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Written by: The Vanguard Editorial Board
Convenience and time saving are what we expect from technology. We expect it to serve us well. At Bentley, we use technology for everything from shutting the window shades in classrooms to picking a place to live. But technology today cannot be intuitive, it cannot register the world beyond the set of commands it is given. Our lives are so much more complicated than that, more three dimensional so to speak, and the gap in technology fails to understand and compensating for this complexity.
The class code system is based on credits completed, and generally correlates to a student’s year in school. But what about those students who have more credits than a typical junior, for example, enough credits to be a “senior,” although only in their third year at Bentley. What class code applies then? Is this student a junior or technically a class code 7 senior?
Each year students are asked to pay a housing deposit of $200.00 for the following year. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors all pay before housing registration begins. When asked to pay the housing deposit for the next year, this student would be unable to do so. The convenience of a computerized system where you can enter numbers and click “pay” suddenly becomes completely useless for this student. This student would need to obtain a form and pay in person at the cashier’s office. This system leaves little room for exceptions or deviations from the norm.
Registration for classes is also done via technology. Countless students have experienced the frustration of clicking “refresh” multiple times on MyBentley before being able to log in to register for classes. Computer problems can cause a student to register for the wrong class, or miss out on a particular class as a result of a technological error. It is possible such an error could even effect meeting graduation requirements. Who is in charge here?
Bentley’s technology can tell you that you have a bill outstanding, but it doesn’t provide a solution for this problem. In the technological word of Yes’s and No’s, there is simply no room for “Maybe’s.” Although registration occurs before the end of a semester, the system doesn’t account for a possible change in class code at the end of that semester. Therefore, if you have not yet achieved class code 7 status, you cannot register for GB401 even though in the semester you’re electing to take it, you will have achieved class code 7 status. Does our advanced technology inhibit our individualism?
Even in a regular class environment, technology has been known to hinder the classroom lessons. Whether it be a faulty monitor or out-of-focus overhead projector, professors must not forget that there is still a chalkboard and chalk. We cannot simply cancel classes or postpone a lesson because technology has failed us. Rather than going back to what we once used, like chalk boards or white boards, we quit entirely and fail to improvise.
Bentley is known as a leader in the innovation and use of technology, and in many classes and situations, technology has provided for the proliferation of creativity that makes Bentley students so strong in both the classroom and out in the field.
The thing to keep in mind is that black and white mentality is not a way of life, and technology failing to see beyond such a mentality is hurting the student experience at Bentley.
{ 1 comment }
How true! Well put!
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