1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,200 DWEDOR: I want to talk about my experience with 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:04,290 technology, my experience with using 3 00:00:04,290 --> 00:00:07,700 computers. So this was like in the early 4 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:10,300 1980s, my husband had decided that he 5 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,330 was going back to school 6 00:00:12,330 --> 00:00:16,300 after getting a biology degree, a masters 7 00:00:16,350 --> 00:00:21,900 in biology and a bachelors in biology, but you know, though, that 8 00:00:22,170 --> 00:00:24,900 discipline wasn't really working for him. So he 9 00:00:24,990 --> 00:00:27,800 decided he was going to go back to school--maybe 10 00:00:27,859 --> 00:00:31,500 not really decided--I think he was offered to go and 11 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,700 get a computer science degree. So he 12 00:00:34,710 --> 00:00:36,500 took the university up on their 13 00:00:36,510 --> 00:00:38,700 offer, he went back to school and 14 00:00:38,790 --> 00:00:40,200 started from the undergraduate 15 00:00:40,260 --> 00:00:43,800 level. He got a bachelors in computer science. 16 00:00:43,820 --> 00:00:47,500 Meanwhile, I remember that in 17 00:00:47,550 --> 00:00:50,500 early 1980s, that's when you really have 18 00:00:50,550 --> 00:00:55,200 this whole, you know, the 19 00:00:55,230 --> 00:00:57,800 development of a degree in computer 20 00:00:57,899 --> 00:01:02,300 science, and I remember he used to be in 21 00:01:02,340 --> 00:01:05,600 this lab where you had these huge clunky machines even and 22 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,100 every time you looked in his car, there were 23 00:01:08,100 --> 00:01:13,820 these punchcards, and I always wondered what that was. 24 00:01:13,820 --> 00:01:16,920 But, you know, he never explained that to us, 25 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:20,520 to me and the kids--we were having some kids at the time, and my 26 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,400 husband was like always gone, and so any 27 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,300 time the kids and I wanted to see 28 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:27,000 him we had to go look for him in the lab. 29 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,700 And so we'll go to lab, and he'll be 30 00:01:29,729 --> 00:01:31,770 so busy writing programs and all that. 31 00:01:31,770 --> 00:01:36,600 But I got into the technology when 32 00:01:36,630 --> 00:01:39,800 he had an opportunity to bring home 33 00:01:39,829 --> 00:01:42,800 computers. And I remember experimenting 34 00:01:42,810 --> 00:01:45,100 on the computers. I remember when 35 00:01:45,140 --> 00:01:49,000 the computer had the--I don't know-- 36 00:01:49,049 --> 00:01:51,800 the system that had like GOPHER, and you'd 37 00:01:51,869 --> 00:01:53,700 click a button, and this little man would run 38 00:01:53,790 --> 00:01:55,300 across the screen and go and get 39 00:01:55,350 --> 00:01:57,100 whatever it is you wanted. And I thought 40 00:01:57,149 --> 00:01:59,100 it was fascinating. And that time, the 41 00:01:59,159 --> 00:02:02,900 screen was like green and black. 42 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:07,600 But I remember him--I remember asking 43 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:12,319 him, could he please word process my papers for 44 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,600 my composition courses because, of course, the 45 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,110 typewriter was slowly on its way out. 46 00:02:18,110 --> 00:02:24,800 And he had shown me how easy it was to word process a paper with a computer. 47 00:02:24,890 --> 00:02:28,500 But he was busy getting his degree and all that, and he'll 48 00:02:28,500 --> 00:02:30,560 say, "I'll do it," but then I had to sit 49 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:32,100 there, maybe use the typewriter and 50 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:33,200 maybe make a lot of mistakes. 51 00:02:33,220 --> 00:02:38,560 So I watched him working on the computer, and after several 52 00:02:38,769 --> 00:02:41,800 days or weeks of showing me what to do, 53 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,400 or just standing by his shoulders, I 54 00:02:44,450 --> 00:02:47,400 learned how to do it myself. So this is 55 00:02:47,450 --> 00:02:49,700 working through 1982, 83, 84, 56 00:02:49,730 --> 00:02:51,700 I'm really getting interested in this 57 00:02:51,799 --> 00:02:53,700 technology, and as the technology 58 00:02:53,780 --> 00:02:57,000 improves, the more I had--the better 59 00:02:57,049 --> 00:02:59,700 access I had, because being a computer 60 00:02:59,780 --> 00:03:02,700 computer science student, he had 61 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,100 an opportunity to bring the machine 62 00:03:05,150 --> 00:03:08,100 home. And so I will work on it day and night, I 63 00:03:08,150 --> 00:03:10,400 will stay up late and work on it. So I 64 