Blog Journal #0

My prior experiences using technology are extensive and vary quite a bit. I was in a medical magnet program for high school and used many different computer programs to learn about the human body. At one point in my high school career, I got the chance to perform open heart surgery on the computer. Almost all of the classrooms in my school used smart boards. Powerpoint and Microsoft Word were used in almost every one of my classes from elementary school to university. In my chemistry courses I used excel, but but I am not very good with the program.

In this class, I would like to learn how technology is a helpful tool when teaching students. I would like to gain a better understanding of what tools the computer has to offer. I am not very good with excel and am looking forward to finally figuring out how to use it. Looking through the syllabus, I noticed that we are going to be learning about the Wikis application. I am looking forward to finding out exactly what that application is. By the end of this course, I would like to consider myself computer savvy.

Today in class we took a learning style questionnaire. I learned that I am well balanced between active and reflective learning, sequential and global learning, and visual and verbal learning. I also found out that I am more of a sensing learner than an intuitive learner. This means that I will learn more easily when I have concrete ideas and facts that I need to know. Knowing how the ideas that I'm learning about connect to the real world help me learn as well. When I am taking a course that teaches predominantly abstract ideas and theories, I need to be sure to ask for specific examples of how the ideas pertain to real life.