Tim Krause - PhD

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This Winterim, I'm teaching a course on open source Web Content Management Systems (WCMS). It's a pretty intense course for just 10 class days. We meet four hours a day; we're covering Drupal, Joomla and WordPress. Students were also assigned an additional fourth to broaden their exposure.

To make matters more challenging: for many students this is the first time that they're seeing the Web dynamically rather than as static HTML and CSS. Don't get me wrong, though, they're all doing remarkably well.

But my goal is to introduce some levity. Early on I started out by using the Bush-ism of the Internets. Most of them don't seem to get the reference, and have looked at me quizzically. Apparently, however, the Internets is not configured.

Because I also laugh at my own jokes (no one else does - although this person probably would), I've now started referring to the googles. This has caused much consternation. Wikipedia would suggest I mean this. I don't. I really mean the reference as an even more technically illiterate riff on Bush's Internets. Levity is important, but I also use it to reinforce the importance of knowing the terminology in any profession as a way of reinforcing one's credibility.

I had a boss once who pronounced U-R-L as EARL. Hmmm. Not so good, even though I do like that show.

I actually started doing this in class last semester, and with little or no reaction. This semester? Last week, I observed students going to the Googles and typing:

• define:googles
• define:internets

That's progress: they're questioning what I'm saying and trying to figure it out, on their own. They're employing a sophisticated search strategy, which is something I expect of them. They're also still scratching their heads about the googles. However, now that I'm going to Tweet this, they'll be in on the inside joke. The Googs, that's what's next.

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