For our recent assignment on creating a presentation on Internet Safety for Children, I decided to take a look at what resources are available for this important topic. I am absolutely thrilled at what is out there on this topic. Even though I know many of the common sense recommendations, trying to present those ideas to a group of parents isn't as easy as it would seem. First of all, just in my experience at my small, catholic school, it's amazing how many parents don't understand all the technologies that their kids have access to. Many of them don't know what chat rooms are and even though they might email regularly, they've never heard of "sexting." In addition, some assume that sites geared toward children automatically have filters in place to protect them but don't know the extent of that protection. And though they all have heard of the dangers of My Space, they don't know of the many other social networking sites that are available to their kids.
One of the best sites I discovered was NetSmartz.com, a site created by the Center for Exploited and Missing Children. The site is amazing - full of downloadable presentaions for both children and parents. There are also terrific videos and interactive activities for various age groups, from the very young to the teens. What I like in particular were the animated videos on topics like privacy and gamers as well as many others.
I can't wait to use this site with my students. I've always known that the teaching of Internet Safety was important, but until I actually read the Children's Internet Protection Act, I didn't realize what expectations the government had placed on our school and libraries. It has made me think twice about how I teach this topic and what plan my school has in place. Even though I teach at a private school and so do not necessarily have to abide by the same rules as public schools, I still want to do everything I can as an educator to instill important skills in my students' minds. When I return in the fall, I will be taking a look at my "plan" and making significant changes to meet the criteria of the Children's Internet Protection Act.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tools Part 2
When I traveled to Vegas for the first time many years ago, one of the most awesome sites for me wasn't the casinos, with their dinging machines and colorful lights, nor was it the mini-Eiffel Tower or New York rollercoaster. Nope, for me one of the truly grand sites was the M&M candy store. Walking into the M&M store, my eyes could not take enough in of the ginormous containers filled to the brim with exquisite colorful candies. I had never seen such a place that was so richly colorful and so tantalizing at the same time. I walked around that store for nearly a half hour, trying to decide where to even begin. Alas, in the end, I left the store with nothing, finding the decision of what to buy too overwhelming.
All the studying we've been doing on Internet tools has me feeling much like that first time in the M&M store. I can't get enough of all the variety of learning resources there are on the Web, but I'm finding the task of picking and choosing which to use a bit overwhelming. I've bookmarked just about every one of them, but now I'm a bit befuddled as to how to best use them in my classroom. I'm beginning to feel like I need to dump my current curriculum and move in an entirely different direction.
Part of my anxiousness also has to do with the fact that my school is trying to move toward a standard's-based report card this fall. I have already completed a list of objectives, based upon our Diocesan standards, but now I'm realizing that these standards are completely archaic and must have been created while the concept of cloud computing was in its infancy and the Internet was a place you visited for specific tasks. The current objectives focus on the student's ability to "do" things, such as cut and paste, create a document, boot and shut down the computer, etc. These are very easy tasks to complete and measure but clearly they don't begin to tap into the deeper levels and potential of the tools we've learned about in class.
In addition, I've started to take a closer look at the NETS and am realizing that they, too, have very little to do with what my are or the Diocesan standards are. I'm quickly realizing that my responsibility to my students is not so much teaching them how to cut, paste and insert images, but, more importantly, how to collaborate, problem-solve and be responsible, digital- and media-literate citizens. Yikes!!! Teaching them to cut and paste sounds soooo much easier.
So this is where my mind-set is, and I'm excited, yet struggling, with how to best approach the up-coming year. The Diocese hopes to create a standards team to help revise them, and I've asked to put on the list. But clearly revising the standards to coincide with NETS is a daunting task, and I'm sure there will be much debate. Should the standards be broken down by grade level? How specific do we want to be? How can the standards be created in such a way that schools with less access can still meet the criteria? Should we even take this into consideration or simply demand that schools meet the criteria for the sake of the students? And on a smaller scale, how can I convince my teachers to include the types of tools we've covered in class? As the tech teacher is it my sole responsibility to educate my students or should all the teachers be required to do so?
GRRRRRR... This has my head swimming, and I'm afraid that I may become too overwhelmed, thus leaving the candy store empty-handed.
