May 24, 2008


Computer-Directed Learning?

Last night I had occasion to reflect on something I’ve pondered off and on through recent years. Around midnight I stopped by clusterflock and discovered a bizarro clusterflock in which posts I’d read a few hours earlier had vanished and at least one old post had merged with a brand-new one. So I stepped into the back office to see whether I could figure out what was up.

Turned out it was just a few extraneous symbols within a recent post’s code, and I managed to restore order. But that’s not what prompted my reflection.

What struck me was something I observe more and more frequently. Although I’m indisputably ignorant of much of the tech stuff that seems to be expected today of job applicants in all fields and at all levels of experience, I’m the de facto IT person in our household. Though Jon has a deeper theoretical understanding of how computers in general actually work, when difficulties arise, I’m the fix-it person. However, I can rarely explain or reconstruct the steps I took to fix anything. “Now — what did you just do?” he’ll ask. “I don’t remember.” “Why did you do that?” “I don’t know.” Not that we’re talking any sophisticated troubleshooting or problem-solving here, but what it means, I fear, is that the machines are training me to think like them. I am becoming one with Hal 9000.

posted by Sheila Ryan in education, intelligence, observations, teaching, technology 

comments

5 Responses to “Computer-Directed Learning?”

  1. Daryl Scroggins on May 24th, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    I know what you mean. I’m getting better at what young people–who seem to be born with the skill–say to do: “Just click around until you see what the solution would have to be.” It helps, too, that at this point in my life I don’t give a shit if I break something.

  2. Sheila Ryan on May 24th, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    Not only did I cease to worry about ‘breaking something’ eons ago, I no longer try to understand ‘why’. Unlike Jon, who tries to take it all the way back to Alan Turing.

  3. Andrew Simone on May 24th, 2008 at 6:33 pm

    Jon and I would get along, I think.

  4. Sheila Ryan on May 24th, 2008 at 6:38 pm

    Oh, I think so, too, Andrew! Come clusterflockstock, y’all two can prolly conspire to take it all back to from where it started.

  5. Andrew Simone on May 24th, 2008 at 11:52 pm

    Well, then I can’t wait. It’s official: I can’t wait for clusterflockstock

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