My initial experience with computers happened in a middle school mod studies experience in the early ‘80s. We were able to program a graphic image on an Apple Iie, green screen and all. I found it to be a fun challenge, and I was able to program beyond what others could, or would. I was very proud to have the most complicated program of anyone (a boy popping a floating balloon), in addition to working in animation. From there, in high school, where we were still required to take a typing class on an electric typewriter, I TA’d for the physics teacher, and got involved with a group of people who were interested in robotics. We would stay after school pretty regularly to program simple machines to run across the table, and spin in circles…yep, still on the Apple IIe.
In college, I found myself initially pursuing a degree in computer science, until my experience on the VAX. We had to program in Pascal and print out our programs on this green and white striped paper. Man, I remember spending WAY too much time in the computer lab writing and debugging programs. That’s when I switched my degree to physics. I decided that although I might be an idiot in the physics lab, at least I was interacting with human beings more often… Jeeze…
Three years later, I ended up teaching computer science (QBASIC, history, and architecture). I learned a lot through that teaching experience and the credits I earned to maintain my employment. Since then, I’ve been more enthusiastic about using technology. It’s so much more difficult now, however, to keep up with it. Compared to the mid-90’s, there is so much power out there. Everything has improved exponentially. It’s practically impossible to be ‘on top’ of all the new technology and improvements are a constant.
Technology is now incorporated into every hour of my day. I sometimes worry about how much energy I use and what would happen to my lifestyle and teaching style if for some reason I wouldn’t have the power to do what I do with the tools I use.
BTW…Vote Earth and shut off your lights from 8:30-9:30 on Saturday, March 28!
You've got a great background Danelle. It is difficult to keep track of all the changes in technology. I sometimes wonder what technology will be like when my five year old is in high school. It will be interesting.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that the technology keeps growing exponentially. School districts, in my opinion, will need to keep providing opportunities for staff to update their knowledge on programs. I see staff members today having major difficulties with things I find very simple. I don't think half of them would be able to set up and utilize a lot of the programs that we have used for our program so far.
I remember pascal on the Vax. It was such a pain. But that is where I learned to love programming.
ReplyDeleteI too remember the animation assignments that we created in school. Mine was some sort of angel floating across the screen amongst some clouds. We could also program in music. My partner and I were big into Led Zeppelin at the time, so we had a few bars of Stairway to Heaven that played along with the angel in the clouds. I had forgotten about that moment all together until I read your post, thanks for the memory.
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