00:03:10,459 --> 00:03:12,800 think I'm one of those early adopters of 65 00:03:12,859 --> 00:03:15,200 the technology. And then I begin to 66 00:03:15,290 --> 00:03:18,000 integrate technology into my composition 67 00:03:18,079 --> 00:03:22,400 class slowly, beginning with email and 68 00:03:22,459 --> 00:03:24,000 beginning with having them making sure 69 00:03:24,079 --> 00:03:26,500 that students turn in their word 70 00:03:26,570 --> 00:03:28,000 processing. And at that time we didn't have 71 00:03:28,070 --> 00:03:30,200 the liberation of the [?] on 72 00:03:30,230 --> 00:03:34,700 computers than we have today, so I I was 73 00:03:34,700 --> 00:03:36,300 one of those early adopters. I wanted to make 74 00:03:36,380 --> 00:03:39,800 sure that my students were introduced 75 00:03:39,859 --> 00:03:42,700 to that technology. And that, in a way, made 76 00:03:42,859 --> 00:03:45,700 life easier for me, because I 77 00:03:45,739 --> 00:03:49,200 remember when students would write their 78 00:03:49,220 --> 00:03:51,600 papers--depending on, you know, what their 79 00:03:51,620 --> 00:03:53,900 handwriting looked like, you're not only 80 00:03:53,930 --> 00:03:56,200 grading for what content and everything 81 00:03:56,299 --> 00:03:59,200 else, you're looking at the handwriting and you try 82 00:03:59,269 --> 00:04:01,300 to decipher where they're saying. And 83 00:04:01,370 --> 00:04:03,400 you're teaching four writing classes, and 84 00:04:03,470 --> 00:04:05,700 you're like, "I'm gonna spend twenty- thirty 85 00:04:05,780 --> 00:04:07,500 minutes on this one paper just because I 86 00:04:07,519 --> 00:04:10,800 can't read it, it's so unclear. So the 87 00:04:10,849 --> 00:04:12,700 technology really helps 88 00:04:12,730 --> 00:04:15,100 me to speed up my grading process. 89 00:04:15,180 --> 00:04:17,900 Having, like I said, four writing courses 90 00:04:17,980 --> 00:04:20,500 with about 30 students in each section, 91 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,900 that was a lot. So technology really 92 00:04:23,919 --> 00:04:25,900 helped me through that. And so I've grown with 93 00:04:25,990 --> 00:04:29,900 technology. My dissertation, my PhD 94 00:04:29,979 --> 00:04:33,100 dissertation has to do with 95 00:04:33,270 --> 00:04:36,100 integrating technology into the writing 96 00:04:36,100 --> 00:04:39,800 classroom, where I looked at composition 97 00:04:39,850 --> 00:04:42,400 teachers, how they were doing integration. 98 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,700 And I also look at how writing program 99 00:04:45,700 --> 00:04:48,000 administrators were encouraging 100 00:04:48,010 --> 00:04:49,600 composition teachers to use the 101 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,200 technology. And I did this research in-- 102 00:04:53,229 --> 00:04:56,500 what?--2003 when I graduated with my PhD, 103 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:00,500 and I thought that was.. I found--and you 104 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,500 know, it was 10 years ago, about 10 years 105 00:05:02,500 --> 00:05:05,700 ago? Yeah, almost 11 years now? Yeah, 106 00:05:05,740 --> 00:05:08,800 roughly. That at that time, even though 107 00:05:08,889 --> 00:05:12,000 we're talking about 2003, of course my 108 00:05:12,010 --> 00:05:16,800 research was based five years, five 109 00:05:16,810 --> 00:05:19,700 years earlier, I found that a lot of 110 00:05:19,780 --> 00:05:21,700 composition teachers at that time was 111 00:05:21,729 --> 00:05:24,300 similarly integrating technology into 112 00:05:24,310 --> 00:05:26,800 the classroom and the way I was, so I 113 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,400 feel like I was ahead of the game. And I 114 00:05:29,410 --> 00:05:32,200 have continued to use technology forever. 115 00:05:32,289 --> 00:05:36,900 And I am always looking for--trying to 116 00:05:36,970 --> 00:05:39,300 learn a new tool--whatever it is out 117 00:05:39,340 --> 00:05:42,400 there, I experiment with it. And so going 118 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:44,100 back to my husband a little bit, he 119 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,100 finally got a masters in computer science, then he got a 120 00:05:47,139 --> 00:05:50,300 PhD in computer science. So the 121 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:54,000 technology has been the way for us to 122 00:05:54,039 --> 00:05:56,600 sort of have something to talk about 123 00:05:56,650 --> 00:05:58,400 I mean, you know, I'm being in English and he's 124 00:05:58,479 --> 00:06:01,000 being, you know, in computer science, it seemed like there 125 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:02,800 was not a link, that there was not this 126 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:04,840 conversation even though both of us are 127 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:07,200 in the academic field, but when I'm 128 00:06:07,210 --> 00:06:11,740 linking on to the technology, we could 129 00:06:11,740 --> 00:06:12,700 share and talk about what was going on 130 00:06:13,100 --> 00:06:15,160 in the field. So that's my story.