NITSA Mc
CARTHY
PSY. 409
Oct. - 16 - 1995
W/ DR. LEON
JAMES
Week 8 Report
Assignment: Same as Report 7 but with a deeper
study and prespective.
Self-assessment ratings
How difficult was this week's task (lumping all the sub-tasks
together)?
Circle one.
Very easy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very hard
This week's rating = 1
How much Negative emotions did it cost you, in all?
Very little 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very much
This week's rating = 3
How Valuable for later use is this knowledge or skill going to be for
you?
Not useful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very useful
This week's rating = 10
How likely is it that you'll be getting good at this week's tasks?
Not likely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Quite likely
This week's rating = 10
How satisfied are you with the computer and Internet systems?
Not satisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Very satisfied
This week's rating = 8
How hard did you try to get through this week's tasks?
Gave up easily 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Refused to give
up
This week's rating = 10
This week I continued the task of reviewing other students' lab reports from
Generation One Cybercommunity. The task in itself was not difficult at all.
Yet, what really disturbed me this week was my lack of motivation. I don't
know where this lack of motivation came from. I don't know why I had to push
or drag myself to the computer lab in order to accomplish this week's task
while hearing myself whining and moaning all the way through. It felt like
climbing Mountain Sinai which requires endless and tedious effort to reach its
top. I had to take frequent breaks so that I could clear my mind, and I often
found myself covering my face with my hands and saying "COME ON NITSA! KEEP ON
MOVING." I can only speculate on the roots to this phenomenon: a) it is the
midterm season -- am I simply burnt out?; b) is the excitement that I felt in
the first few weeks, while exploring the Internet for the first time, worn
off?; c) am I really tired of writing papers?; d) or is it due to many other
obscure reasons that I'm not aware off? I just know for certain that we need
to break our weekly routine since it becomes, in a sense, monotonous. An
alternative suggestion will be to do a case study, for example, on my classmate
Lori Morita and see why she, and not me, became an Internet addict. It will be
an interesting task to detect factors such as personality traits (extroversion,
neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness) that target
sociability, creativity, emotional stability and disciplinary characteristics
and see how those traits are related/applied to a person's obsession or lack of
it with the Net.
Being in a fleeting pessimistic state I decided to review various reports on
how Generation One combats theirs. Alison Asahina, for example, sounds very
optimistic and reports that since she started from "knowing nothing" about the
net, there is no way for her to determine whether the future will be bright or
dull. She proved her point over time as she became more and more confident.
Yet, a fleeting feeling of depression did strike Alison. She was overwhelmed
by the amount of work that was needed to be done. What boosted Allison's mood
and satisfaction was success in creating links. Also it encouraged her to work
through the long hours.
I can identify with Alison's feelings. The Internet's weekly
tasks are like a
roller-coaster -- sometimes you encounter highs and sometimes down. What is
truly satisfying is the success upon finishing a task. It arms you with a lot
of confidence and patience for the long, tedious hours to come.
Carol
Alamares talks about "positive affirmation" in helping overcome her
negative emotions and cognition. She first attributed the causes of failure
and frustration to herself. Later, her thinking processes changed and she
started to view her frustration as a force that stimulates her information
gathering skills and creativity. Thus, upon encountering problems, she slows
down, thinks through, and examines the problem, and if everything fails, she
doesn't blame herself but simply says "I've just gotten stuck."
Yes, it is easy to blame yourself when things go awry but Dr. James gave us a
good tip in the first couple weeks of class: "It is not your fault!" I adopted
that advice and blame the system whenever I encounter fossilized errors, hence,
it makes me feel less lacunae or stupid. It is a natural human phenomenon to
find a scapegoat. So why not pick on the computer? I promise it won't talk
back.
Jason
Raad scared me out of his file with the big print that he used and
Ryan
Higa created linkages on his Home Page that sent me linking in
circles so I decided to give up on reading their reports.
It was very difficult to understand what Barry
Kwock had to say due to many
grammar and spelling mistakes. In general, he got pessimistic and depressed
when he couldn't solve the problems that he encountered, for example, finding
the links that he had created not working (sounds familiar to me). The way he
combats pessimism, depression, frustration, and information shock is mainly
through staying "...cool, calm, detail oriented, and a perfectionistic." He
gives some tips on how to solve problems so that a user can accomplish a task:
a) listen to other students' experiences and to Dr. James since they probably
can give you some insight to problems; b) use the trial and error technique,
and; c) check your spelling.
Look who's talking as he give us this last advice, his report is full of
spelling mistakes. Go figure! I think that it is a must to run a spell check
over your report before you publish it. His tips are quite good since in class
students do bring up the problems that they encounter while doing their weekly
task. It does help to listen to them and to Dr. James since if you didn't
encounter the same problems this time, you might encounter them next time
around. Also, I find the use of trial and error technique very helpful even if
it costs me many negative emotions and long working hours because eventually I
gain a lot from it.
Finally, Nicole
Gustie reports that it is difficult for her to keep, what she
calls, "Positive Mental Attitude (PMA)" while learning on the Internet. When
she feels pessimistic she wants to withdraw from class. I don't think that
withdrawing from class is a great solution since you are giving up too soon.
There are many problems that people often face in their daily lives. People do
need to know how to cope with life's dilemmas effectively rather then running
away -- denying that problems do exist. Nicole cheers herself up by thinking
that it is only a class which she sees as a minor problem since she had
conquered greater ones before. Also she tries to remind herself that Dr. James
is an understanding fellow (he is!), and finally that she has one more chance
to graduate in the summer instead of spring.
In sum, it was very interesting and helpful to browse through these students
reports on their affective and cognitive processes while learning in a
hypertext environment. While reading their reports I could identify with their
aches and pains. It made me realize that I'm not a lone wolf or the only one
who experiences these bouts of negative emotions...we are all in the same boat!
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