The Biggest Impact

I think the thing that made the biggest impact on me was how much technology there is that I didn't know about, and how much money has been spent on putting technology into education with the poor result that has followed. I was surprised at all the software and programs that I had no idea existed and I was surprised at what I didn't know! Everyone in the class seemed to be so familiar with everything we worked on and with the computer at large and I didn't know anything about anything! I thought I knew some things before I took this class, but I was wrong! That was definitely an "AHA" moment for me! Another one was when we had to do the blog. I had heard of blogs, and seen my student workers typing on them, but I had never had any personal experience with one. It seemed difficult at first, because I didn't really understand what to write, but it got easier and it is just kind of like writing in a diary, really, its just that everyone in the world gets to read it! :) Of course I had a Aha moment every time we learned some type of software, because the only things we did that I had any experience with were Microsoft Word and Excel and a little experience with desktop publishing. But most of what we did, I had never experienced. Even with Word and Excel and DTP, I learned something I'd never done before, so it was a good experience for me. It was a huge surprise to me to find out how much money has been spent by the federal and state governments on putting technology into schools with such a poor result! It is definitely time for the schools to have something to show for all those dollars that have been spent and to begin to use technology for their students. That was another Aha moment for me. It has been my experience that technology in schools is a by-stander and not anything considered important to use in the education of students. Of course, teaching to the test is what is considered most important these days in Texas schools. If they can find a way to do that with a computer, then I guess we'll use them a lot! To tell the truth, I'm not sure if I'll use this blog after this class or not. I'm guessing I probably will not use it, but you never know. I may want to go back and re-read what I've written to gain a new perspective when I'm taking the other two ETEC classes I need for my degree (which you are teaching!) in the Fall semester.