Keeping Your Cool
My Report 2
Weekly Research via the Internet and
WEBCT
By: Jacquelyn Lim
Class Home: Fall
2003--Generation 19
Instructor:
Dr. Leon James
Introduction:
Hi! This is my Report 2, consisting of weekly research and
postings for WEBCT. This report, like my Report 1,
was assigned to my Psychology 409a Generation 19 class for Dr. Leon James for
the Fall 2003 semester, at the
First I needed to look at the directions
for task 5, which I understood to be as follows, I am to create and publish
Report 2 which is about my weekly WEBCT research (task 2) including errors and
how they affected me. The assignment itself
is to log on to WEBCT every week and post two messages totaling twenty-six
messages. Message 1 is a research
message - while exploring the Web students must find information on the chosen
topics assigned in class. Message 2 is a
comment on another student’s posting.
The report itself is to include reporting on the actual behavior I
encounter while doing the research, such as log on errors, typing errors, search
errors…etc.
Task 2 is where my note taking began, but I soon realized while
working on Report 1 that self-witnessing reports aren’t the easiest things to
write, especially since a person has to look objectively at themselves and
their errors instead of just brushing them aside without second thought. As my pre-rating
shows, I was feeling very positive about this task before I started it. I had encountered WEBCT previously and
thought that since I was assigned a similar task before, I would not have
problems doing them this time around too.
Unfortunately as the weeks went by, I began to slack off and struggle
with the postings until it got the point of pure procrastination where I KNEW I
was putting it off on purpose. But
why? What had caused me to sub-consciously
put this task on the back burner? I
needed to look at my notes to see how my attitude had changed and how to get
back to a positive post-rating.
First off, logging onto WEBCT
is sort of a pain because there are no cookies.
I have to login manually every time, and this bothers me for some
reason. There’s nothing I can do about
it, so I just carry on and get to the main screen. I look into the communication tools link, and
find the discussion board. I didn’t really have a plan of action at this
time. I decided to just randomly choose
a topic and sub-topic. I choose the
information literacy topic and opened up word to help with my note taking. Let’s just say I didn’t get very reliable
observations. I simply looked up
information literacy on google.com (sub task 1) and then took notes. I copied and pasted the links (URLs) and then
did my research message. It took me
about 20 minutes to do that.
The next message was a response comment on a classmates
post. This was even simpler. I read the messages posted and chose
multi-tasking as my topic. Why? Because that was the topic of the discussion
that day in class and the idea was still fresh in my brain. Did that mean that
talking about which “multi-tasking while driving” irritates us the most lead to
constant thinking or awareness of it?
Perhaps exposure to something like that does stay in the sub-conscious.
After the first two weeks I had a system down where I would
log on, and then choose another sub-topic then mark it off my list that I have
of completed topics. This helped me keep
track of what I had researched on or responded to on WEBCT. And since the postings had to include
specific information or criteria, I decided to print out another copy of the tasks
schedule and keep it next to my computer work station so that I could be
sure to cover all the necessary bases.
My cognitive plan was to try to keep as organized as possible because I
would need to keep track of the topics completed, dates, tasks due dates…etc. For some of my classmates this was not the
most efficient means of staying “on top” of the task, but for me it was the
easiest way to keep all the information together. Unfortunately this did not help me with avoiding
any errors.
My next posting was a little late, because I had thought
that this task seemed so simple, that I can make up the lost time with
posting. Here is warning number one, DO
NOT DO THIS! I cannot emphasize how
important it is to stay on task with a timeline. One never knows when they will
lose their password or log on information!!
This is the first error that I had made. By not writing down my log on and password
for WEBCT, it caused me a lot of frustration and an unnecessary slowdown of
work. By not remembering or keeping safe
my log on information, I had just pushed myself back a good half an hour to an
hour just to a) try to find my old password, b) needing to request a new
password or reminder and, c) took away momentum for task completion. I had just learned that being unorganized really
slows down a person especially when pressed for time. This error led to a full breakdown of my
cognitive thinking and affective behaviorism (as follows).
I am not a person full of patience, so after trying to input
what I thought was my password a dozen times, I finally threw, yes threw, my
cordless mouse across my bedroom, out the door, and into my roommates room and
shut off my laptop. “Why deal with this
when I’m this pissed off?!” I thought to myself. When I looked back on the situation, throwing
my mouse and getting all huffy about my “stupid” mistake was not the most
mature action to do. Instead, I should
have asked for my password hint or had WEBCT email my password to me.
Acting like a spoiled brat did not help me get any closer to
completing my task. Instead my thinking
patterns were way off! I did not want to
sit down and look at the computer, or even try to log back onto WEBCT. I did not want to even TRY to think about
where I might have saved my password. I
just wanted to give up because the “G****damned piece of crap….doesn’t want to
work for me!” How dumb I was. It wasn’t the computer or the program I was
trying to access, it was ME. 100% human
error. By letting my frustration and anxiousness
(to just LOG ON) get the upper hand, it pushed all rational thought from my
mind; hence the mouse tossing. About 10
minutes after that I realized that if I had broken the mouse, I wouldn’t have
been able to continue to work, and would have had another set back. So I began to realize that there is a chain
reaction started from ‘an’ action that can either be positive or negative,
depending on what foot it started on.
