Course Reflection

In the past several weeks, I've learned so many things about computers that I either didn't know before, or thought I knew but really had no idea. There were so many components to a computer that it is necessary to do a lot of research to find the right thing for the job that is needed.

I'm not going to lie, this course was a lot of work. But I don't think there is much to be done about that because every assignment had a purpose that must be covered in this course before we move forward. The only other thing I could think of doing as an alternative would be to lengthen the course slightly to give a little more time for the reflection aspect.

For almost each assignment, we needed to reflect on our process in our blog or comment on other students' work. This was necessary for some sort of "classroom discussion," but it was also time consuming given the other massive assignments. Don't get me wrong, after thinking about it, it makes sense to have that portion of the course. However, I had a hard time keeping up with the reflection part.

This was a great course and I learned a great deal about computers. I am excited that we are all now on equal footing when it comes to computers, so now the program can move forward together and we can keep learning as much as possible.

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.

Managing My Computer

Managing a computer can be a lengthy task. So many aspects of it come into consideration. Perhaps one of the biggest reason why some of us have difficulty managing our computers is time. We believe that this process takes so much of our time, yet we fail, or maybe just forget, to understand that the alternative can and will be much more time consuming that we ever imagined.

For those of us who have ever had a computer crash or get a virus, we understand what time it takes to get your system up and running again. What about the files you ask, well if you hadn't backed up your system or protected your files, you have just lost it all.

The funny thing is, many of the things we should do to protect our computers really don't take all that much time at all. Something that I do to help me keep my system in good shape is that I setup calendar reminders. Simply set up a task item in your calendar and have it repeat itself every two weeks, or every month. Doesn't matter, you set the schedule however you feel best.

One of my favorite programs to run is CCleaner. This program scans your system for unnecessary files and deletes them. Files like cookies, internet pages, and yes, it will even scan your registry for those lines of code that weren't removed when you uninstalled that program.

Beyond using the CCleaner I also protect my computer using Nortan Symantec security systems (download from the US Army - only the best), and more recently my wife and I purchased a network drive to back up our computers. I have never felt that my files were more safe than they are right now. (Hopefully making that statement didn't just jinx me!)

We were able to purchase a RAID drive so everything is backed up twice, without us having to do it manually. If you don't know about RAID, it is basically a redundant drive that mirrors another drive. So we have a 2TB hard drive, but since it is mirrored, we have 1TB to back up our files and the second drive is a mirror. This is helpful in case one drive fails for any reason, we still have our files.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming classes regarding our component research. I was just given the okay from the Mrs. to update our desktop computer so that it runs much faster. I can't wait to get started but I am also waiting to learn what some classmates have found on their research.

Under the Hood, again?

I never thought that this assignment would be as much fun as it was. I have never taken pictures of my computer before. Seeing some of the slide shows and watching some of the videos on building computers, installing memory, etc, really inspires me to do more. The videos we had to watch were, let's say, a little dry.

I realize that it's just a machine, now how sexy can that be? But I really do have fun working with the computer and it's components. Wow, you'd think I would actually know how to build one then too, right?!? WRONG! I can't build one...yet. :)

The research that we're working on now will definitely help me understand the computer components much better. Knowing what a processor does and what it looks like will help us all know how a computer works and how to possibly replace a part if it goes bad. Just think, if our hard disk drive all of sudden stops working, won't it be more cost effective to know how to replace it yourself? Taking the computer into a repair store may cost hundreds of dollars, in addition to the cost of a new hard drive. Now, it can be without taking it in and it will cost you less. Maybe you can use that little extra you'll save and put it towards a better quality or higher storage capacity hard drive.

What I know about Computers

I would say that I know enough about computers to always get me into trouble. That said, you can imagine when I need to fix something or update something, things may not always go as planned. It seems as though the more we learn about the technology, the more difficult it becomes to fix them because what we may know about how to fix may be already outdated.

I have two computers at home, one desktop named Bertha, and one laptop (sorry no name was given). Bertha was built from scratch by a friend and is getting pretty old. About a month after it was built, the dual processors were released. :( Sad for me but that's what happens sometimes. Since then we've had some problems but now that we installed Windows 7, those problems are only speed related - probably relating to the non-dual core processor.

I already know how to access the BIOS and boot sequences to make me dangerous. I would like to learn more about them so when changes are made, it doesn't mess up everything on the computer.

The other thing I would like to start learning is how to build or update my current system to an updated system that runs faster and more efficient. This would force my wife and I to use that computer more than our laptop. Right now we use the laptop primarily, probably because that computer is much faster than Bertha.

With the second class starting, I'm excited to get going on it after a little break. Let's Roll!

Video Chat

I can honestly say that this is one of the coolest topics to discuss. However, given my school's current technological status, I am not sure how effective this will be in my classroom. In talking with my librarian, who just happens to have taken this grad program 2 years ago - but not online :), she told me that our current bandwith is only 10MB. Luckily, we were one of the winners of a grant that will increase our bandwith to 100MB starting next school year.

This added bandwith will allow for video chat and streaming online. I am very excited about this and hope that it will help move my district closer to offering courses online.

For the time being then, I'll just have to make do with the webcam I have installed on my laptop or the one I purchased on sale a year ago. It doesn't give a very clear picture, but that's alright. I tell you though, sometimes it is nice to be able to just sit here and chat online and not worry about what I'm wearing. This is my first weekend off for 3 weeks now and I have a chat session planned with my group and I haven't changed out of my pajamas yet. :)

How does this all apply to my classroom, well receiving this grant will now allow me to feel better about chatting with clinicians from far away. I still plan to try this in a few months, but I might ask someone I know, just in case things don't go as planned.

For those interested, here are a few links to other audio/video chat programs:
Skype - great for calling around the world.
TokBox - very nice for sending a video e-mail.
Sightspeed
ooVoo - very much like Skype but newer.
UStreamTV - this is more a program that allows one to broadcast a video, not chat in real time.

My plan is to use one of these online chat programs with my classroom as a distance learning tool, possibly trying it out as a clinic session, or making a call to someone for teaching advice. At home, my wife and I can use this to video chat with a friend in North Carolina and California. I'll be talking with both of them soon and will recommend getting one of the programs above.

Last weekend my group and I attempted chatting over video from our Ning network. It was challenging and we eventually ended up using the audio only, but we learned a valuable lesson in the process.