| The Networked Frontier And The 40-Hour Work Week
( see below for peer postings leading to this reply )
Thread: Telecommunications/Networking Revolution Date: 8-Oct-98 2:43AM Author: Leanne Boyd eMail: boydl@scis.nova.edu Thanks, Mava and Stan, for bringing this subject up. Over the past year in Nova courses, I have found myself talking with many people in "traditional" courses of study, as well as professional peers, about my choice for a distance learning program. There is more and more interest in all sectors. Many times I have found myself explaining the common points (few) and the differences (many, and varied). And, again and again, I find that my explanation includes some statement concerning the level of difficulty or the increased amount of work for the distance mode -- as well as the increased learning and the environment for taking on new technologies and trends MUCH more rapidly than in an on-campus course. This article that Stan led us to has some really relevant points to consider, not just for our own future careers in distance learning, but for our present teachers. Many of my courses have had 40 or more students. In one class, I did the simple math of 40 x 7 papers, and was thankful I was on the writing end of the tasks! Actually, each course has had an equivalent amount of work. I have found that this is a heavier load than similar courses I've taken on campus. (Although some of this, I believe, can be attributed to the 12-week term as opposed to 16-week semester.) Every term, professors have made supreme effort. I personally applaud Nova professors I've studied under, for the astounding amount of work each has completed, and very well. I believe all of us are reeling under the additional pressure that new technologies have placed in our lives. It isn't just those of us in this, or similar programs. The entire world is dealing with the same sharp increases in expectations. Many of us are working more than a 40-hour week just to keep up (well, until they layoff -- then you REALLY go into high gear, adding the job hunt to your daily agenda!) In many ways, I think it's going to boil down to what it always has: on a personal level, each person will find a comfort zone for one's own dedication to keeping up, and successfully completing the steps. As we wade through the processes that are literally being shoved at us, each of us will find what we want to do with it, and how much. In the professional world, this will mean constant shifting of tasks, as abilities permit -- until a solid order is achieved. This, I think, will HAVE to be on a per-person and per-company (or school) basis. The new technologies have not only provided a means for "customizing" services and products, but for customizing the details of the makeup of any company or institution. What will work for one entity, will NOT be a solution for the next. I admit to being a die-hard over-achiever. I meet up with that quality constantly among my Nova peers. Our new "networked frontier" has brought this attribute to a fine-honed, SCREAMING, super-rendition of itself. I'm going to tell you what I tell myself: GO READ WIRED. Inevitably, Wired 'ezine has an article that brings "coolth" to the heat of the moment. If, for instance, we think we as individuals are reeling under this pressure, consider the article, "Culture and Technological Obsolescence," concerning a conference in Los Angeles, "Time and Bits: Managing Digital Continuity," where the observation is made: "Something else -- which is only starting to occur to us -- is that you can do tremendous things when you can take what tens of millions of people are thinking about -- aggregated human thought -- and put it in computable form. That mass of information is beyond the practical reach of any individual. So a central question for conference participants -- as it is for the many computer scientists struggling to impose order on the data available on the Net -- is how to develop tools to find and assess the world's cultural databank." (Pierce, 1998) [bold emphasis by author, Boyd] From each of us, as worker or student, to the scientists at the heart of the construction of the new technologies ... this is an equal and equalizing struggle. My own stance is that I am excited to be a part of it! We all are immersed in this cyborg dawn, where our tools are an undeniable PART of us. For me, it has supplanted a life-long desire to live in Victorian times, and be the Unsinkable Molly Brown! Mrs. Brown perhaps controlled her part with an unsinkable ship -- but, this network revolution has given each of us a part in guiding and "ordering" an entire world's cultural databank. Indeed, this might increase the 40-hour work week. Mava is correct when she says there must be some answers somewhere. Stan immediately provided a piece of the puzzle, which helped in clarifying things. This is the essence of our new media ... it is not only the method and the means, it is also the end product. I think most of the answers will be found in studies such as the ones in the article -- only time will tell, and we must keep working toward better solutions, as well as better use of the time we DO have. If there is one HUGE component that overrides all others in the new networked technologies, it is that we can no longer rely on the old systems to hide the mistakes and ineffective methods. The new automated ways of communicating, teaching and learning just DON'T allow for "losing" something in a pile of paperwork or in the mail. We have ALL been launched into a new era of "performance-based" success -- the flip-side of which always is, failure. New technology makes both much more visible. It's narrowing the gray zones, delineating things more clearly: black and white. I've seen for quite some time that the traditional 40-hour week is on its way out, if excellence is your goal. Perhaps if even employment is your goal.
---- Pierce, Ann. (1998). Culture and technological obsolescence. Wired [online magazine]. WiredNews: Culture. Issue: February 6, 1998. [Online]. Available: http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/10124.html
Preceding Posts To This Thread
I echo Sherri Havens and Rick Wolfe's comments about technology at Wytheville Community College. I would like to also add something else which I've noticed mentioned several times already in this thread. I'm teaching two online courses this semester with 19 students all together. They use email and forums to communicate with me and the other students. I also have several other classes that are using email as the method to send in homework. This has not made grading papers eaiser. In fact, this is much more time consuming. We as educators have to get involved in the technology because if we don't we will be left behind. However, there has to be some decisions made as to time and compensation issues - another administrative problem. I'm enjoying teaching in the online method but being out one day put me so far behind in my grading (40-50 email messages that one day) I'm still not caught up and it's been over a week (messages keep coming and coming and coming.) And with this being the main method of communication with the online classes I have to stay up with their email which puts me even further behind in my on campus classes!! I know that we all stay overwhelmed but surely there has to be an answer somewhere!
Date: Oct 7 1998 11:15PM
Here is an article I found in Syllabus that I think you will find interesting on just the subject you mentioned.
How Many Students Are "Just Right"
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