"Once More Unto the Breach" COLUMN: Challenge of technology
By Ken Schroeder
I have come to the conclusion that technology hates me. One of the two computers in the Apache office refuses to allow me access. Everyone else is ok, it’s just me it has an aversion to. As it turns out, my computer profile here has somehow developed a glitch which rendered it unusable. The computer department assures me they can fix it…
Of course, I’m not alone. I’m sure many of you have watched your instructors struggle with the new hardware in the "smartrooms" on campus. The technology is impressive, and extremely helpful, but more than a few teachers have found operating it a bit perplexing.
What does this have to do with the returning student? Obviously, new leaps in technology are being made daily, and staying on top of it is a tricky thing to do. For those of us returning to school from a previous career, whether as a homemaker, factory worker, or whatever, some of this new technology is bound to throw you a bit off-center.
Twenty years ago when I wrote my first article for the Apache, I wrote it on an old Royal typewriter. Now, I’m sitting at the keyboard of a Dell OptiPlex Gxa while a bag of popcorn cooks up in the microwave behind me and a Compact Disc player drones on in front of me (Jimmy Buffett’s "Beachhouse on the Moon" since you were about to ask).
Is it an improvement? You bet. Does it come without cost? Not quite.
Sure, it’s a lot easier to use a computer with a word processing program to type this out, but those moments when the computer refused to allow me in were frustrating. I’m sure when my turn comes to operate one of the "smartrooms," I’ll have my own problems to wrestle with. (Although I plan on wrestling with one before my first class starts. I’d rather make an ass of myself without witnesses, thank you.)
New and vibrant technologies abound for all of us "older students" to come to grips with here on campus, technologies that we’ll have to use for the rest of our lives.
In the meantime, where did Dr. Lynch hide my old Royal?