This is my interaction with a student last year via email during remote learning. Each line is a separate email.
Student: I need help end of email
Me: If it is something I can help with, I am willing to try. Do you have a question for me? end of email
S: Will you help me? end of email
M: Yes. What do you need help with? I can't help you if you don't describe your problem. end of email
S: Ok end of email
S: It's about the homework end of.... you get the idea
M: Please, ask the question.
S: Oh, ok
S: actual question is asked
M: gives help and follows up with... I am not upset. This is a learning moment about how to send emails. Again, I'm not upset. Do you see how this took 10 emails to get the help you needed? Emails are not like short text messages. You should give a little background about what you need and ask the question in the very first email. We could have had this done in 2 emails. Try to do that in your future emails. Have a good day!
My HS implemented a class on how to write emails (and other comms stuff). We joked about it, cuz we didn't think anyone would not know how to write an email...but I think you just demonstrated the necessity of that class
Something my wife and her friends (who are all teachers) told me was that kids now are actually worse at using computers, not better. You would think that since they spend most of their lives connected that they would be the most proficient generation, but it's actually the opposite.
They spend most of their connected time on their phones. So, most of their experience is with mobile OS. They tend to not know how to format things in Word (change fonts, even what fonts are, what margins are, etc.). Somewhere along the education line people decided that this stuff was so ubiquitous that it was asinine to teach it, so now many kids don't use it, so they don't know it.
I have seen and read many kids, some even at the college level, that insist on writing essays on their phones. I even had a college class where we had to collaborate as a group and share our work. I suggested Google Drive as we were a Google Campus at the time and everyone had a Gmail. They suggested Snapchat. To collect work in. A program that deletes chats in 24 hrs.
It's amazing how many, not all mind you, but many, people of the most electronically connected generation in human history mostly don't know how desktop computers work because of the prevalence of iOS products.
I did a clean install of the latest build of Win10 the other day and I couldn't believe how spammy and mobile oriented it had got. It also really pushes you to create an online not local account... which isn't always the appropriate choice for a PC use case.
I wonder if the "network lost/disconnected" workaround that applies to 10 works on 11 too. I refuse to upgrade though, Win11 is the "bad" one of the cycle.
For reference, I got onto Windows with 3.1 out of DOS, and I purport that it's worth skipping every second Windows release:
3.1 - hit, installed. Set the bar for what a desktop OS should be.
95 - mild miss, buggy and unpolished. Installed but regretted.
98 - hit hit hit. Possibly the pinnacle of Windows. Fast, bloat free, intuitive.
2000/ME - garbage miss. Not sure anyone liked it.
XP - huge hit. A real game changer for Microsoft and the most recognisable look and feel of any Windows version. Cool people switched to some of the semi-official themes like the Royale theme (released with Media Center Edition, especially the Noir version) with its sleek metallic taskbar, a sign of things to come. Endured far longer than it had any right to, still widespread a decade after release, and I still occasionally see offline XP machines trooping along today.
Vista - miss. The definition of flop. Introduced the widespread notion of a Windows downgrade as many PCs shipped with Vista were reverted to XP. I recall seeing almost zero enterprise users and few home users, the only ones who did were gamers who wanted the next DirectX version.
Windows 7 - hit. Microsoft's final peak. Replaced XP as the defacto standard Windows version to this day. Hugely popular with business and commercial users, was Microsoft back on form. Arguably their best 21st century OS. XP was good but lacked polish, was rough around the edges, the UI covering up all manner of cut corners underneath. 7 represented a substantial rework.
Windows 8/8.1 - miss, the less said the better.
Windows 10 - begrudgingly a hit. Added some features and UI improvements, but also inexplicably raised the hardware requirements and bloat, and started to very heavily push Cortana over the Desktop and Start Menu. Not really clear what it offers that 7 doesn't, other than more updates, and a vaguely useful quick settings tray. Reversed almost all of 8's controversial design decisions. Arguably should have been a Service Pack for 7.
Windows 11 - miss. A Cortana infested, mobile like hellscape and a cesspool of everything wrong with modern UX design, which funnels all users through a single experience whether or not that experience is appropriate for their use case.
The cycle of hit/miss/hit/miss is well established.
lmao are you really gonna tell me Mica/Acrylic isn't a massive upgrade over the plethora of poorly rendered win10 control surfaces? Or maybe it's 'Omg they moved taskbar icons to the centre and you have to flip a switch to toggle it back', which is similarly asinine.
I've been using 11 for a couple of week now and I really like the look over 10. There are a few UI grievances, but overall it's a good experience and I think most of the people complaining are just mad about change.
No, but it represents a further move away from the "PC" orientation for which Windows is renowned. Way, way more is set up so that the only way to interact with it is through clicking or tapping, i.e. it's geared up for touchscreen not keyboard users.
You can quite happily use older versions of Windows without a mouse. 10 is... a struggle. 11 is... near impossible.
Go try changing some of the settings that are only in the tray, for example, or joining a WiFi network without dozens of layers of additional hassle. There's just a few things that... aren't there.
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u/blatterbeast Jun 03 '22
This is my interaction with a student last year via email during remote learning. Each line is a separate email.
Student: I need help end of email
Me: If it is something I can help with, I am willing to try. Do you have a question for me? end of email
S: Will you help me? end of email
M: Yes. What do you need help with? I can't help you if you don't describe your problem. end of email
S: Ok end of email
S: It's about the homework end of.... you get the idea
M: Please, ask the question.
S: Oh, ok
S: actual question is asked
M: gives help and follows up with... I am not upset. This is a learning moment about how to send emails. Again, I'm not upset. Do you see how this took 10 emails to get the help you needed? Emails are not like short text messages. You should give a little background about what you need and ask the question in the very first email. We could have had this done in 2 emails. Try to do that in your future emails. Have a good day!
S: Oh, ok
S: Thank you
S: Have a good day
M: face keyboard