All the studying we've been doing on Internet tools has me feeling much like that first time in the M&M store. I can't get enough of all the variety of learning resources there are on the Web, but I'm finding the task of picking and choosing which to use a bit overwhelming. I've bookmarked just about every one of them, but now I'm a bit befuddled as to how to best use them in my classroom. I'm beginning to feel like I need to dump my current curriculum and move in an entirely different direction.
Part of my anxiousness also has to do with the fact that my school is trying to move toward a standard's-based report card this fall. I have already completed a list of objectives, based upon our Diocesan standards, but now I'm realizing that these standards are completely archaic and must have been created while the concept of cloud computing was in its infancy and the Internet was a place you visited for specific tasks. The current objectives focus on the student's ability to "do" things, such as cut and paste, create a document, boot and shut down the computer, etc. These are very easy tasks to complete and measure but clearly they don't begin to tap into the deeper levels and potential of the tools we've learned about in class.
In addition, I've started to take a closer look at the NETS and am realizing that they, too, have very little to do with what my are or the Diocesan standards are. I'm quickly realizing that my responsibility to my students is not so much teaching them how to cut, paste and insert images, but, more importantly, how to collaborate, problem-solve and be responsible, digital- and media-literate citizens. Yikes!!! Teaching them to cut and paste sounds soooo much easier.
So this is where my mind-set is, and I'm excited, yet struggling, with how to best approach the up-coming year. The Diocese hopes to create a standards team to help revise them, and I've asked to put on the list. But clearly revising the standards to coincide with NETS is a daunting task, and I'm sure there will be much debate. Should the standards be broken down by grade level? How specific do we want to be? How can the standards be created in such a way that schools with less access can still meet the criteria? Should we even take this into consideration or simply demand that schools meet the criteria for the sake of the students? And on a smaller scale, how can I convince my teachers to include the types of tools we've covered in class? As the tech teacher is it my sole responsibility to educate my students or should all the teachers be required to do so?
GRRRRRR... This has my head swimming, and I'm afraid that I may become too overwhelmed, thus leaving the candy store empty-handed.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Quest for Truth
Several months ago I read an article that addressed the safety of our children. Ironically, the article claimed that our kids today were actually more in danger of reckless behavior because of being overprotected. The author claimed that kids learn safety skills by falling and scraping their knees. Hence, parents who insist that kids not do things like climb trees or ride bikes on gravel are, in the end, doing them more harm by not allowing their brains to develop these skills. I guess it's the ol' try and fail method of behavior learning.
I think this same lesson can be applied to our theme this week in class. There seems to be a common thread in this week's discussion and focus, and that is the search for what is truthful on the Internet and how we can make the Internet safe or relevant for our students . Much ado is being made about the fact that the Internet contains so much junk - that it has become overrun with wasted pages. No one can deny that this is true. I think this is the advantage of having a free Internet. Do we really want the alternative, allowing some governing body to decide what is and is not relevant and of value? It's true that the Internet is riddled with meaningless garbage, but if you visit any of these sites, you're bound to see at least one hit. So, if we are going to support the free speech platform that the Internet is, we as educators have to be willing to accept the challenge to find the best and quickest, most efficient ways to cipher through all the junk and discover the sites that will be most useful to our students. For our younger students, I think this is very important. They need to be able to take baby steps when developing their surfing techniques. We certainly don't want 8, 9, 10 year olds exposed to the kinds of malicious, dangerous, and inappropriate material that exists on the Net.
But when it comes to our older students, filtering what we consider irrelevant or uneducational is simply not giving our students the skills they need to function on the Web. I personally think we do our older students a disservice if we insist on "watering down" the Internet to make things easier for the students. How can we adequately prepare them and instill critical thinking skills if we don't allow them to fall and scrape their knees on their own? This doesn't mean we have to expose them to all the trash, but we should at least provide them with both the good and the bad and allow them to evaluate the nature of each. Eliminating sites such as Wikipedia because we don't see the value doesn't mean there isn't any. We need to be more open-minded and willing to climb beyond our comfort level and take the chance that we may fall and bump our heads.
