TEACHING | LIFE | CREATIVITY | RESEARCH | INSPIRATION
Meeting the Deadline by Using Old Methods of Research
Teaching Generation Z how to navigate academic life
Before 24/7 connectivity to the Internet, how did we manage to get our work done on time? I often wondered about that, especially after working from home since the pandemic. Yesterday, I got to live in that era despite using the phone for the Zoom meeting.
People can do everything on their phones or tablets without any issues only if they are fully charged. Right? The battery banks can offer a lifeline, most of the time, contingent upon availability.
Due to the outage, I decided to meet the student in the café nearby. We couldn’t find a decent seat there. I suggested the reference library, which was also overcrowded and took ages to open websites.
By now, the desperation on the student’s face was hard to ignore, and I decided to take her back to the Stone Age (😂😂). The reaction was not surprising to me. Thank goodness for my strict policy of taking only the high-performing ones who are extremely dedicated.
In the allotted time, we not only found the relevant books and academic articles but also finished the outline of the thesis. Although the reluctant student who had never walked in the stacks to find books was exhausted by the time we finished, they felt relieved and satisfied.
Younger minds are so apt to do things with swift speed, yet it takes them longer to finish tasks, whereas oldies like me show deftness in searching, taking notes, and writing with hand.
If some of you might be shaking your heads, why should we go back to old methods of doing research when Google brings everything to us in seconds?
Well. If technological hiccups occur, the forgotten methodologies do the magic with guaranteed success. On the other hand, in the jittery age of AI’s dominance, the tedious work of finding reliable academic sources can solve the plagiarism issues plaguing educational institutions.
A student can defend the authenticity of the sources with more confidence if questioned as they have the evidence of collecting resources. I think one would hardly forget to locate books after aisle-to-aisle search on different floors.
People might perceive offline learning as outdated, out of fashion, and obsolete; however, I support a healthy combination of both. The physical exercise of searching for the right materials is exhilarating and utterly satisfying; we are fully immersed in the process instead of being dependent on algorithm patterns.
It fuels creativity, ingenuity, and curiosity to produce original pieces more easily.
The day being offline was not that bad for me and my student, who will be able to submit her assignment on time. The student confided that she enjoyed the serene atmosphere of reading, thinking, and outlining the essay and expressed interest in meeting in the library for further sessions.
Overall, I had a very productive day and enjoyed the break from the news (I found out about the political crises in the morning). I also discovered that an internet outage would not totally ruin my chance of teaching online nor damage the reputation of a skilled researcher and mentor.
© Fatima Imam (All Rights Reserved)
Sincere thanks to the editors of Illumination for providing a hospitable environment for my stories. ❤️❤️
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