No Dough, No Go! Technology Disables Car if You Miss a Payment!

Concerned about defaults on car loans to sub-prime borrowers (people with bad credit histories), lenders now can insist that a clever computerized box be installed in your car to alert you when your payment is due. When the lights start flashing, you know your payment is coming due. On the day the payment is due, the box also beeps incessantly.

When you make your payment you receive a six digit code to punch into the box. Without the code, your car is disabled and with new options such as tying the devices into GPS systems, it is easy for the repo man to locate the vehicle and repossess it!



Companies such as Sekurus (who makes a device called On Time) sell the devices to financing companies at up to $250 per box. Why would the finance companies invest so heavily in the devices? Because defaults on high-risk loans are cut from 30% to 5% when devices such as On Time are installed in the vehicle and the devices can drastically cut the time and expense of repossession.

Discussion Questions for Students:
1) How would you feel about having a device such as On Time installed in your car? What if it was the only way you could obtain a car loan for a vehicle you needed to commute to work?
2) Do you think it is ethical for a company to disable a car when a customer misses a payment? Should there be extenuating circumstances that would prevent the car from being disabled or repossessed?
3) If a GPS tracking device was installed in your vehicle, what potential ethical issues could arise from people (your parents, the police, your employer, the loan company) examining the data gathered by the GPS? Does this change how you feel about having a GPS device installed in your car?

A Vision of Students Today

This video gem is from the Cultural Anthropology Faculty at Kansas State University who have brought us so many other clever videos over the past couple of years. They asked their students to work on a shared document (sort of a wiki) and to comment on what was going on in with each of them when they were in the classroom. They filmed the results and displayed them in a thought provoking way (students holding up signs). The students' comments probably reflect many of the issues your students are facing.

Even though this video is designed more for faculty than for students, I still find it beneficial to show to my students. It gets them thinking and often sparks a good discussion about what they want to get out of my class. Often showing this video will spark student interest in using Wikis. Two free sites where students can set up Wikis are wikispaces and pbwiki.



Discussion Questions for Students:
1) Which issues from the video are you facing in your classes? What solutions would you propose to the students in the video to address their concerns?
2) Have you ever used a Wiki or Google documents to share information with a group or plan a project? Have you ever used these tools in classes at this institution?
3) Do you think you would find Wikis useful in your classwork? What about in your personal life?

Memory Problems (And I Don't Mean RAM!)

Perhaps you know someone that has a few problems like Tom Rush describes in this cute little tune.



I show this video on the first day of class. It serves as a great conversation starter because it is always easy to get students talking about themselves (see questions below).

Discussion Questions for Students:
1) What devices and software do you use to keep track of events happening in your personal life?
2) What suggestions would you have for the poor fellow in this video to help him start remembering the important events in his life?
3) Have you ever instructed a parent (or grandparent) on using some type of technology? Were there any challenging issues you encountered during this "training"?

Create a Web Site - Find a New Career

Over the years, plenty of people have thought that just knowing a little bit of HTML coding qualified them to be Web site designers. But for Linda Katz of southwest Kansas, practicing her Web design skills helped her launch an entirely new career -- as a tumbleweed farmer!

The Prairie Tumbleweed Farm started out as a simple Web design exercise. Linda wanted to practice her skills and created the farm as a joke back in 1994. But, people found her site and soon began contacting her because they wanted to buy the tumbleweeds! One thing led to another, and Linda now has a thriving business. Her customers include NASA, major Hollywood studios, fashion designers, and ordinary people who just want to own one of these iconic symbols of the old West.

Linda was recently featured on Yahoo!'s People of the Web and she has an interview posted on YouTube, which you can view by clicking the link below:



Discussion Questions for Students
1. Do you personally know anyone who is running a successful Internet business? Do you know how they got started?
2. Have you ever considered creating your own online business? What type of product or service would you offer?
3. Hands-on Exercise: Ask students to find a YouTube video featuring an interview with an entrepreneur who operates an online business.