Final Exam Blog

Distance Learning:

Dreyfus tackles "Distance Learning" in the second chapter of his book. He states that distance learning will never be able to exist independently of the traditional classroom setting because to master a topic or field, students need more than a computer screen and keyboard.

I agree with this statement. I am a transfer student from a rather large university. At my previous college, I took a class that was almost entirely online. We were strongly encouraged to come to lecture, as per college policy, but all tests, quizzes, and assignments were to be completed on the computer and sent to the professor via blackboard. There were quite a few problems with this method. The professor used lecture time to go off on tangents and talk about her children. We were left to do assignments and tests with no direction and to, basically, teach ourselves the information from the textbook. Assignments were difficult to submit because the Internet was not always functioning properly. And tests...Since we were not taking tests in the classroom and were not monitored, all tests were open book, open notes, which sounds great. However, since this was the case, the professor thought it appropriate to choose very hard questions and place a time limit on the exam. Since cheating was also a problem between students, all tests had questions in different orders (which is perfectly understandable, but hard to follow).

In the very beginning of the course, she told us we would either love the online exams or hate them. She used the fact that we could take it from the "comfort of our own home" as a perk. I love that phrase, "comfort of your own home". At that point in time, my home was not a very "comfortable" environment for test taking. I lived in an apartment with unreliable Internet, 3 roommates, 2 small puppies, and very rowdy neighbors. With all that going on, it didn't matter how comfortable it was to sit on my fluffy couch as opposed to a hard, wooden chair in a freezing classroom. While my hind end preferred the couch, my brain (and grade) preferred the quiet classroom.

Rebuttal:

Distance learning can exist independent of the traditional classroom setting. Distance learning opens up the realm of education to those that may not otherwise be able to experience it. As long as you have access to a computer and internet, you can learn. Larger Universities have already begun with Distance learning alongside classroom practices. In some cases, taking exams online has its perks. The climate of classrooms generally leaves much to be desired (ie—too cold or too hot, possible distracting noise from other students, etc). These inconveniences can be distracting, and hinder a student’s ability to perform. Another great factor about online exams is that they can generally be completed in a larger time window than traditional in class exams. Some windows last a period of days (the exam opens on Monday and you have till Wednesday to complete it). Most online exams are timed, but do not begin timing until you start the exam. If a student has a fight with a loved one, or is not in an appropriate emotional state, they have the opportunity to take the exam at a later time.

Distance learning also saves trees. No handouts or hard copies are required.

Robot Rights:

I know I may appear to be the bad guy here, but I do not believe robots should be granted rights. They are not people. They are machines designed to perform certain tasks. They would be programmed to act in certain ways that may resemble human behavior, but ultimately, is not. I couldn't help but think of the Furby when reflecting on robots. The Furby could be considered one of the first domesticated robots. It looked like a strange robot owl, and was kind of cute in a twisted way. While I would not advocate destroying a Furby for fun, I don't believe we should give it rights either. I know that a robot of the future would be far more sophisticated than a simple Tiger toy, but Furby's can talk. They can talk very much, in fact. With their own little annoying language. Some of them can dance...a very annoying little dance. Smashing a Furby with a hammer would probably make me cringe a tad, but robots should be able to be turned off, especially annoying robots. And humans should not have to fight court battles to determine rights in order to do that.

Rebuttal:

Robots should be granted rights if they are able to understand well enough to ask for them. In Bicentennial Man, Andrew is a robot that fights for his freedom and rights. Andrew seems to understand the concept of freedom and wants to obtain it because he feels it is his right. He also would like the right to be treated with respect by others. These kinds of robots should be given freedom from human control. They give Andrew rights, but they are not recognized by all people. Robots should be treated with respect and dignity, because a lot of work went into creating them. In respecting another human’s creation, we are respecting the human. One day, robots may look exactly like the rest of us and be completely indistinguishable from human beings. Instead of demanding every robot expose themselves, we should respect them just as we respect our fellow humans.