REMEDIATION

The laptop has remediated my daily life in a variety of ways. First instead of taking notes in the classroom via paper and pen I now you only the laptop thus assisting me in organizing not only my own thoughts better on paper but also the professor’s as well. When the lecture jumps about like the verbal equivalent of hypertext, I am able to return to previous points and insert information as opposed to writing in margins and using arrows etc. Another remediation pertaining is the laptop’s replacement of the library, encyclopaedia, thesaurus and dictionary. From childhood I have always been in the habit of going to the dictionary when reading (whether for school or pleasure) when I do not know a word and using the thesaurus to enrich both my academic and business writing. As a child and into my teens we always had the Encyclopaedia Britannica in our home, I often referenced the material for school projects. The internet as made most text reference books obsolete, it is faster to google then to look up in an index and the information will most likely be more current as well. I rarely physically go into the library anymore. Now I look everything up on line, place the order for my book or article, and then just go to pick up the material I need when it is ready. This saves time and is far more efficient then browsing through the stacks for a book that may have been misplaced or is out. Now that these tools are at my fingertips, I find myself using them more often. One caveat to that is the dictionary for personal reading I won’t open the computer to look up a word I just write it down and if I have time I look it up, if I don’t I just figure out the context form the rest of the story. In terms of curriculum, I see it opening it up for students who like me now have the opportunity to get the answers to their questions with a few key strokes. In an over burdened classroom this could reduce student wait times for teacher assistance and open the teacher up to work with students who need more help. The laptop has made me a “producer” and not just a consumer. I have built websites for school, edited videos and photographs -- manipulating them to suit my purposes/transmit a message. On a personal level, the computer has replaced trips to the bank for such mundane routes as paying bills. I use the computer as a TV/VCR when the primary one is unavailable. Calendar, mail, and instant messaging software have helped me stay in contact with people far away, work on projects collaboratively, and generally organize myself using such functions as tasks for to-do lists and reminder features.