Understand me when I say that I don't lie to the students in my computer classes, but sometimes they ask things that they aren't going to understand even if I properly explain them, so I give them the you are very old and can't remember how to use your mouse and you don't need to understand the difference between RAM and ROM and I can't remember exactly what they stand for at the moment because I never discuss them outside this setting and let's just agree that they're both forms of memory answer. It's much harder to give these answers when I have a young whipper-snapper who likes exactitude in question answering as a volunteer in my classroom. If I refrain myself from teaching Tuey that turtles say, "Yibbetty Chee!" (doesn't everyone want to teach little kids the wrong sounds for animals?), I think I should be able to take some creative license with computing acronyms. It's a lesser form of evil.
(And I don't want any comments about Random Access Memory and Read-Only Memory. My bright-eyed, perky-pantsed assistant remembered them.)
4 comments:
I was so excited at my last internet basics class, because everyone who came knew how to use a mouse. They didn't know much else, but they understood the connection between the plastic mouse in their hand and the pointer on the screen, and they even knew not to try and use the scroll button to click on links. I think that is a first, even though "basic mouse skills and familiarity with Windows" are listed as a prerequisite in the brochure.
That was the same class that demanded to know where I worked in the library, so they could come and ask me any internet/computer questions they had. When I suggested they just come into the computer lab and ask the computer lab assistants for help they all reacted in unison horror, as if computer lab assistants are the spawn of hell, or have some loathsome, catching disease. It was flattering that they thought I was worth asking technical questions after they had to sit through my babbling for an hour, but being their personal tech go-to guy could get old really fast.
As far as misleading my computer classes goes, I often pretend that the World Wide Web and the internet are synonymous, because the only part of the internet my students are going to encounter is contained in or is accessed through web pages. I am not paid enough to try to explain what FTP is or the difference between SSL, S-HTTP and TLS to a beginning internet crowd. (The very idea is making me hyperventilate. Breathe! Breathe! It's only a bad dream!)
Wow! Patrons who can use a mouse. That sounds like paradise to me. I made the mistake of mentioning to this class that the Internet and the web aren't they same thing and it just made their brains start to melt. It's just those situations when the not-a-lie-but-not-a-real-answer answers become so important.
First off, you have an assistant. Score. Second, I think you need to find someone to give you a hug.
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