[Edu-sig] Computer Hatred

[Jason Cunliffe]

Shelley,

Thank you, this is a very interesting post about an important topic..

Please can you tell us more context and who are your students -- school,
socio-economic background, age, experience etc.

It sounds like they were so poorly educated and ill-prepared.
Must have been terrifyting and humiliating for some of them.

When you asked them to use Excel did you ever check if they know how to use
it?
Give any live demos/example yourself of what you wanted?
Is access to the the software itself an issue? Is is even it installed? etc.

Was this shock in the first lesson and homework?
Had you already covered some ground succesfully?
How much variation is there in the students?
How many own their own or have good access to computers in their homes?
Are they in any other classes whih use computers? If so have you discussed
with those teachers?

How did you deal with this situation?
What do the students themselves say about their efforts to simulte the
expected result?

If you knew then what you know now, how differently would you have approach
this class?

I am very curious about many aspects of the story.

Thank you
- Jason