When I was teaching I used PowerPoint, which I managed fine without looking at any screen except the big projected the students also saw, but one time in five there was some glitch with the set up that cost us five or so minutes.
Have you ever noticed in TV shows where characters use computers and the fate of the world, or at least Los Angeles, is at stake as the counter ticks down in the final thirty seconds that no one ever has a computer crash, or freeze, or get the blue screen of death? I can't even transfer pictures on my MacBook without the risk of local disaster and hours on the help line.
Sent from my iPad
On Nov 24, 2012, at 11:06 PM, "Chuck Grimes" <cagrimes42 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Cursive? Calculators? Computers?
>
> I am not the slightest impressed with computers this and that, especially in school. Learning how to write is to command the language. Now if your disabled, fine use whatever works.
>
> And another thing. I watch a fair number of lectures and find it particularly annoying when the speaker is looking at his/her laptop and fiddling with digital presentations. Unless they are in a real science, they usually can't manage their own graphics. It's just annoying.
>
> I am with Joanna on this one for the simple and obvious reason that it's a skill you need to own with as few technological intermediaries as possible.
>
> I had a real life lesson just last year when I wanted handwritten work orders because I could control them and track parts, labor, and who worked on what---without a fancy inventory and billing program the org wouldn't buy. The receptionist was a recent LA County School graduate and her handwriting was that loopy stuff teenage girls like. It was illegiable. In fact everybody's writing sucked except me and Cesare who was from Chile. It was ridiculous how much basic office work I had to teach, since everybody was on the computer.
>
> My problem was that their computers were part of another company's system, so they were not used to doing daily tracking of the work flow. What happened last week was out in nowhereland called `the computer'.... Oh we can use Excel or some generic small business software that of course we didn't have and were not going to get ...
>
> ``On the 2006 SAT, a United States post-secondary education entrance exam, only 15 percent of the students wrote their essay answers in cursive''
>
> Pathetic. I use notebooks and pens all the time and need to read them.
>
> For some reason I can't believe this is even an issue. How are you supposed to take notes in class, do math and science problems, keep lab books, etc?
>
> And what are all these kids going to do after the big one, in the great afterglow... ?
>
> CG
>
>
>
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