This week I am showing students at USM how to report without pen and paper – the wonderful world of digital technology. We will also be working on putting together social media projects – reporting – using computers and mobile devices.
Before heading off to the university this morning, I tried to make another loaf of sun-dried tomato bread to take to class with me since Dr. X had asked for some the other day. It doesn’t take much work to do it, so why not?
I loaded up the bread maker and went back to bed. I woke up at some point and realized the bread machine was screaming at me. The electricity must have flickered because of the rain storm and stopped the bread maker – and the bread-making process.
Oh no! What do I do now? It looked well mixed, but I didn’t know if it had risen once or twice. I thought I would at least try to salvage the loaf after making myself wake up so early. So I winged it – kneaded it and let it rise one more time. Eventually I got it in the oven and crossed my fingers, hoping a loaf of bread would magically appear.
Half an hour later, that magic bread appeared and I was so relieved.
As I headed to class I realized that I could use the bread-making experience as a lesson: Even though paperless reporting is great, you can’t always rely on technology alone! Make sure you are prepared – have pen and paper handy in case something goes wrong!
The students appreciated the analogy – and the bread. And tomorrow I hope the students get as much pleasure out of their finished projects as I did mine.
Photo by Dr. Fei Xue (Dr. X)
Rambling Prose 
The bread turned out great! And I haven’t used my notebook in a long time, either! My scrawls have turned into scribbles since I seldom write anything by hand these days.
Lesson learned! I still carry a good old-fashioned “reporter’s notebook” in my computer case, although I haven’t needed to touch it yet. And the bread looks delicious!