San Diego 2010

Originally uploaded by dr.coop

Well, I haven’t blogged in a while, so I’m just going to try and see if I can still do it. I went to the SITE (Society for Information Technology and Teacher Ed) conference last week. C was able to tag along since she can work from anywhere, and what better place to work from than San Diego in spring. So we hung out in the late afternoon and evenings, and I attended the conference sessions during the morning and afternoon.

There wasn’t much special about this conference. It was interesting, however, just a bit different from the usual conferences I attend. This one focused on teacher education and the use of technology in those programs. I’m not in teacher education, but most of the topics the sessions covered were relevant to regular education as well. I can say that I learned a few new things, but this was a bit of a stressful trip.

The biggest thing that stressed me out was being away from school for so long and not having internet access. Sure the conference had wifi and the hotel did as well, but my school doesn’t pay for internet access when on trips likes this. So basically that means as an online instructor, I have to cancel class for the week or pay out of my own pocket. $15 x 4 days = $60. On principle I refused to do that. If my college feels that not being in contact with the students and work for a whole week is the best solution, why not give it a shot.

Let me just say not answering an email (I get them on my phone) from a student is akin to just walking by someone in a grocery store who has just dropped a bunch of oranges. You just have to stop and help pick them up. Normally if I’m busy, I will just hold those emails until I get in front of a computer, but I had to answer on the phone or while I was at the conference since that is when I had wifi on my netbook. It was a pain in the butt. I couldn’t really concentrate on the sessions because I had a constant stream of email. I tried to ignore them, but I couldn’t. So much for me proving a point. I ended up losing all around on that deal. Stressed the whole first day and night I was there, and then eventually broke down and spent my own money on wifi access to work for two days. Skipped half a day of the conference to work the fourth day. Seems so pointless for the school to pays hundreds of dollars for me to attend a conference, but not pay for something as essential as wifi and parking.

Yeah, don’t get me started on parking. I spent $60 on shuttles and cabs, which the school will reimburse, instead of just parking at the airport for $24. That extra $36 could have paid for 2 days of internet in San Diego. Come on GCC. It’s 2010. We teach online and hybrid classes now. You pay for subs for regular teachers, but you make me pay to teach while I’m away? That’s so not fair.

Oh goodness. Straight people just don’t get it. It’s about equal rights, not separate but equal. We’ve already proven that didn’t work in the 60′s. So I can protect my gay family by hiring a lawyer and spending lots of money to fill out the paper work so my insurance, retirement savings and property go to my family if I were to die, and give my partner permission to make medical decisions for me and even visit me in the hospital should I become seriously ill. A straight couple can just get married. How is that equal? Even then there are some things that can’t be covered legally. Take social security for instance. I’ve worked my ass off for 25 years paying into the system. If I were to die tomorrow, my family gets nothing. Your dad dies tomorrow (God forbid) and his wife and children get benefits from social security. How is that equal?

My company pays domestic partner benefits for me and my family, but because we are not married, those benefits are paid to me and I am then taxed on those benefits. Then the district takes the money back to pay for our medical insurance. What that does is put me in a higher tax bracket, so I end up paying more taxes. Married couples have their benefit costs subtracted before taxes. Is that equal? Not.

Now I think that the institution of marriage should be thrown out for everyone and civil unions should be implemented in its place. Marriage is an institution established in churches. People choose to get married in churches. They follow the beliefs of their respective religions. Their bibles say homosexuality is wrong, along with a whole slew of other sins that nobody seems to care about any more. And what about separation of church and state? What about the 3rd Amendment: Freedom of religion, which basically says I’m free to choose religion or not, and that no law “respecting an establishment of religion” can be made by Congress. There must be some fine print on the Bill of Rights saying “except for in the case of same sex marriage.”

So that was my argument, albeit short, but that is how I feel about marriage. I will be voting no on Proposition 102 in November.

People in education are always saying that the today’s students are the millennials, digital natives, born on technology and live on technology. Well, I’m here to say, it ain’t so. At least not my students. My students don’t have computers at home. They don’t text. They don’t chat. And email is not the necessity that it should be for a group that is touted as digital natives. I just don’t see it.

Here’s an example that really befuddles me – my own step son. Yep. He lives in my house and none of my techno savvy(ness) has rubbed off. How many 16 year olds do you know that don’t have a MySpace account? or an email address? I know; it’s unbelievable, but it’s true. Nada. I created an email account for him so he could use iTunes to buy music, but I’m pretty sure he’s never sent or received an email other than the iTunes Tuesday thingy that everyone gets. My bet is that his mail box is full of those. But I digress. What was this post about anyway?

Ah Yes, recreating me because my students just don’t get. I’ve been creating screencasts, podcasts and vodcast of my lectures and in class demonstrations, showing students how to do everything from check messages on the course network to how to do and upload an assignment. I can’t decide if this is a service or a disservice though. I mean I get the strangest questions from students.

Here’s what happened yesterday. I lectured for an hour about how to do the first two assignments. I walked them through the process of how to do it and how to use the technology  del.icio.us & Bedford Bibliographer). I mean I went through step by step. Then I showed them where the screencast was that would demonstrate the same principles in case they missed or forgot something – a recreation of me. Then today I get a phone call from a student who asked me two questions that were clearly explained in both the in class lecture and the screencast. Was she not listening? Was she even there? I had to ask. She said she was in class.

