An emergent exploration of critical instructional design.

Portfolio Part: Unexpected Toilet Talk

Workbook Page: Digital Submission

FREE WRITING: TECH NIGHTMARE

Unexpected Toilet Talk

Write about the worst experience that you’ve had with technology. You could talk about an experience you had as an instructor, student, or some other time unrelated to the classroom. How did the technology fail you? How did you feel at the moment? What was your response? What did you take from the experience?

When I taught a small class about a year ago, we had lengthy discussions on the subject of building healthy habits. I spoke to my class about the forming of tiny habits and decided on using a video where gentleman spoke about the formation of tiny habits by pairing it with an existing, every day habit. One example he used was every time he used the restroom, he’s do one push up; he wanted to build up the ability to do 50 push ups. Another example of a tiny habit was the build up to flossing his teeth regularly. He began with flossing one tooth, again, after using the restroom. The video also discussed other points about habit formation. During the video, there were some giggles and small chattering. After the video finished, I started to address the class to start a discussion about the video. Every question and comment was, “It had a lot to with him going to the bathroom” or “Why was it all bathroom stuff?” or “Does every habit have to do with going to the bathroom?” The entire class became fixated and focused on this small detail when the point (in my mind) of the video was to easily explain the formation of tiny habits and how easy it is to incorporate them into our daily lives. The lesson and video example was lost on this hyper-fixation of “toilet humor”. I felt frustrated especially when trying to move the class away from the only detail the recalled from the video. I realized that the use of this tech may not have had the effect I anticipated. I thought of this story during this week’s theme of intentional technology and what role it plays in teaching and learning. Knowing my audience also plays into intentional tech. After reflecting, I realized that these are still young adults, and perhaps if I were 18, I may have also laughed at so much bathroom reference.

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