was probably the only teenager I knew that watched the Iran Contra Congressional hearings as much as possible. I think I asked my mom if we could get C-SPAN from our cable company. This was before CNN ever existed so I had to piece together my information from multiple channels.

So I find it interesting that Robert Gates, who was the CIA Deputy Director under George Bush Senior is now Bush's defense secretary nominee replacing Donald Rumsfield who "resigned" today. Gates played a minor role in the Iran-Contra scandal but would have had some knowledge of the inner CIA workings. This role is what prevented him from being successfully nominated as CIA Director by Bush Senior.

Plus ca change, plus rest la meme.