I think this same lesson can be applied to our theme this week in class. There seems to be a common thread in this week's discussion and focus, and that is the search for what is truthful on the Internet and how we can make the Internet safe or relevant for our students . Much ado is being made about the fact that the Internet contains so much junk - that it has become overrun with wasted pages. No one can deny that this is true. I think this is the advantage of having a free Internet. Do we really want the alternative, allowing some governing body to decide what is and is not relevant and of value? It's true that the Internet is riddled with meaningless garbage, but if you visit any of these sites, you're bound to see at least one hit. So, if we are going to support the free speech platform that the Internet is, we as educators have to be willing to accept the challenge to find the best and quickest, most efficient ways to cipher through all the junk and discover the sites that will be most useful to our students. For our younger students, I think this is very important. They need to be able to take baby steps when developing their surfing techniques. We certainly don't want 8, 9, 10 year olds exposed to the kinds of malicious, dangerous, and inappropriate material that exists on the Net.
But when it comes to our older students, filtering what we consider irrelevant or uneducational is simply not giving our students the skills they need to function on the Web. I personally think we do our older students a disservice if we insist on "watering down" the Internet to make things easier for the students. How can we adequately prepare them and instill critical thinking skills if we don't allow them to fall and scrape their knees on their own? This doesn't mean we have to expose them to all the trash, but we should at least provide them with both the good and the bad and allow them to evaluate the nature of each. Eliminating sites such as Wikipedia because we don't see the value doesn't mean there isn't any. We need to be more open-minded and willing to climb beyond our comfort level and take the chance that we may fall and bump our heads.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Internet Learning Resources-Teaching Made Easier!
Like any teacher out there who loves using the Internet, I have been amazed at how much stuff there is that can be used in my classroom. This past week has been a great example of this.
For my 6th Grade computer class, we always end with a unit on Excel. Now, I never use Excel. Yah, yah, I get why it's great and useful, etc. but for my line of work I have not needed it. I tend to equate it with scrapbooking: it's a great thing to do, but who in the world has time for it? Anyway, so when it comes to teaching my 6th graders how to use Excel, I'm always very rusty, and since I don't take the time to dig deeply into it, I end up feeling very uneasy leading the class in creating spreadsheets. So as I got to thinking about our topic this week, I thought I would start surfing for tutorials. My challenge was finding one that was suitable for my young audience. Many of the tutorials I have discovered for Excel tend to lend themselves to those in the business world and thus are very technical and, worse, boring.
So, what Learning Resource tool did I find? As I have done for other topics, I'm finding that lately my best friend in Internet Learning Resources is Youtube. It seems if it's video I need for just about anything in my classroom, I can find it there. So I went to Youtube and searched, and by golly, I found an excellent 5 part series on the basics of Excel. The best part is that my school district is still stuck with MS Office 2000, and the series is conducted on 2000. Great! In addition, the narrator is a Brit, and as one of my students commented, has a "rather soothing voice." He's wonderful, and instead of listening to my droning jibberish, they are tuning in to his sessions and learning a ton. Hell, I'm learning a ton. And since he gives a wonderful example - a video rental spreadsheet - I am able to instruct my students on how to set it up and repeat his calculations. My students are, therefore, getting a double-dose of instruction; first, his up-close step-by-step process, followed by my reinforcement and extension. What a great combo! And now with the inclusion of RealPlayer download, I can download these wonderful videos and keep them in the folders for students to view year after year, not having to worry if the video will disappear.
I don't know what I would do if the Internet blew up tomorrow. Perhaps I depend too much on it, but the resources out there play a vital role in my keeping students up-to-date on the latest information. I would feel completely disconnected without it, and I really have no idea how teachers without access do it. In fact, I know several teachers who don't utilize the Internet very often, and I tend to feel that their students are not getting the full education they need to become savvy, problem-solving citizens. I spend a lot of time with my students teaching them how to surf and the dangers and benefits of doing so. I think we do our students a disservice if we don't carry this same message throughout the curriculum.
Preaching over...
