Computers & How They Work - A Review

How does this course, and its content connect to you? Is it useful information that will help you in the future? If so how? If not how might it be improved?

I found this class to be very connected to my professional and personal life. As an individual in a technological society I use computers all of the time. Knowing how they work and the components that are used as well as the history of their becoming what they are today gives greater understanding and meaning to that use. The knowledge also has given me greater resolve to not be afraid of what I don’t know about computers, but to experiment with them like I did when we opened up the box and when we tested different operating systems by creating live CDs. I would never have guessed that I would have come away with greater ability to care about the “how and why” computers work instead of just the “if and when”. When programs or applications don’t work or don’t work well, I think I’ll be able to troubleshoot many things on my own before having to seek assistance and when I do, I can give an accurate and (hopefully) helpful explanation of the issue or problem.

As far as the usefulness of the information…while I don’t plan on ever becoming an IT in the future, knowing how to talk like one and understand the lingo is very important. In addition, seeing where computing may be headed down the road (cloud computing, netbooks, etc) is not only exciting but has given me an edge in the classroom. I was very interested in working towards writing a grant that would put a laptop in each student’s possession while in my classroom. Originally I was thinking traditional laptops but just as we were discussing netbooks in class, our Technology Director was asking me if I knew about these little laptops that were a fraction of the cost of traditional laptops - go figure. (I of course told him that I knew of them and their abilities and that if he would simply outfit my classroom with them, I would volunteer to be the model classroom for their use! - I haven’t heard back from him yet…) I also think that the class has been useful to me as I look to the future of education in our district. Our principal is moving on to a superintendent position in Medford next year and our district isn’t hiring a person to replace him - we’re restructuring our current staff. This tells me that the more hats a person can wear in the building, the better chance of either moving up (if that’s the intention) or more importantly sticking around! I think it increases my value to the district.

The only area in class that I would seek improvement would be the commenting on others work. When submitting assignments, I was so focused on finishing that I really didn’t spend the time looking at other student work - I found myself giving many of them a quick look over and then making my comments. I think that if you give one or two days after the assignment is due for the comments, there may be a better chance of getting some discussion going through the comments. (For example, if the assignment/blog is due on the Tuesday, give until Wednesday or Thursday to post comments.) We actually did extend this time for the last week’s materials and although I had already commented, I really liked the idea of having more of a chance to respond.