Free To Be.

Internet

Before my mom and I went to South Africa last September we tried to tell everyone we knew that we probably wouldn't be able to check our email during the trip (like we do on every other trip). However, we hadn't told one person who happened to email me about a volunteer thing that she thought I would be interested in doing. We were actually able to check our email once and I noticed that there were two emails from the woman. She had sent me two emails because she thought I hadn't gotten the first one since I hadn't responded in a couple days! Now, this isn't because this woman wants to hear five seconds after she sends the email or anything, it's because I check my email like every 10 minutes every single day! So this story sort of flows into what I want to say about how everyone expects everything to go fast on the internet. I keep checking this blog to see if anyone's commented and I think it's been so long but I posted my last post just last Monday so I shouldn't expect to have like 10 comments or anything! If this was an in-person seminar then I wouldn't expect Scott to return all my homework assignments to me early or anything, it's just because it's online and I'm online practically all the time so I expect everyone else to be as well! Another thing that's interesting in this online seminar is seeing when students do their work. It's easy to tell since when everyone posts their assignments in the comments area you can see the time and day they posted it. If this was an in-person class would everyone who posts early now do their work early even if the teacher didn't know they did their work a week early? And do people care that the times and dates show up on when they turn in their assignment? I know that recently I've been posting the assignments usually on Sunday when they're due Sunday, but that's mainly been because I haven't been at home any weekends recently (I don't mean that as an excuse, it's the truth! : ) ). Also, something else that I'm wondering about is how many people in this seminar have computers at home? I shouldn't assume that everyone does. And if there are any people who don't have computers at home, how many times a day or week do you check your blog and Scott's blogs? What's really nice about having a laptop is that if I'm at a cafe or library with wireless I can just hook up to the internet, but not everyone has that privilege and most libraries with computers with internet aren't open that late. I know that with signing up for this seminar, or any online class, the student is saying that they have access to a computer with internet so I know that everyone in this seminar does have access some way. I've sort of been rambling, but I think that's the way the best ideas come out! [EDIT: I just wanted to say that I'm typing this in the UCSB library right now and I typed my assignment for the Blogosphere yesterday in the Santa Barbara city library and in Borders!]

posted by Cassie @ 2/19/2006 04:02:00 PM