For my 6th Grade computer class, we always end with a unit on Excel. Now, I never use Excel. Yah, yah, I get why it's great and useful, etc. but for my line of work I have not needed it. I tend to equate it with scrapbooking: it's a great thing to do, but who in the world has time for it? Anyway, so when it comes to teaching my 6th graders how to use Excel, I'm always very rusty, and since I don't take the time to dig deeply into it, I end up feeling very uneasy leading the class in creating spreadsheets. So as I got to thinking about our topic this week, I thought I would start surfing for tutorials. My challenge was finding one that was suitable for my young audience. Many of the tutorials I have discovered for Excel tend to lend themselves to those in the business world and thus are very technical and, worse, boring.
So, what Learning Resource tool did I find? As I have done for other topics, I'm finding that lately my best friend in Internet Learning Resources is Youtube. It seems if it's video I need for just about anything in my classroom, I can find it there. So I went to Youtube and searched, and by golly, I found an excellent 5 part series on the basics of Excel. The best part is that my school district is still stuck with MS Office 2000, and the series is conducted on 2000. Great! In addition, the narrator is a Brit, and as one of my students commented, has a "rather soothing voice." He's wonderful, and instead of listening to my droning jibberish, they are tuning in to his sessions and learning a ton. Hell, I'm learning a ton. And since he gives a wonderful example - a video rental spreadsheet - I am able to instruct my students on how to set it up and repeat his calculations. My students are, therefore, getting a double-dose of instruction; first, his up-close step-by-step process, followed by my reinforcement and extension. What a great combo! And now with the inclusion of RealPlayer download, I can download these wonderful videos and keep them in the folders for students to view year after year, not having to worry if the video will disappear.
I don't know what I would do if the Internet blew up tomorrow. Perhaps I depend too much on it, but the resources out there play a vital role in my keeping students up-to-date on the latest information. I would feel completely disconnected without it, and I really have no idea how teachers without access do it. In fact, I know several teachers who don't utilize the Internet very often, and I tend to feel that their students are not getting the full education they need to become savvy, problem-solving citizens. I spend a lot of time with my students teaching them how to surf and the dangers and benefits of doing so. I think we do our students a disservice if we don't carry this same message throughout the curriculum.
Preaching over...
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Connections
As much as I use my computer, I've never really taken a close look at how it works or how my data is stored. Hence, I found the content of our class to be very useful. I tend to be a very hands-on kinda gal, so any chance I get to get dirty and scrounge around a bit makes me very happy, and this is what I felt like the class gave me the chance to do.
When I think about what exactly I want to do with my degree, I think the most useful information I gained from this class was the data recovery sessions, including the recovery plans for both organizations and my pc. I am extremely negligent when it comes to protecting my data, even to the point of letting my virus protection slide, simply because I don't feel like paying the money or because I am tired of the software turning my fast pc into a dog. I now realize, although it's simple common sense to most, that I just cannot afford to do this. I did discover in my research, however, that I don't have to rely solely on Norton or McAfee, and that's reassuring. I also found the disaster recovery information extremely helpful and applicable not just to large corporations but to my small school as well. Even if I don't have to include every aspect, a well-designed plan will help me think about where and how information is stored in the event of a disaster.
The section of the course I found most challenging was the whole Linux activity. Although I was able to see how this OS functions, I felt like a complete ninny and know I didn't utilize the program to its fullest. From what the literature claimed, I should have been able to do much more than I did when I burned the image to disk and ran it from my laptop. Instead, I felt like an outsider simply observing, rather than a user. I think several would agree that exploring Linux was moving into unfamiliar territory and so some sort of demo would have been helpful. I had searched for something on Youtube but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I needed more so that I could go to the image disk and perhaps feel more comfortable with its capabilities, particularly the Internet browser.
Similar to the Linux activity, I also would have like to dig deeper in our "under the hood" activity. I like opening up my machine and checking everything out, but I would have also liked to have learned basic maintenance for my machine. I didn't even realize until someone else pointed it out, that simply touching the motherboard with static electricity could kill my machine. Yikes! I'm glad I did find that out, however. Turns out I had several Dells in my lab with optical drive breakdowns so had machines opened up when my students walked in. Thankfully, I was able to tell them not to touch the "innards" for that very reason. Good, useful information to take with me. Similar knowledge would be helpful as well.
Overall, I really enjoyed the course and the work. I feel like the Powerpoints I created are presentations I can take with me in my portfolio for future use as well as references for others at my school.
