Introduction
I can't believe this class is OVER. This is the last report that was given to us by Dr. James and the best assingment in my eye's that I have accomplished in this course. The purpose of this report is to discuss all the MOTIVATIONAL DYNAMICS that I have gathered and learned from in pulling me through this class successfully.
 The Things that has Motivated ME in this Class
I feel that I have had a spiritual experience in taking this course. I disliked computers since the age of 16 years old. I remember being in Journalism in my high school years and not being able to relate to the teacher because she had no patience in showing what can be done on computers. I remember the incident very well, it happened when I wasn't able to grasp the commands. I always used my outline she gave us at the beginning of the year. She yelled at me infront of the class by saying, "Karla, are you so slow that you can't remember what to do on the computer without looking at your paper?" From then on I feel I had a phobia towards computers. During my college years, all I needed to know for classes were how to type out your research papers. This Spring of 1996, I decided to confront my fears and sign up for a course requiring me to learn more about what a computer has to offer me in this generation of advanced technology. There are several things that has motivated me in not giving up on this class during the semester: the Instructor, Friends, Outside Help, and Myself.The Instructor, Dr. James has motivated me on a level I felt never existed in my mind. I never dreamed that my attitude on computers would change so drastically. He talked about how everyone in this course must look beyond our preconceived perceptions of computers and realize that our life is surrounded so much by learning what The Internet has to offer. Dr. James has showed we all need to acquire information seeking skills while participating in a cyberspace learning community. We need to get rid of this technophobia and make a demand on an individual basis to stop this contagious disease of being a "coach potatoe." The need to make a difference in our boring lives is very strong. It's just most people are to comfortable to change their lifestyle by adding more information into their small brain. I knew I was unfamilar with the Internet and its operations, I just didn't know how bab it really was! I visited Dr.
James"Articles by Leon James." I found that the article applied to me on a personal basis it was really a scary feeling. Basically, it showed me that I was threatened by my lifestyle changing. I was avoiding this frustation and anxiety, and was relying on a familar path already paved by me. If this sounds like you, OOh my! Take a look deeper if you're courageous at this article called, "Resistance to Improving One's Health Behaviors."The one I call friend, is Rowney Martinez. He has motivated me by giving me faith that I can get this course
under my wing. He has helped me with so much commands that they just come to me without looking at my notes all the time. He helped me with getting my own disk to feed it in the WS_FTP32www.soc.hawaii.edu onto Netscape. This was a great blessing for me because it made it easier to transfer my data. Rowney told me to keep looking at his sites and into View then click Source. This was to help me with borrowing from him on how to set up my own sites. I would like to say "Mahalo Nui Loa" to Rowney Martinez and all his help. Take a look at his Home Page. It's GREAT!Outside Help was refreshing and fun. While watching TV, reading the newspaper, or walking to class on campus I have come across so many interesting information. For example, reading our University of Hawai'i campus newspaper called, Ka Leo O Hawai'i. A young man named Edward Sugimoto, for the section on World Wide Ed is published every so often in the campus
newspaper. This past week he gives in great detail the most common computer-related acronyms defined, well most of them. So many of my friends email me and I don't understand them sometimes. If you want to check it out, it's on the Babel Computer Oriented abbreviations and Acronyms Glossary.In addition, so many of my Instructor's in other courses give us their code to check out what they have done on the Internet. They seem to communicate with us on another level, even though the course has nothing to do with the Internet. It's become another form of quick and brief communication towards the students and teachers. For example, my Instructor Diane Maluso gave us her hotline of brief explanations for her other courses. Click here, for Maluso course explanations.Furthermore, I feel that I myself have been a good inspiration to successfully conquering this course with both hands. I gave up to early on in the semester by not spending enough time on the computer, thinking I can get away with it. Well...this was a big mistake because I ended up paying for it two months ago trying to complete my Report 2. Something inside of me pinched the right nerve because I'm not a the type of person to give up so quickly. I remember a saying someone once told me awhile back that, "No matter what anyone tells you or no matter what happens, Never...Never stop believing in yourself." I kept saying this qoute over and over in my mind. It really helped me in the end. I knew that I needed to open up my mind and view computers the way Dr. James does, to a certain extent anyway. I started to work through my frustration and use that energy towards getting things done on the computer. It's helped. It was my wake-up call because I feel that I have gained such great knowledge to continue with me through out my life. I know more and feel better towards computers now that I got my fiance's father involved, he bought a five video guide to explain how the internet will work for them on their own home computer. This semester this class has helped my and my loved ones who surround me in my daily life. Psychologhy 409 has become a spiritual experience that has touched my life forever.
