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Use of CD-ROMs in Higher Education?
MooseMcMad asks: "I am a 16-year old in England + have just started a new school year working towards my AS-Level exams at the end of the year. I was surprised to receive a CD-ROM at the start of my Physics lesson and told that this contained the syllabus + relevant reading material for my course. Where does this leave many schools (particularly state schools), where the pupils may not have access to a computer? I don't know anything about any precedents for this but it was certainly amusing watching the teacher try and fumble about with the software." Cool idea! This makes a lot of sense for college students as it cuts down on the paperwork they have to keep track of (and possibly lose) and keeps everything in one easy to access place. Of course, if you don't have a computer, you are still stuck with the reams of notes and loose paper and the 20 pound text book. When they can put text books on CDs, I'll really be impressed.
Now, I have to admit that it's been almost 25 years since I stepped into a college classroom as a student, but I do recall that every semester I would buy a whole fresh set of hi-lighters so that I could mark the things I found tough to crack. Study time was spent concentrating on the highlighted phrases until I understood or were forced to find help.
Now, unless the "CD-ROM" you were referring to was in reality a CD-RW and you have a suitable recorder, you end up with a net loss.
Every single text book I owned had notes in the margin from the lectures, from the Q&A with the prof and the TA, and from peer-to-peer bull sessions. Indeed, some of the older computer texts I use regularly all these years later are most useful because of the margin notes I wrote while listening to others.
Sometimes newer is not better. CDs in school are a case in point.
(But then again, you have a similar problem with web sites unless you get a copy at the end of the course, and that copy has all your "margin notes" that you of course added during the sessions.)
First off, they obviously can put textbooks on CD rom. The only problem is that people do not buy them much. Most people in a college setting have a computer, and virtually every person on campus has access to a computer. The problem is that most people like to have their texts in class. Now I carry a laptop with me everywhere, but I am currently in the minority at my school. Even if everyone carried a laptop, there's still the issue of taking it to class. I get a whopping 8 hours of battery life out of my computer, but most other students are not as lucky. I rarely see someone carrying a windows machine that can make it the whole way through a lecture class. There are only a couple electrical outlets in the room... my point with this that portable computers need to advance a bit more, and become a hell of a lot cheaper. Then you will see almost all materials distributed electronically.
Most of my classes already post the sylibi online, and a lot of the homework assignments are given out this way as well. You can get textbooks on CD very easy though. Last year, I obtained two of my texts on CD rom. This year, I got a demo CD on campus that had a huge listing of books available.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
When they can put text books on CDs, I'll really be impressed.
I could have sworn I just saw this . . .