When I think about what exactly I want to do with my degree, I think the most useful information I gained from this class was the data recovery sessions, including the recovery plans for both organizations and my pc. I am extremely negligent when it comes to protecting my data, even to the point of letting my virus protection slide, simply because I don't feel like paying the money or because I am tired of the software turning my fast pc into a dog. I now realize, although it's simple common sense to most, that I just cannot afford to do this. I did discover in my research, however, that I don't have to rely solely on Norton or McAfee, and that's reassuring. I also found the disaster recovery information extremely helpful and applicable not just to large corporations but to my small school as well. Even if I don't have to include every aspect, a well-designed plan will help me think about where and how information is stored in the event of a disaster.
The section of the course I found most challenging was the whole Linux activity. Although I was able to see how this OS functions, I felt like a complete ninny and know I didn't utilize the program to its fullest. From what the literature claimed, I should have been able to do much more than I did when I burned the image to disk and ran it from my laptop. Instead, I felt like an outsider simply observing, rather than a user. I think several would agree that exploring Linux was moving into unfamiliar territory and so some sort of demo would have been helpful. I had searched for something on Youtube but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I needed more so that I could go to the image disk and perhaps feel more comfortable with its capabilities, particularly the Internet browser.
Similar to the Linux activity, I also would have like to dig deeper in our "under the hood" activity. I like opening up my machine and checking everything out, but I would have also liked to have learned basic maintenance for my machine. I didn't even realize until someone else pointed it out, that simply touching the motherboard with static electricity could kill my machine. Yikes! I'm glad I did find that out, however. Turns out I had several Dells in my lab with optical drive breakdowns so had machines opened up when my students walked in. Thankfully, I was able to tell them not to touch the "innards" for that very reason. Good, useful information to take with me. Similar knowledge would be helpful as well.
Overall, I really enjoyed the course and the work. I feel like the Powerpoints I created are presentations I can take with me in my portfolio for future use as well as references for others at my school.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Armageddon
I have owned one type of computer or another since probably the late 1990's. I can no longer remember the exact specs on that machine, but I believe it was an HP. If I wanted to, I could still go look - I think it's nestled comfortably in my basement somewhere, along with my old teaching lessons and stone-washed jeans. I can't remember if the machine actually died on me or if it was just that time to purchase a new one. Whatever the case may be, I think I still have stuff on it - classroom files, letters, perhaps even a few pictures, depicting my fabuluos big hair - and I mean FABULOUS.
I also currently have another HP in my husband's office that also contains old memorabilia - Christmas letters sent out in the early 2000's, copies of Turbo tax forms, and, yet again, more pictures. Unlike the first HP, however, I know for certain this computer did die. One day it just decided not to turn on anymore. I keep telling myself that eventually I'll take it to this guy I know in town who fixes them and get my stuff off of it, but for now it doesn't seem pressing. I'm sure if I did actually think about it, I'd be more stressed about not having whatever it is that's on it, but when it comes to computers, I tend to forget and, therefore, not panic. Perhaps I'll leave the machine for my kids who can then someday open it like a time capsule and discover the wonderful treasure lay hidden inside its hard drive. Oh what wonderful stories they'll have as they sift through the Gigabytes of meaningless and maybe not-so meaningless crap on that computer.
In the end, I've determined that eventualy I will find myself wasted away in Armageddon-ville, searching for my lost folders and stuff. I'm not as concerned about the paperwork, although for some things, such as the work I've done for this class, the consequences would be monumental. Overall it's the pictures that would cause me the greatest distress if my Dell laptop suddenly crashed. Occasionally, I do do the right thing and back up all my pictures, but now my problem is that I have all these discs with loads and loads of pictures that make no sense. Nothing is organized and, again, I'm sure I will end up leaving all this mess for my kids. After all I've done for them, they deserve it.
