Re: pointcast "push" in WC or Comp?

[csjhs@eiu.edu (Jeanne H. Simpson)]

James

So why don't faculty want to put syllabi on the web?  Why not use this
conduit more than they are?  

There was this old quill-and-parchment guy back in the middle ages named
William of Occam, whose contribution to intellectual history shouldn't be
underestimated.  Occam's view was that the simplest explanation that
accounts for all the observed phenomena is the likeliest.

Some elements of a simple explanation:

Putting stuff on a web page requires sitting at a computer.  A relatively
up-to-date one.  Not 286's or, god help us, as some of our faculty still
have, 8088's.  If the computer is in one's office and one is tired of being
in that office....  And if the computer is not in the office but in the
library or some clattery lab in the basement of the building next door,
the likelihood of going over there is even more remote. It is important
not to overestimate just how wired the faculty at most places is. Less
than most of us who really enjoy computers might think.    

Putting stuff on a web page means you are putting it there for half the
immediate world to see.  Many faculty find this idea as threatening as
being required to speak before Congress in their underwear.  One of the
reasons many are attracted to the academic life is that faculty have such
privacy and autonomy in their classrooms.  It's surprising how little
scrutiny our methods and materials actually receive.  And a lot of people
really like it that way.  Just mention things like classroom visitations
and peer evaluations of your materials and see how quickly people's
hackles get up.   

And putting anything, including syllabi, on a web page means learning some new
stuff and making a lot of decisions.  Again, the simple explanation here is
inertia. On top of asking me to serve on a bazillion pointless committees
and publish two hardbacks a year, and teach 4 sections a term, you want me
to do what?! and no brownie points in the tenure war for my pains? Forget
it.  

The advantages of using the technology are self-evident. But they don't
always outweigh other interests.

Jeanne Simpson
csjhs@eiu.edu