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A story about a mature student returning to university and struggling to adapt to new technology.<\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"018846a8-581d-4522-a63c-1cff5fba460b"},"title":"Life-long Learner While Being Tech Stupid by Ather Shabbar"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

I am returning to post secondary education at the age of 60 after taking early retirement from my career. My employer has offered an attractive early retirement package which afforded me to pursue a graduate program. My goal was to be a life-long learner and study subject areas that are of interest to me; i.e., organizational learning and culture change.
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\nI found myself among students that are much younger who use their electronic devices with high level of proficiency. Most students in my classes were about the age of my children.
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\nI also found that as an older adult my biological needs were also different than other students. For example, my hearing and sight were not as sharp as they were when I was younger. My studying habits were also different than younger students; i.e., I took notes using a note book and pen, not using on-line tools such as Evernote.
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\nAt work I was accustomed to calling the help desk when I ran into problems with technology. There was instant help available to resolve the problem most of the time, and on a rare occasion, tech help came to my office to resolve the problem I was experiencing. This sort of service was not available to me at university.
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\nMy computer skills were limited to email and Microsoft Word. Occasionally, I used Powerpoint to develop presentations. I was not familiar with such e-tools as Google Doc, Survey Monkey, Eventbrite, or the Adobe Suite apps. These were commonly used apps. Other students \"wizzed by\" in the use of such technological tools while I often found it very frustrating parts of reentry into academic life. I found that it took me much longer to complete assignments and prepare for classes. This was a major source of frustration for me and much more challenging than completing course work and assignments. I often asked my professors to grant me extension to hand in my assignments or projects.
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\nTo add to the frustration, I was using a new computer with operating system I was not familiar with - Macbook. This was a mistake. My home computer was an old which was the size of a \"Buick\". I was using Microsoft operating system.
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\nI also found that the university IT department were not helpful. They often didn't help to resolve the problem I experienced. They closed the \"ticket\" before the problem was addressed. I found the school administrators treated a mature just like any other 17 year old student - sometimes with condesending tone. <\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"7d0b8c00-dcd8-49a9-834f-c2a85d0c7740"},"title":"The Wicked Problem"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

I sought help from another student who understood my frustration and showed me how to use available technology for my studies. I didn't want to keep asking for help from other students knowing they have their own workload to manage. I slowly learned to use Google Search to learn apps and functions. I also began to use Google Scholar, accessible documents, etc. This was slow and often frustrating and it took me a long time to get use to it.
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\nI decided to live with the circumstances and took a different perspective which included:
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Recognize it will take longer to get through the course work. Live with the reality I was facing. Know that learning technology will be your friend. The more I used an app, the more confident I became. <\/p>\n\t<\/li>\n\t
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Make better use of time management tools. Allocate time to complete the course work as well as learning new technologies. <\/p>\n\t<\/li>\n\t
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Ask for help from others who seem to be willing to help. Many people were not suitable for mentoring arrangement. <\/p>\n\t<\/li>\n\t
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When experiencing bad service from school's IT help, bring the matter up with senior administrators. <\/p>\n\t<\/li>\n\t
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Seek help from school when possible. <\/p>\n\t<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"2041e5a4-4f1b-430a-a888-afa83f17742d"},"title":"Finding a Solution"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"
A mature student has different motivation and needs. Recognizing the environment, culture and practices you are entering is going to take agility on your part. <\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"efd752c0-1e7a-46f6-bb13-9d5ae3a653d3"},"title":"Final Thoughts"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"
Shabbar, A. (2021, October 7). Life-long Learner While Being Tech Stupid<\/em>. Liberated Learners. https:\/\/wicked.liberatedlearner.ca\/learner\/life-long-learner-while-being-tech-stupid\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","subContentId":"96e1f69f-20ba-4348-bce8-4068a7522e0d","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"}},"title":"APA Reference"}],"hTag":"h2"}

Life-long Learner While Being Tech Stupid

Liam Peart