My apologies for the ‘break’ in blogs on the topic of ‘Is e-learning failing in higher education?’ This has been due to a computer glitch. My computer went sick last week, and it had to go to computer hospital for minor repairs, so I was without my baby for three whole days. I’ve been running ever since to catch up.
I’ve had this – my only working computer – for six years, a very long time for a portable computer (it’s a Mac G4 Powerbook). It has been with me to over 40 countries, and qualifies for its own seat on Air Canada. It seems to suffer from the same complaints as me as I grow old – it’s battered and scratched, it has problems now with memory, and its hard drive is beginning to fail. I know you shouldn’t anthropomorphise about computers – they don’t like it – but I am putting off buying a new one as long as possible, even though the new MacPros now cost half what I paid for my G4, and are faster and have a great screen. However, one more glitch…
In the meantime, I am working on my next post in the ‘Is e-learning failing…’ series, on millenial students. I was going to post something quite small on this topic, but I found that as I got into the literature I needed to think a lot more about this issue. It should be out in a few days.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
My G4 PowerBook goes to sleep more often than it should, and gets bogged down when trying to do too much at once 😀