I know this is long, but give it a chance, you're an English major for goodness sake

So I went to see Frank Warren speak at the SUB tonight and it was awesome. If you don't know, he is the guy who has compiled thousands upon thousands of postcards sent to him by anonymous people from around the world, confessing their deepest, darkest secrets that they have never told anyone. There's also much more to Frank and what he does than just that. He's a really amazing guy and the experience was truly moving.

Aaaaannnyyyway, that was just a set up for what I'm going to say about my experience with distance learning. I've never really talked about it with anyone because I feel really dumb and embarrassed about it. I have taken two online courses at Tech: English and Spanish. Both were a few years ago, before I took a break from school. I completely failed both because I just did not do anything. Little homework. Never studied. Did bad on the tests. I just didn't do anything because nobody told me to. I never saw a teacher except for during a few examinations. I would like to think that if I took an online course now the result would be different. I'm more mature, more responsible, more motivated. But who knows. I might just be the kind of person who NEEDS the personal interaction with an instructor. I enjoy that. At Mass Comm we really become friends with our professors and instructors and I think the learning experience is richer and more thorough because of it.

On the topic of TOPIC, I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I CLEPed the freshman english courses and never had to mess with that. I remember going to freshman english the first couple days and thinking, this is gonna suck. Then someone told me I could take a test and skip it so I did. I do wonder if the experience could have been valuable. Like Kevin said, no matter what you learned something from TOPIC, even if all you learned was that "TOPIC is the DEVIL!"

The MOO day was probably the least fun I've had in class this semester. Not to say it wasn't sort of entertaining and yes, I learned something, but it was not as good as sitting around the table and listening to Kevin lecture (which I think he is quite good at) or discussing the day's topic amongst each other.

"Actively composing the world." That sounds very dynamic and exciting doesn't it? I don't know. I think that is what our generation should be doing. I think the world, especially this country, is suffering from a lack of youthful opinions and ideas. I think the old dudes who are running things are way out of touch. It's great that there are outlets for our thoughts. Of course this can also be dangerous if the people pushing their thoughts the hardest have ulterior motives. It's just like the comic that Keen talks about in the reading for today; these dogs are on the internet and one says, "On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog." It's hard to know what is the truth and what is shiny graphics and animation with a false message, perpetrated by lowly dogs.

the internet machine, cellular telephones and other wonderful inventions of the future

I have mixed feelings about the internet. On one hand, it rocks. If I hear a good song on the radio in the morning, I can usually have it on my iPod in time for my walk to class. I almost never have to use a stamp and I barely get any paper mail. I can research pretty much anything and even use the school's resources remotely. It's an awesome tool that I can't imagine not having.

I do think kids lose part of the whole experience of education when it becomes so easy and passive to collect information. I remember when I was in elementary school and I would go to my grandma's house at night to use her encyclopedia's to do research for a paper. I remember taking the bus to the public library in junior high. When I got my first computer in high school, I didn't have to go anywhere anymore and I found out very quickly that it's much less fun to sit in one place and be able to accomplish the entire assignment. There is something much more satisfying and organic about getting out into the world and learning something.

Technology cannot replace the teacher. Kids will always need to congregate together to recieve instruction from an educated shaper of minds. I think teachers need to come up with ways for their students to use the technology to their advantage, but without sacrificing the physical act of gaining information in person.

It's hard to say that technology isn't convenient, fun and extremely useful, but it can get annoying. My cell phone feels like a ball and chain every now and then. It's like I can't hide from anyone and sometimes it's nice to be unreachable.

Wikipedia rocks because anyone can contribute or challenge the information. Who says the guys who put encyclopedia's and other reference materials together know anything. I like that some guy in Montana who might be a little off his rocker, but knows how to make a bomb out of household chemicals and cow manure, can get online and share with us his invaluable knowledge. Obviously that is a joke, but you get the idea.