Hitting the Digital Wall

For the last few weeks I have been feeling pretty confident in my abilities and knowledge about computer programs.  A couple of weeks ago I was able to connect our wireless printer to our wireless network.  That may not sound like much to those of you who are digital natives but for me it was a major accomplishment.  Now I can print from my laptop in the family room to the printer in my office/craft room.  I was so proud of myself because I did it all on my own and was able to even set up my husband's laptop to print! 

This semester at school I have been taking two statistics classes which rely heavily on SPSS (IBM's Statistical Package for the Social Sciences).  I have also been able to navigate that program quite well and successfully complete all my homework assignments.  Then we got to the last assignment that was Confirmatory Factor Analysis!  It uses a statistical package called "R" which is developed by statisticians.  Well,  I hit my digital wall.  I installed R on my laptop using the directions from my professor.  Then I tried to complete the analysis using the software.  Unfortunately this package was not developed by someone who is a digital immigrant such as I am.  I read the directions, watched the video from class, looked online for tips, tried it again and again and got NOWHERE.  So all my confidence evaporated in an instant!  It seems that "R" depends on FORTRAN programming language and that may as well be Klingon for me.  I just don't get it.  Now I'm sure if I had someone to walk me through it I could understand it but for the assignment it was just impossible.  So I did something for the first time in my academic career, I told the professor that I could not complete an assignment. 

These were also my last two classes for my doctoral program so I was just over it.  Hopefully I can still pass with not turning in one assignment and will have my classes all completed. 

It's interesting to me that when it comes to digital type things that I seem to take one step forward and sometimes take an occasional step back when something just does not make sense to me.   As with life, I can choose to focus on my lack of knowledge about digital things or I can just continue to learn and move forward.  I choose to move forward.  Defeat is not an option! (Except when it comes to FORTRAN based statistical programs)