The Laptops Arrive
In August, 2002,
Jeff returned to the West Point classroom after a four-year hiatus. Jeff had taught first-year and junior-year composition at USMA from 1995 to
1998, and during the 97–98 school year had been the
assistant course director for the first-year composition course. He returned to the Academy confident about
what the institution expected of him as a teacher, confident of his ability to
deliver. At age 39, after having
weathered the email revolution in office administration, the PowerPoint
revolution in information presentation, and the Excel revolution in
quantitative analysis, Jeff was not at all keen to learn that the Academy would
issue every plebe a
laptop, and that each department would be figuring out how to best integrate
this new technology into their courses as the instructors (receiving the same automation
package as the plebes) became more familiar with the technology.
Jeff was even less thrilled to learn that the
Academy had installed Blackboard course management software, yet relieved that
there was no mandate to use it beyond activating one's course Blackboard site
and posting syllabi. Maybe he was not so
well prepared for a return to the classroom, after all, Jeff thought.