In fear of the computer crash, I have devised a second method of backing up my stuff and that is dumping all of it on my school's server. I'm not sure this is the professional thing to do, but I couldn't resist. With access to over 600GB, the temptation was too great. In addition, the school district keeps a back-up of everything, so I am assured of their retrieval if something should suddenly go badly. There are several concerns and fears I have, however, regarding this strategy. First, I have created so many different folders that tracking down my pictures is an endless task. I keep coming across folders whose pictures now date back four years ago. "So that's what happened to my pictures from Mexico!" I can be heard uttering such nonsense all day long. Again, there's more of an organizational issue here than a back-up issue. A second fear is that if for some reason I find myself suddenly "gone" from this place, be it school or the world in general, no one would know to retrieve the files for me. I have mentioned this to my husband but considering the fact that he cannot remember where he put his wallet and keys this morning, I'm not real confident in his retention skills. Finally, my third fear is that one day, out of nowhere, the school district is going to wipe out or demand that we clean up our drives. It certainly seems like a reasonable request. If/When this happens I'll be finding myself eye-deep in folders and pictures that will need to be burned to disc. The only consolation is that being a committed procrastinator, I am used to working under pressure.
Whatever my options, I know suddenly facing a crash would leave me in a tizzy. I suppose like death, I choose not to face it until the time comes. In the meantime, I pray to the computer gods that they continue to show favor upon me. Of course, as Murphy's Law dictates, as well as all the great Greek tragedies, my computer is sure to fail me now that my hubris and confidence has been revealed. As the saying goes, "Pride goeth before the fall," especially when it comes to technology.
I also currently have another HP in my husband's office that also contains old memorabilia - Christmas letters sent out in the early 2000's, copies of Turbo tax forms, and, yet again, more pictures. Unlike the first HP, however, I know for certain this computer did die. One day it just decided not to turn on anymore. I keep telling myself that eventually I'll take it to this guy I know in town who fixes them and get my stuff off of it, but for now it doesn't seem pressing. I'm sure if I did actually think about it, I'd be more stressed about not having whatever it is that's on it, but when it comes to computers, I tend to forget and, therefore, not panic. Perhaps I'll leave the machine for my kids who can then someday open it like a time capsule and discover the wonderful treasure lay hidden inside its hard drive. Oh what wonderful stories they'll have as they sift through the Gigabytes of meaningless and maybe not-so meaningless crap on that computer.
In the end, I've determined that eventualy I will find myself wasted away in Armageddon-ville, searching for my lost folders and stuff. I'm not as concerned about the paperwork, although for some things, such as the work I've done for this class, the consequences would be monumental. Overall it's the pictures that would cause me the greatest distress if my Dell laptop suddenly crashed. Occasionally, I do do the right thing and back up all my pictures, but now my problem is that I have all these discs with loads and loads of pictures that make no sense. Nothing is organized and, again, I'm sure I will end up leaving all this mess for my kids. After all I've done for them, they deserve it.
In fear of the computer crash, I have devised a second method of backing up my stuff and that is dumping all of it on my school's server. I'm not sure this is the professional thing to do, but I couldn't resist. With access to over 600GB, the temptation was too great. In addition, the school district keeps a back-up of everything, so I am assured of their retrieval if something should suddenly go badly. There are several concerns and fears I have, however, regarding this strategy. First, I have created so many different folders that tracking down my pictures is an endless task. I keep coming across folders whose pictures now date back four years ago. "So that's what happened to my pictures from Mexico!" I can be heard uttering such nonsense all day long. Again, there's more of an organizational issue here than a back-up issue. A second fear is that if for some reason I find myself suddenly "gone" from this place, be it school or the world in general, no one would know to retrieve the files for me. I have mentioned this to my husband but considering the fact that he cannot remember where he put his wallet and keys this morning, I'm not real confident in his retention skills. Finally, my third fear is that one day, out of nowhere, the school district is going to wipe out or demand that we clean up our drives. It certainly seems like a reasonable request. If/When this happens I'll be finding myself eye-deep in folders and pictures that will need to be burned to disc. The only consolation is that being a committed procrastinator, I am used to working under pressure.
