And of course some enemy of humanity installed an Apple computer in the smart classroom where I teach this semester. Now I can’t turn it on because – and this might be because of my flu – I have no idea where the actual body of the computer is. I found the monitor with an apple on it, the projector panel, the sound system, the VCR, the DVD, but not the computer itself.
So you can just imagine my call to technical support.
“The computer in my classroom doesn’t work!”
“OK, have you tried turning it on?”
“I can’t find this big box with the button I need to press to turn it on. I looked everywhere!”
IT person in an aside to a colleague, “I wonder who gives out PhDs to such doofuses.”
Clarissa's Blog 
It might be an iMac, so the big screen *is* the body of the computer. If you feel behind the screen in the lower left corner, you should feel a depression- that’s the power button. Don’t worry, you’re not the first person I know who has had this problem (though I can’t say you’re in good company…)
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Oh. I had no idea. Now I have made an idiot out of myself to the IT people. 🙂 🙂
Thank you for telling me!
Is Apple doing it on purpose to confuse people?
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Usually Apple is pretty good at making their products intuitive to use, but every now and then they do something a little silly for the sake of aesthetics, like hide the power button… They could have just as easily put it on the side next to the cd slot, but oh well.
And I’m sure you’ll get used to using the Mac in no time. Windows has been gradually converging on a mac-like operating system for years now, so once you figure out a few differences (like what is the finder and where is the doc) and train yourself to stop using windows’ shortcuts, it will be a no-brainer. 🙂
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I much prefer Linux machines, if only because it is so much easier and quicker to cut and paste than with either Windows or Mac’s.
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They install Apples in your classrooms ?!
Why do they have so much money to waste ?
At our facility profs have to bring their own laptop.
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We have very expensive smart classrooms. Now almost every classroom is “smart” and has all kinds of technology. The downside is that you never know when you’ll be stuck with an Apple. Now I’ll have to figure out how to use it, and that will be a horrible drag.
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They buy cheap ones in bulk and it’s not a big deal. All those laptops would be more expensive and break more. Also, in those classrooms the computer isn’t the most expensive of the items. Try pricing a projector, the replacement bulbs for it, a document camera, a multiregion dvd player that is sturdy enough to last, etc. At that point a cut rate iMac isn’t a big deal. Yes, I’d put a PC instead, me, but people have Apple fetishes … so humor them, I guess.
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This was for Tim. I have a new objection I’d raise to having to bring a laptop to class. Mine is an expensive one and I don’t want students fooling with it for their presentations. Plus they would freak out since it is Linux. And I bought it for my research use, and I will be God-damned if I let freshmen use it to give their class presentations (I will have 90 underclassmen this semester and some are sure to have sticky fingers and everything, you know how it is).
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I agree completely. I would never bring my laptop to class. I bought it with my own money, I have all of my files on it, and I’d never allow people to stick their flash drives or download their files onto it. Even my own husband has to ask permission every time he touches the computer. I’d never expose it to a crowd of freshmen just because the university is too cheap.
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Is it just me, or is this comment I wrote filled with sexualized images of my computer?
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It’s you, but now you *almost* made me see it too. 🙂
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Students don’t get to play around with professor’s property.
If you want to hold a presentation, you either have to use what is there or have to bring it on site yourself.
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And that is why there are computers in those rooms. Imagine having to hook up each student’s laptop for their presentation.
Also, the rooms are used for guest presentations, administrative meetings, whatever … and so it’s very hunky-dory to have computers in there.
We don’t have a lot of these rooms. I have 2 sections of the same course tomorrow, and one has a smart room and the other doesn’t. So, I have to have 2 totally different lesson plans or else not use the smartness of the smart room.
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