When I was posting the podcast in the last entry I stumbled into a familiar problem for me. I’ve made several different types of recordings and posted them in different ways, but never a podcast. So I did it the way I thought I should and it DIDN’T WORK. Tried another way with the same results.
OK, I’m a digitizen, I can Google directions. Great…let’s read this…huh? Well, I’ll try a different link…wait a second this is telling me to do something different…OK, I’ll try this…nope. OK this site just wants me to buy something. What do they mean by that? OK, here’s some free software…this should do it…what, this is harder than the directions…AAAAAAHHH DIE DIE DIE!!!!
Ultimately I posted the podcast, and it works, but not exactly the way I want it to.
The thing is I don’t think the direction pages were wrong. The problem is with me. I know a lot about technology, including some fairly advanced topics, but there are HUGE GAPS in my knowledge.
It’s like I understand tech from A to Z (that’s probably overstating it…more like A to Q), but I never learned C, F, H, I, M, and P. Like most in my generation I’ve learned by doing (and usually not reading directions), so there’s no system to my knowledge.
The problems with my “system” are many. Many times I am ultimately successful in doing what I want, but it’s not the best or more efficient way. Likewise my stumbling around approach often makes it hard for me to remember how I did it when I try the next time (too often someone asks me to show them how to do something and I can’t unless I sit at a machine and dither for a bit). By “bleeping” over the unknown terms and concepts, I’m also blocking my progress.
Sometimes I wish I could take a beginner’s class. I’d be the person in the back of the room continually muttering, “Doh, why didn’t I think of that!”
I don’t think I’m alone in this. The nature of the web has encouraged autodidacts. Many of the students we teach will be in the same boat. So while we will be able to assume a great deal of tech knowledge and proficiency in our students, we have to remember that they too probably learned the alphabet with some letters missing.
P.S. While I wrote this entry in a Starbucks, a man sat near me and took out his netbook. We looked at each other and nodded knowingly. This IS the future!