Whatever my options, I know suddenly facing a crash would leave me in a tizzy. I suppose like death, I choose not to face it until the time comes. In the meantime, I pray to the computer gods that they continue to show favor upon me. Of course, as Murphy's Law dictates, as well as all the great Greek tragedies, my computer is sure to fail me now that my hubris and confidence has been revealed. As the saying goes, "Pride goeth before the fall," especially when it comes to technology.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Survival of the Fittest - Future of Computers
If I had contemplated the future of Apple a couple of years ago, I would have guessed that the company would eventually fizzle. Yeah, I once used a Mac and know how great it is, but it seemed that everyone wanted PCs and anyone who had a Mac was frustrated at its inability to convert files and access programs. Wow, how things can change in such a short time. It's amazing how the technology pendulum swings constantly. Who would have thought that a little music player would be the breakthrough that Apple needed to put themselves on top again? And who also would have thought that that little contraption would set the pace for everything else now? At least that's my impression. Just a year or two ago, everyone was looking for bigger computers with bigger monitors. Now, we're moving in the other direction with smaller, laptop computers, and I think much of this has to do with devices such as the IPod. I really think the whole technology-on-the-go is where we are headed, and those companies that can give us anything mobile are the ones that will thrive. A couple of years ago, I was struggling with buying a new computer, debating whether or not to go with a desktop or laptop. Each had its benefits, but in the end, my gut told me that I was going to want something that I could take with me, something that wouldn't dictate where and when I could do my work. Thus, I went with the laptop and am grateful I did. Shortly after, it seemed there was a sudden boom in wireless technology, and now I can access the Internet almost anywhere. The same can now be said for my phone which has Wi-fi and Internet.
So, what kinds of companies will survive in the future? I really think the desktop may disappear eventually if more companies continue creating affordable laptops. I also think with more and more applications becoming web-based, traditional software may become obsolete. I know in my school district alone, we are looking more toward web-based applications for several reasons, mainly cost and ease of use. We have had a number of problems trying to run various programs on our server and moving to web-based applications eliminates those issues. So do I think there's a future for companies, such as Microsoft and Apple? You bet! As the "Triumph of the Nerds" so adaquately demonstrated, people like Bill Gates surround themselves with young, smart visionaries who look for what's on the cutting edge. I'm assuming that tradition will continue long after Gates is gone. I think more and more companies will rival them, but as long as they evolve and stay grounded in what the public demands, they will do well.
As the mother of three kids, including a 16 year-old, I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings for them in terms of technology. For my teenage daughter, she spends all her time texting and does so quickly. Rarely is she on the phone, and unlike me at her age, keeps her phone conversations to a minimum. She also spends a ton of time with ITunes and MySpace and her Nintendo DS, so I predict that these modes of communication and entertainment will continue to be important for her generation. As a teacher, I'm already reconsidering my curriculum based on what they do. In particular with the rapid rise in texting, I'm beginning to question how we teach traditional keyboarding. Is it necessary to teach homerow and posture to a generation who primarily uses their thumbs to type while sitting in the car? Not sure, but it's these kinds of questions that have me looking for companies who are also rethinking how we do and teach things. In the end, those will be the companies I look to and will support.
So, what kinds of companies will survive in the future? I really think the desktop may disappear eventually if more companies continue creating affordable laptops. I also think with more and more applications becoming web-based, traditional software may become obsolete. I know in my school district alone, we are looking more toward web-based applications for several reasons, mainly cost and ease of use. We have had a number of problems trying to run various programs on our server and moving to web-based applications eliminates those issues. So do I think there's a future for companies, such as Microsoft and Apple? You bet! As the "Triumph of the Nerds" so adaquately demonstrated, people like Bill Gates surround themselves with young, smart visionaries who look for what's on the cutting edge. I'm assuming that tradition will continue long after Gates is gone. I think more and more companies will rival them, but as long as they evolve and stay grounded in what the public demands, they will do well.
As the mother of three kids, including a 16 year-old, I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings for them in terms of technology. For my teenage daughter, she spends all her time texting and does so quickly. Rarely is she on the phone, and unlike me at her age, keeps her phone conversations to a minimum. She also spends a ton of time with ITunes and MySpace and her Nintendo DS, so I predict that these modes of communication and entertainment will continue to be important for her generation. As a teacher, I'm already reconsidering my curriculum based on what they do. In particular with the rapid rise in texting, I'm beginning to question how we teach traditional keyboarding. Is it necessary to teach homerow and posture to a generation who primarily uses their thumbs to type while sitting in the car? Not sure, but it's these kinds of questions that have me looking for companies who are also rethinking how we do and teach things. In the end, those will be the companies I look to and will support.
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