Heather-
I'm not sure that I agree with Anna, either, BUT I'm not sure that
screwing up on CALR is much different than they way that looseleafs,
treatises and digests are misused. It's just too bad that all the other
vendors of looseleafs, treatises and such don't charge by the minute (or
through the nose, in the case of flat fees). Then there'd be a much
bigger deal made regarding the use of these important print resources....
One thing I know is that we need to do whatever we can to educate the kids
about reality: CALR is cheaper and more efficient for substantive
research and more efficient for fact-specific types of research.
Perhaps we should make the students pay for use.
Richard Leiter
richlei@beacon.regent.edu
On Sat, 4 Jun 1994, Heather Simmons wrote:
>
> I must disagree with Anna Cherry's comment that having a password
> with out training will demonstrate to students that CALR does not
> always save time or give better answers.
>
> My experience is that students don't care if it takes longer on
> the computer. They are happy to sit and stare at a screen for
> hours rather than have to get up and find a book. They also
> assume that if they were not able to find it on the computer,
> then it must not exist.
>
> Rather than showing them that computers aren't always the best
> research method, having an ID will give them a false sense of
> security that they REALLY understand how the computer works
> because they were able to figure it out for themselves. The
> whole law school experience encourages students to be independent,
> If you don't know the answer by all means make something up,
> but NEVER admit that that you don't know what you are doing!
>
> I can't actually prove this scientifically, it's just a gut
> feeling.
>
> Heather Braithwaite Simmons
> Wayne State University Law Library
> hsimmon@cms.cc.wayne.edu
>
>
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