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That my students need this kind of help has nothing to do with intelligence. They are all studying at the Masters level, and many will go on to do their PhDs. Through no fault of their own, however, many of them have never -- or hardly ever -- used a computer. Learning to use a computer is a bit like learning to ride a bike -- it’s all skill based. Do it and you learn it. If you’ve never done it before, it’s tricky, and it can take a while before you get the hang of it. The only way to learn is to climb on board -- and it helps if you’re shown the right way from the start. I noticed one student today using the Caps Lock key every time she had to type an uppercase character. I’d shown her a few minutes before how to use the Shift key, but she’d already gotten used to using the Caps Lock key, so she kept doing it the way she’d figured out for herself. Habits, once formed, are hard to change. Day One, I should have shown everyone this basic stuff, but that’s all water under the bridge now. There are a few students -- maybe 5 out of 50 -- who’ve had lots of experience using computers. They’ve become my teaching assistants. They’re not learning much about computers, but they are learning how to teach, and that’s as it should be. Not that the problems are all of my own making. The way the computer lab is set up leaves much to be desired. The computers are not networked; there’s no server controlling everything. Nor are they locked down in any way. Students can do whatever they please. They can install or delete programs, for example, on their stand-alone machines. I’m not worried about my own students messing around; I’m always with them in the lab. But we have Masters of Computer Applications and Electrical Engineering students who use the lab outside of class time. They are programmers who surely know a thing or two about computers. In fact, I know they do because they’re constantly tweaking the interface -- the Windows OS theme -- changing the cursor, the screen resolution, the color scheme, and so forth. It’s a free-for-all in there! Grrrrrrrr….
To make matters worse, quite a few of the 50 computers in the lab don’t have the same software installed on them. It’s something of a lottery when you log on. Like… “Hmmmm…. I wonder what I’ll find on here today." I checked out each computer, noting which ones don’t have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which ones are missing Microsoft Office, which ones behave weirdly for reasons unknown. Those missing Acrobat Reader, I’ve fixed by installing it myself. Microsoft Office is a whole different matter, so I’ve pasted a note on each of the ill-configured machines so my students don’t waste time booting them up. The fact is, I’ve been spoiled, coming as I do from a university in the United States where the computer systems I use with the students are set up and maintained by a team of technicians who take care of everything for me. My U.S. students, too, in most cases have been using computers for years. Even non-traditional, older students, at least have used computers at home or on the job before deciding to return to school to get their degree. I feel badly for my students here in Tirupati because I know I could have done a better job. But we’re managing and we’re getting along. One of the phrases I shared with them early on is “No problems, only solutions!" I even had them teach me how to say it in Telugu, the local language of Andhra Pradesh. So here it is, for the record: Samassyalú levú, paríshkaralú matramáy. No problems, only solutions! I’ll do my best; I haven’t given up by any means.
Author Name: Bernie Poole 02/20/2007
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