Dialed In

Today was a slow, rather bizarre day. To be able to graduate high school, and get my AA, I need to take a credit in Computers. Try as I might, I couldn't place out of it. There is no test or way of showing them I already know how to use a computer. So today I had to take a computer class. Yes, a class on Saturday. Sounds bad enough, but it gets worse. This class was from 8:30am to 5:30pm. A nine hour class learning how to use Microsoft Word 2003. Having Word 2007 which is completely different, this class is basically pointless. Besides, I already know how to bold and italicize.

But it gets more interesting. This class was taught by an instructor in another class. She was in Bremerton, teaching a class there, and teaching us via monitor in Shelton.

It was all quite bizarre. Being a brand new student there, of course my registration didn’t work. I called a tech guy because I couldn’t log onto the computer, he told me to talk to the teacher. Then when I told the teacher, she told me to call the tech guy. I tried to explain, but somewhere over the high-speed connection in our conversation something was lost. She just kept telling me to call the tech guy louder and slower. Eventually though, she ended up calling the tech guy, and things worked out sort of.

As I expected, the class was really easy. I learned a little bit, but not enough to justify taking this class. We were going through a textbook, on my own, I could have finished everything in less than an hour. I am serious. Most of the class I just ended up sitting there. The problem was with a few fellow students, both seen and unseen. There were just a few that should not have been in this class. I mean, they had trouble opening up Word, not to mention trying to use it. The teacher would constantly have to show them what to do again, and log into their computer like big brother and do it for them.

At the beginning of class, we were still discussing how to use a mouse. Right click, left click, the works. Someone in her class where she was asked a question of what to do on one of the problems in the book we hadn’t even nearly begun to get to. We heard her say something about not working ahead, and then she turned off her microphone. We could see her chewing the person out, but we couldn’t hear it, it was hilarious. And when she was done chastising them, she turned back on the microphone and continued like nothing had happened.

All the students had microphones we could turn on if we wanted to talk to the professor, she could also see us on her screen. We could hear and see her, well at least until the connection was lost. But that is a whole different story. After eight hours of people not being able to follow directions, she sort of lost it. She said it was the first time in her 10 years of doing this class that she wasn’t going to be able to finish all the material. She went on a mini-tirade, and several students argued with her and she argued right back.

It was really bizarre being chewed out electronically, I believe it was the first time I have ever been yelled at by a person on a TV screen. I felt sorry for everyone. Those that were too incompetent to be taking this class, those like myself who had to wait for everyone else, but most of all for the teacher. She was so patient for so long, I guess she just couldn’t last the whole nine hours, she made it about eight and a fourth before things fell apart.

I am not sure how the grade things is going to work, as she said, it was the first time in 10 years she didn’t finish. She said people could email her the assignments, but then again she said, “some of you probably don’t even know how to use your email, let alone be able to send an attachment.” It was all quite tense. Lots of people were quite upset on both sides.

It was really strange being taught electronically, I suppose this is the wave of the future. I would say they have a few problems to work out before it catches on. The worst part of the story, it is only part one of three. You see, I need three computer credits. This was only one. That mean two more Saturdays like this, and even worse, next are PowerPoint and Excel. If people had so much trouble with Word, I can only imagine what it will be like with the other two. Believe it or not, it gets worse. This class isn’t funded by the Running Start Program or the high school. I have to pay for these classes out of pocket, and at nearly 100 dollars a class, it is a rather expensive hoop to have to jump through, a golden hoop I would say.