The Many Conflicts that I Experienced
There are so many conflicts that I have experienced while completing this course that there's not enough room to write it all. Let's start with one conflict that I have experienced which drove me literally to pulling my hair. The amounts of computers on campus to accompany all of the students attending University of Hawai'i is ridiculus. Everyone wants to work on the computer to type research papers that you have to wait in a line to get a seat. The hours the labs I am able to use always seem to have a signs posted, for example, "This workstation is reserved for 1:15-2:30 today for a faculty workshop." Well, the problem is the lab opens at 8:30 and closes at 3:00. You then go to another lab and it's either to full, to hot, smelly, or people conversing to one another that you can't her yourself think. Plus, the lab assistants are helpful to a certain degree meaning that if you keep asking questions they either give you a odd, disgusted look or say, "Is there a handout the Instructor gave you
you can refer to?" In encountering this kind of hostility, one tends to give up faster.
In addition, another conflict that I experienced was I don't have time fourty hours a week to spend on the computer. I attend school full-time and go to work full-time. This is a big problem for me because I have a few semesters left to graduate but I need money to attend college, pay for rent, the gas, the car, etc... Plus, I do need time to sleep and eat. I got sick five times this semester and out of this two times were long lasting flu illnesses that dragged on about one month each. This doesn't help with missing class meetings and you get lost on what to do on the computer. I wish I could attend school without going to work but I can't and I have to deal with it.
The last conflict that I have experienced to be a big problem, was the way Dr. James explains the assignments. On the first day he jumped right into giving commands. He didn't say why, what, or how to use them in an easy way to comprehend. I am blank when it came to Pine, Unix, World Wide Web, a Home Page, and Netscape. Dr. James needs to understand that just because he understands what he is lecturing on, his students may have no idea what he is speaking about. A reaction to blocking him out while lecturing may arise. The student may not recognize what he/she is doing until after the class is over for that day. Lab periods was good but alittle embarrassing when everyone can grasp the information faster then you can. It eventually becomes depressing and leads into the attitude of, "Oh I'll figure it out Later." This "Later" is what students don't have in this course section.
The Demands and Challenges
I feel that I have demanded a great deal of myself for this course through the semester. The hours that I was spending on the computer was mostly done by viewing other sites from the students in my class to figure out what the purpose for some assignments and how to do it. This was very demanding because it took me about two hours everytime before I even started the homework. This was time consuming because I can't stay on the computer the whole day.Looking at this in a challenging way, I found a lot of sites that was very helpful in accomplishing my own assignments. The sites I viewed during the semester I borrowed pictures and the frame work of their page which has helped me a great deal. These students are very talented and has character which has shown through their work. Take a look at their Home Pages, it may help you as much as it has helped me:"Things That Make Me Feel Good by Calvin Cheung"
"Cyberspace Things by Catherine Heller""Relationship Things by Noreen Dorion""For Being Uplifted In Mood by Rowney Martinez""My Current Concerns and Worries by Cheryl Choe"
The Worthwhile and Valuable Experiences
Learning all this information is very worthwhile and valuable because of what the future holds for future generations. In taking this course, it has advanced me as an individual in the workforce. I know more about computers then my whole family. This is very sad because my mother just lost her job because of computers. Her company put in a new system and began trainning. The company lost eight of their employee's, including my mother as one. She was very frustrated and depressed because she put twelve years into the company. I am able to communicate with friends and relatives through email. This is AMAZING! The lines are open and passing so much information from one party to the other. The Internet is like a library put into outrageous imaginations to freely express their talent and have other's who are viewing their sites to borrow certain ideas that may work for them.In another Psychology course 361, was being taught by Christina Kealoha. I mentioned how difficult one of my classes
are and she explained what she went through. She told me to stick it out and not give up, that there is so much information that it will take time. Ms. Kealoha has a beautiful Yahoo.The last worthwhile and valuable experience I've learned is how to pick up on information being said about anything to do with computers, my ears get really big. I hear about it through friends, strangers, and other courses. There is one that I come into contact with all the time while watching TV late at night. It is from News8@aloha.net email address called, "You Paid For It." Anyone in the community upset
over how our politicians is wasting our money to let them know how we feel and if we have any information concerning our story to email it into them at the television station. It's a way to vent out our frustartion. If we have valuable information concerning issues that the community is facing, something can be done about it through proper channels with background checks.
