My two teenaged kids each have their own laptops. My son covets his HP which has a memory capacity that would likely last him a lifetime since he is not a gamer and only uses it for Internet (Facebook) and school projects. My daughter was sent away to university in the fall with the more expensive (and superior, in her opinion) Apple MacBook and an HP printer/scanner.
I entered post-secondary school with a Smith-Corona electric typewriter on which K and L stuck together if you did not strike them at just the right angle with your face contorted in just the right way. Oh, and a bottle of much needed correction fluid. My task was to type all of the necessary information for ten prescription labels and bring them to class twice a week. Marks were deducted if it was noticed by the professor that you actually used the correction fluid. Talk about pressure. I aimed for perfection but after numerous attempts, copious amounts of wasted paper, and enough cursing to convince my roommates that I may have an undiagnosed case of Tourette’s I opted for the risky route of putting the white stuff on my labels. When I caught wind that we would be using computers for second term to “generate” labels I was ecstatic. By this time my label typing had degraded to a half-hearted effort and I was considering buying shares in the Liquid Paper Company.
The strange thing is, I have a vivid recollection of using that old electric typewriter and virtually no memory of what the pharmacy software system of the day looked like. I do know that it was a fairly simplistic word processor and I do know that it saved my life. I could easily fix any mistakes before printing out my masterpiece and I received NO penalty! I was already convinced that computers were for me having spent many hours playing around with my “friend’s” Commodore 64 but this sealed it. (Jon was my “friend” because he had a Commodore 64 – sorry Jon). With my mood lifted, my marks soared! I was on fire.
Fast forward to today’s pharmacy software system and my class, I am sure a lot has changed. For instance, the software now has the capability to scan prescriptions into it, pictures of the actual drug are now available on the screen to check that you are dispensing the correct one, and they have been programmed with common abbreviations and short forms so that students do not even have to type entire words or sentences. BUT I continually receive prescription labels from SOME students that likely look to me as my lackadaisical efforts looked to my professor 25 years ago. Where she was mortified with my messy looking yet correctly spelled label I am mortified by their misspelled mess. From my perspective these students are provided with all the tools they need to do the job with much less time devoted and with much less effort required. Harping has not helped. Explaining the importance of proofreading has not helped. Describing the importance of the job has not helped.
Providing amazing technological tools is great for most students but we still need to teach the basics like attitude and attention to detail. And how do we make these students really care about what they are doing in school as much as they care about their Facebook updates?
It so happens that I just sold my typewriter at a yard sale after having found it amongst my late mother’s things. I am not sure why the little girl wanted it but I made sure to tell her that K and L stick. Her expression told me she had no idea what I meant.