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Courseweb is Evil
or
Technology and Education don't go hand in mouse
by Mischa Gelman


	Over the past three weeks, I've often found myself answering
questions with the phrase "Courseweb is evil." A large part of the reason
is that I currently work in a computer lab. An equally vital part, though,
is that Courseweb makes students' lives more difficult with no good reason
- the same effect much technology has on education.
	The problems from Courseweb come in a variety of forms: students
unable to access Courseweb from home, students wasting their day waiting
for printouts to come up (or getting blank pages, the menu bar and other
common outputs) and computers freezing up routinely are all common
problems. Even faculty report difficulty placing material onto Courseweb
to begin with (my one professor who attempted to use it quickly realized
the futility of the task and gave up). Why, if the system is so flawed, is
it used? Well, the answer is simple - an overabundant faith in technology.
We are told that machines will make our lives easier, more convenient,
more pleasurable - don't buy it. The more possessions we have (especially
ones that consume many hours out of the day), the more complicated our
lives become. Even when upgrading machines, more stress is always added -
my old Commodore 64 from the mid-80s worked just as well as today's new
PCs, without the hassle of virusses. Heck, when I recently got my newest
computer, I spent most of my time on it playing a Commodore emulator to
relive the good old days.
	It is especially frightening that academic institutions have come
to rely so heavily on technology. The world gave us Socrates, Jesus, Da
Vinci, Newton, Chesterton and Einstein without computers - why are we to
buy the current hype that we NEED computers to develop intellectually. 
Would Mozart have produced better music if he had had access to electronic
guitars and amplifiers? One very much doubts it. One doesn't even need
lots of books to be a good educator, as Gandhi pointed out "I did not find
it at all neccesary to load the boys with quantities of books. I have
always felt that the true text-book for the pupil is his teacher." Even
computer industry types are realizing the silliness of their ways. Steve
Jobs, for instance, has mellowed his zeal for computers in the classroom. 
After all, what is so great about staring at a box for hours, while
screwing up your wrists and not paying attention to your teacher? Is there
any evidence that such programs actually give beneficial results? Most of
the rhetoric relies on futurist hyperbole that doesn't seem to rely at all
upon cold, hard fact. Of course, computers do have some value - they make
my writing legible and are great for games or statistical analysis or
searching through extensive library collections. If they had no value, I
wouldn't spend dozens of hours a week on them, necessitating wrist
splints. Until there's evidence of their value in schools, though, I don't
see any reason to follow the mindless hype. In fact, after my first draft
of this column, I came across an interesting study, reported in the
Post-Gazette - the research found that there IS no evidence proving that
computers help education, despite the huge expense for schools. If it
doesn't work, why should we keep trying it? 
	Courseweb isn't the only problem, just a fine example of one.
Distance education does nothing to improve what one learns, and from my
experience, can be a minor distraction from learning. When ULS replaced
the Notis version of Pittcat with the Voyager version, navigating Pitt's
collections became a touch harder and more time consuming. My mother
teachers kindergarten, yet now even she has computers in her classroom.
Can anyone honestly tell me that five year olds need to learn computer
skills rather than starting out on the basics of reading, writing and
arithmetic?
	The sad thing is that the problems are easily correctible. When my
one professor realizes the problems with Courseweb, she proceeded to use
handouts for the remainder of the semester, saving us and her hassle. I've
heard numerous students remark that the professors should produce a packet
of course material for purchase or place the material on course reserve or
distribute it as handouts - if I had a dollar for each such comment, I
could easily get myself several more books for my collection, after just
one week. Such suggestions as these students have made, while perhaps
"quaint" or "old-fashioned", undoubtebly work better - I guess that
explains why Pitt can't try them. Anything to make life more difficult may
be the university motto.
	Until Courseweb is abolished or (yeah, right) fixed, I'll keep up
the "Courseweb is evil" response and keep explaining to students how to
work around the system as much as possible. University life is hard enough
without technology providing additional hurdles.

    Mischa Gelman is glad his only professor who tried to use Courseweb
fell back on old-fashioned handouts, saving her students pain and bother.