How Involved Did I Become and It's affects to My Life
At the beginning, I was not involved very much. My on line experience was blank because I didn't give this course a chance. I was holding on to my past experiences with computers, that my vision was blinded by my preconceived limitations of reality. I was so worried other people in the class were brighter then me, that is why they were moving faster then me. But, this was UNTRUE! Half way through the semester is when I had a radical reexamination of my attitude towards this course. This self-awareness came at the right moment because I had enough time to catch up with the whole class before it was to late.In the end, it came to the the last day of the semester when everything started to click. Well! Better Later Then Never, Right? What I mean is, that it was three days before the semester ended when Dr. James showed us in "detail" how to make a table on the computer. It was an amazing feeling to actually accomplish something this greart. I really mean great because this is how I found to put pictures on my Database, Home Page, Reports, etc... Catherine Heller showed me and it is great. Take a look at the images I found browzing through other sites, Images. In addition, the following day I found how to put colors on my sites. This how to do it: there are two buttons on your mouse, click the one on the right, a screne will appear and press on save images, another smaller screne will show up with the name of your picuture, press okay, then go back to your ftp. and refresh. It should be up there and then transfer over to your .html side. This is how I typed it in my body and it worked: img aling=middle src="smile.gif" (put these brackets at the beginning and the end <...>). I never knew this. Dr. James always told us to look at the "Source" of other sites but I never thought to look for these things. I feel this was a miscommunication on Dr. James because he wasn't as clear for those who knew nothing on computer graphics or colors. Then again, it maybe on my part because I'm so plain and just wasn't looking for these things.Furthermore, if you want to know colors, http://www.infi.net/wwwimages/colorindex.html, type this into Netscape and a very long color list will show. As for typing it in your body, this is what worked for me: body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" (put brackets before and end <...>). This gave me the color white for this Report 4. I am so happy that I found these images and colors because it seemed to add my personality into my works. There are not too much because I feel it still takes away from what the content of the site is. A little is OKAY to me. I hope these things will brighten up your sites, as well as, it did to mine.
How I See the Internet NOWToday, Right Now, and At This Present Moment In Time I view the Internet as a MARVELOUS and MAGNIFICENT piece of technology! I would have never thought I would learn so much in one semester of a technology that so
many people are involved in. Everday lives are surrounded by computers and the various programs it has to offer companies, colleges, and on an individual basis. I was able to teach friends and family members what the Internet has to offer. I got several of my friends to sign-up next semester to Dr. James courses. And, I actually made an impact because a good amount of people will be browzing as I do and hook up to my sites. They may or may not use my information. But, as future generations learn more and more they will add to what my site stands for presently in this year of May 1996. Can you image what it will be like 10 years from now? The things I learned will be nothing because my children will be much more advanced then I. My mind can't even think beyond what I've learn already because I feel a lot of information has been passed on to me. I am sure there is much more Dr. James didn't teach us that is known to many people.
In conclusion, Let's Party! I will be able to further my knowledge in taking more classes that Dr. James and other Professor's are providing. My mind is itchy to continue. I want to know more. I can't believe I really do! I came into this course with an attitude of blackness and I am leaving with an attitude of being taught to follow the light. This brightness will get brighter and change colors for the better. My knowledge is something no one can take away but for me to further it with more information. After reading this Report 4, I hope you will understand how grateful YOU should be for being taught this information. Like someone once told me, "You failed to realize you merely stepped into the shade were you had a vision of being closed minded and NOW you are in the sunshine were there is an ability to obtain happiness." Basically, always keep an open mind to your surroundings because you never know what's there until you stop to look around.
 Going Up My Friend?
|
by Karla Leinaala Dias
Dr. James Home Page
Email Me