Sometimes I feel like I’m spoiling students by being too accommodating. Should I have responded that the student should go back and watch the screencast. I mean I did create it for that purpose. But I’m sure the problem is the technology. This student doesn’t have a computer at home. She can’t watch it. Others just don’t want to bother. It’s too complicated, so they say. I don’t have this or that. Digital natives my ass. I just don’t see it. At least not at my school. So I’ll just continue to recreate myself and hopefully someday those digital natives will show up and appreciate the effort I’ve made to create a technology rich environment in which to learn.

Although yesterday was a blurr, and somehow I got wrapped up in a Twitter tornado and tweeted all day with people I don’t even know. Interesting. I don’t understand how people can follow hundreds of other people. That’s just plain madness. I’m having a hard time keeping up with the 23 I follow. Some are interesting, and others I’m still trying to figure out. Many have a goal of making the Twitterboard, which is a sign that you have lots of followers and you have lots to say to them. I’m more interested in finding an interesting comment or link to explore. But there is something intriguing about wondering who a person is, what they do for a living, where they live. I feel like a stalker. It’s weird.

My favorite twitterers are the ones who throw out a morsel of information here and there, yet remain mysterious to the public. I also like the twitterer who is doing something new and exciting online and sends a link to join or check it out. I’ve discovered a lot of new things online via Twitter this way.

I’m still trying to figure out how Twitter will work for me. I’ve tried the throwing out morsels rout and I’ve tried the chitchat rout as well. The latter is a lot of work, especially if you feel compelled to respond to everyone who posts something. Isn’t that what IM is for? I think of Twitter as more of an abstract conversation where people respond to a post, not directly, but indirectly with another post that might be similarly related. Yes, that’s it. That’s how I want to use Twitter.

So that’s not to say that I don’t enjoy the most prolific twitterers out there. They’re all quite amusing actually, but I can’t say that I can keep up. I just watch in awe as the stream of tweets continually scrolls up on my Twitterrific widget and the incessant bird chirp rings through the speakers. Madness.

Oddly my Twitter universe has been quiet this morning. Not many chirps. I guess these people do have jobs and really do work somewhere. I was wondering about that after yesterday. Many of the people I recently decided to follow are right here in AZ. They’ve even planned an AZTweetUp in January. http://TweetUpAZ.com I’m intrigued. Of course I’ll be there.

This is ironic to me because I don’t like talking to people in real time, yet I constantly talk to people all day online via email, Twitter, Facebook, and this blog. Talking live is over rated. My phone rings and I just look at it. It tells me who’s calling, he/she leaves a messages, and the message shows up as email. Then I listen to it and email or text a reply back, unless it’s my mother. I’ll talk to her because it might be months before she checks her email, and she never turns her cell phone on. I’m not even sure why she has one. She doesn’t even know the number. Okay, this is not about my mother.

Some people might even ask why I have cell phone since I never talk on it. Well, easy; it’s a Blackberry. I’d be in heaven if there was a way to drop the talk minutes and just keep the data plan. Just this weekend, I was in charge of dinner. I was too hungover tired to cook, so I ordered delivery. Instead of picking up the phone and calling Papa John’s, I got online, set up my account, and ordered pizza and wings online. It was great. I didn’t have to talk to a sole. And since I paid online too, including the tip, I just sent our man child to the door to accept our delivery. Best part about that experience was it was all very quick and easy. Unless you already know the phone number and know what you want, you might as well do it online because you have to look up the number and look at the menu before you can order.

So, I’m starting to think this wasn’t such a good post idea after all since I can’t really say what I’ve bought for presents. What if my family is reading? Nah, I doubt it, but just in case, mums is the word. Let’s just say Woot was a big help, along with Buy.com and Google Checkout, and Amazon. In fact, Woot is having a Woot Off as I write this. Non-stop deals.

Good luck with all your shopping. Don’t bother to get me anything.

I’ve got a saint. Yep, I do. Apparently he is Saint Joseph, and he is to be buried in the yard somewhere. Okay, I’ve got a shovel. I can do that. But wait, some say to bury him upside down. Others say bury him in the front yard. Oh boy. Does it have to be so complicated?

I did a Google search for “selling house rituals” and guess what pops up first? Yep, Saint Joseph. The first site listed is the LuckyMojo.com site. And there is a lot more involved than just burying a statue. My goodness. I need oil, candles, herbs, and a photo too. Now this is sure to freak C out. They detail all that we are to do, but here are the last instructions:

Now take up the statue of Saint Joseph and dig a hole in your back yard. If there is no back yard, use the front yard. If there is no yard at all, dig a hole in a large potted plant. Bury the statue upside down, head downward, facing east, in the hole and cover it over. Let the candle burn continually inside until it goes out.

Okay, so where the hell do I find a Saint Joseph’s candle, and a photo, and oil? Dang, I can’t believe I’m even considering this.

Enrollment is down, so classes aren’t filling up, and everyone is in a tizzy. That pretty much sums it up. I’m in a department that has 80% of its courses taught by adjunct, so if my classes don’t make, there are plenty of courses left to choose from. I guess others aren’t so lucky. I don’t know. I just have a hard time taking anyone seriously when I believe I’ve had the answer to our problems for years, and the college is slow to take action. So as they moan and groan about “our students” and lack of classroom space, I just smile and go about my business. I’m a little tired of preaching hybrid and online and no one paying attention.

Best part is they want me to be Faculty Senate President for next year. Right? I don’t agree with the faculty or the administration. Some president elect I’d be.