The first night of class

TECH Assignment:

To be honest, I have been a little slow at learning some of the technological advances of our age.  We did not grow up with a computer in our house, as most children do today.  I was in high school before we bought a computer and it was a dinosaur, with only very basic processing applications. Therefore, it has taken some time to build my confidence for jumping in and trying new things on a computer. However, as the technology age is always evolving, so is our use and reliance on technology such as computers, tablets and smart phones.  Even my three year-old knows how to work these electronics!

I have basic knowledge of both Microsoft and Mac operating systems. For many years, due to cost, I worked on a Window's operating system.  I was vaguely familiar with Mac's as my husband worked in the journalism industry where Macintosh was the industry standard.  It was not until about three years ago that I got my personal Mac. This came about because of its ability to have a remote backup system. After a couple crashes of my Window's based programs, and the loss of a lot of very valuable work data, we made the switch to all Apple products.

I found working on a Mac very easy.  There were many similarities for what I used a computer for.  However, the ability to have a time machine backup system that was not associated with a monthly fee and the ability to move my information easily from Mac to Mac was amazing.  (The time did come when I had to upgrade from a Mac mini to something with more memory and a faster processor.)  Due to the fact that my husband worked on a Mac, we were able to share files easier.  I also enjoy the iphoto and imovie applications.  Editing tasks are much easier with this technology.   The only negative that I have to report is that not all programs are available for Mac.  For example, I do transcription work.  Because one of the formats that some of the doctors use is not supported in the Mac version of my transcription software, I had to install a partition on my computer and run a virtual PC for these program  files.  However, I do understand the reason not all software is available for Mac is because it is not cost effective for software developers to develop the software for for Mac since three is not enough demand amongst Mac users for the software. In my case, this is a bitter-sweet.

I also explored a few of the keyboarding sites online.  I was not aware that programs existed to track and report student's typing progress.  This has come a long ways since the days of typing class where you sat at a typewriter and then hand counted your mistakes.  I found this to be a very interesting option that could be easily incorporated into a classroom to help make students more efficient typists.