So how did I solve this?
I calmed down and began looking at my notes from the beginning of the
semester. And lo-and-behold, the
password, written in red ink at the top of notes which would be the obvious
place for this sort of information. All
that aggravation and frustration only to feel like an idiot because I didn’t
take the minute to look at my notes, and I also found it about 15 minutes later
in my palm pilot. Staying calm would
have helped me resolve the “error” in a minute instead of my walking away. I realized at this time I needed to change my
reaction behaviors in order to be more productive and efficient in the
world. If I get out of hand over a
simple computer mistake, what would I do if I lost my cool in traffic? Or in a store? Throw a can at someone??! This train of thought led me to believe that
behavior modification is something I sorely needed to become a “better” person,
not only to stop high blood pressure, but also to ensure that I stay as “level
headed” as possible in stressful situations.
This error bothered me the most because it was so simple and
could have been easily avoided. It had caused me to invest more time than I
had already thought to commit to compensate for the mistake. As I did more of the postings, I learned that
little mistakes like this one can turn a 5 minute task into one that’s one hour
long. It caused me to re-think how I should
approach the task and forced me to be more conscientious of what I’m doing, at
the time I’m going it, in order limit the mistakes that I was making.
By being more conscientious of my behaviors and actions, I
was able to head off anymore irrational fits that were in store. For example, I began to take my time when
typing, causing fewer typing errors, or if I clicked on a link that didn’t
work, I wouldn’t scrap the whole search, and instead would read a little more
down the page (which most times had useful information). I also remembered more of the errors that I
was making such as misspelling words or using “there” instead of “their” or
other grammatical errors. These things I
would have not paid attention to, because to redo the typing or searching on
another page didn’t seem like a “negative” thing during my previous tasks.
So far I’ve noticed the obvious mistakes like typing errors
or clicking too many times on a slow link, but I haven’t really noticed any
errors while doing the actual research. I
like to consider myself information literate, and therefore wasn’t worried
about search engine problems. I managed
to find all the information I needed by using the few search engines I found
reliable (e.g. google.com and ask.com), and found that most of my postings,
save a few, were basically straightforward with the information I was supposed
to find.
When I spoke to some of my classmates, I discovered that
some were having problems just finding the resources for the information. After some thought I found that to avoid
making “search errors” I (naturally) usually sat for about 5 minutes thinking
about the research topic. Then I would
decide what aspect or sub-topic I wanted to search, and found that searching
for specifics is more efficient than broad topics. For example, with information literacy, I
typed in “information literacy + uses + people” and was delighted when a whole
list popped up. When I typed in “information
literacy” by itself, I was given a page with ads for learning how to become
information literate. To me, the words I
used for the search became the most important key to finding the right
information. By taking my time and
thinking out the search to the end BEFORE I did it, I was able to predict
positive answers from my messages.
I think I approached this task as if it was going to be “so
easy” and that the errors that I would make would be minor and not worth
recording. I think I took that approach
because I did not want to think of myself as a person with little or no
computer literacy. I slowly began to
realize that my problem was not with any form of literacy, but more so on
controlling how situations are affective and how that may effect my cognitive
thoughts. By letting my emotions get the
better of me, I am not able to see the “clear” answer to my problems, but when
I take my time and try to contain the errors, I make less and also keep a
clearer picture of the task at hand.
Also, I found that taking the time to find the “key” words per search
was worth the five minutes it took to think about it.
CONCLUSION
This was a fairly straight forward task that is very helpful
for students. Even though we are in the
21st century, and computers aren’t “new” to most of us in our
twenties, the truth is that technology is moving so fast, my little niece
probably knows how to do this and perhaps even better than I. Learning how to find the information will
probably keep a person on top of the trends in technology. The future is moving in that direction, with
computers leading the way with projects like A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) and
even the S.E.T.I (Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence) because without
them [computers] there wouldn’t be anymore technological advances. Everything that we touch today most likely
has a chip in it or was made by or with a chip and that’s not going to change
anytime soon.
More important is a person’s ability to stay calm and be
rational. Humans have the ability to
think clearly (unlike most other animals) and this task was a perfect example
of how we forget that we have that capability.
It only a second to “lose control” and let emotions get in the “driver’s
seat” which does not usually lead to a positive ending. This concept I learned of controlling
affective emotions and cognitive processes can be applied to every single
aspect of life from dealing with other people, to being in traffic, to working
with computers.
I would just like to leave a few pieces of advice when
trying to tame a task that looks daunting, especially if you aren’t familiar
with the computers of today.
1. Stay on task with a timeline…PROCRASTINATION
is NOT the KEY!!
2. Set a rational deadline to complete!
3. Keep passwords safe (if needed)
4. Discuss topics with friends and family for
inspiration
5. Take your time and do it right the 1st
time
6. Have fun and keep an optimistic
attitude! (It’ll be over eventually)
In conclusion, hopefully after reading
my report, I can shed some light on a seemingly overwhelming task. The truth of it is that there is no task out
there that cannot be completed with proper planning and thought. Remember “Where there’s a will, there’s a
way”? This is the perfect example of the attitude a person should adopt when
they feel like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Computer information and literacy is the wave
of the future, so it won’t pay to ignore or try to run away from it because the
future will eventually force people to utilize computers and work as one.