Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Holy Computers Batman!

I'll just go on the record right now by saying that I "thought" I knew about computers, but really it was just a fantasy. The course I'm currently taking, Computer Systems: How They Work, really opened my eyes to ideas and technologies I had not known about before.

It it an understatement to say that I've learned a lot. This particular course offers a wealth of information in a very short period of time. I am surprised at how much we have done these past 6 weeks. All of the information we have learned has connected to my personal and professional life. Although I am not allowed to take apart a computer at school and fix it (replacing memory or hard drives, etc), I am now comfortable doing that on my own home computers. I have even begun researching how to update my current 4 year old desktop. With the knowledge I learned in this course, I realized that I will be able to update the computer by only updating specific components and not the entire computer. This knowledge will be extremely useful in the future and give me the confidence to do minor repairs at home.

We all know that technology is always evolving, but what I have learned recently has built my confidence in my computer knowledge and many of the day to day tasks on the computer and/or network. My wife and I have a wireless network with a networked printer, 2TB RAID backup drive, 3 owned computers and 1 business computer, and 2 gaming systems that use the wireless network. We have a new daughter in our family so of course we are taking loads of pictures. Learning about backup and security has just reaffirmed my philosophy of maintaining proper home security. I hope to teach my daughter this when she gets older so that she is safe when technology is advancing all around her. As parents, we will need to make plans to keep her safe and keep our information secure.

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree with what you said about "thinking" I knew about computers before this class. We were so naive! I, too, can't believe how much I've learned is such a little amount of time! It makes my head spin! I also agree whole heartedly with what you said about protecting our children. As a mother of 3, I will also teach my children how to be careful with technology so they can stay safe, too.

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