Haylie+Hart+Essay+2

My Digital Education  I was born in the generation that has had computers as a part of my entire life. My digital education has been good and has helped me succeed in school and in using different types of digital literacy. I am proficient at using a computer and doing assignments for class. I can make a PowerPoint and type an essay with great skill but I cannot do more complicated tasks. I have learned how to use computers and other media through different sources: playing computer and video games at a young age, having teachers that have introduced new media and how to use them, and continuing my education now that I have a personal computer.  The earliest memory I have of computers is playing computer games at my grandmother’s house when I was around eight years old. She had an old dial-up computer that she would let my little sister and I play on while we were visiting. Soon she got us some games to play; I liked to play Pajama Sam and Reader Rabbit who lost a friend in a castle and we had to solve math problems to get through the obstacles. I would also play games that were for a specific grade and it would teach you skills you should have learned in the grade like fractions in the fourth grade. Other times I would open a blank page and type different things about myself and my family, I liked doing this because I liked how the keyboard worked and I could put things down and save them for later. I would watch my grandmother do different tasks like messaging on AOL and looking information up on Google; this introduced me to the World Wide Web when I was around twelve years old. When my parents got a computer for our house, I already knew a little about how to type on a Microsoft Word document and how to get on the internet. But mostly, I continued to play games. Also, most of my friends had computers in their homes so whenever we played together sometimes my sister and I would play with friends on their computers. We would play Bejeweled and a painting game where you could paint different pictures however you wanted. Video games also came early in my childhood. I remember playing my older sister’s Nintendo 64 with her and my younger sister when I was nine years old. We would play Mario’s World where you had to save Princess Peach from Bowser. The game had many obstacle courses you had to navigate through and you had to have problem-solving skills. This gaming system was already out of date by this time and my friends had PlayStation and X Box games but it still worked and it was fun to do with my sisters. Through this I learned how to hook up a gaming system to a television without breaking anything, which comes in handy today when my family wants to watch a movie we use our PlayStation 2 and we have to switch the hookups to the TV.  The first time I really used a computer at school for school work was in middle school. I had a computer lab class we went to twice a week to learn how to do different presentations for our core classes. I learned how to make a PowerPoint at this time. I did not understand how to make one or how to add motions, a background, or pictures but I learned through trial and error and asking my teachers many questions. I had to make a presentation in class about a scientific profession I would like to have as a career. We had to include pictures, colorful backgrounds, and save our finished project to a flash drive. All of which I did not know how to do. It was really overwhelming but I had great teachers that helped me learn. Looking back, I did not really like that assignment but I am glad I had it because I had to create several more power points throughout junior high and high school. And learning how to use a flash drive was very important I later learned in school for being able to take your work with you and to save it in case of a computer malfunction.  Another time I learned how to use media in school was in my junior year of high school. My English teacher wanted us to create a digital story for a project on background information on a novel we would be studying that year. I had never heard of a digital story before and this scared me. My teacher realized this and she walked us through it step-by-step. The project required us to put together information, and record ourselves to play while pictures flashed on the screen. We also needed background music. My teacher had some picked out that we could choose from to finish the project. I learned so much about this kind of digital media and I think I could remember enough from that lesson to do another. I am very glad that my teacher taught us to do this because I learned that there are different ways to make a project other than power points. Overall, my teachers were very progressive in technology. They wanted to teach us some of the same skills that we would need later in our education. Growing up, my family did have a computer but we were not able to financially afford much else. This computer was an Hp with a huge monitor and tower; I think I was in middle school when we got it. We still have this same computer and it worked up until this past summer when a virus finally killed it. This computer lasted around ten years, all my siblings and my parents had used it quite often. We kept it in what was my older brother’s room, before he moved out shortly after we got the computer; this room eventually became the office. We all knew how to use it and it was very familiar to us, we had to learn to use it when no one else was and if someone else had an assignment more important than what we were doing then we had to let the other person do their work. We were not able to afford another computer so my younger sister has been using my mom’s computer at the school where she teaches. I only very recently got my own computer to use here at school. I also have a cell phone that is internet accessible, I have never had a cell phone before that does all of the programs that this one does. I have become more digitally educated and I try to keep up my skills. Whenever I have a problem with one of my digital devices, I ask my mom for help but if she does not know then I usually look the problem up online. I hope to learn how to do more with my computer and other digital devices because with the way the world is moving, everything may be automated or run by a computer. As I reflect on my digital education I find that my education was very good compared to some people. I was exposed to computers and digital devices at a young age so I was able to learn early on how to use them. At school, my teachers expanded my education by teaching me PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and how to create a digital story. Now that I have a personal computer and an internet accessible cell phone I hope to gain more insight on digital devices and their uses. I am glad I had a good digital education; it has and continues to be beneficial to me at school so that I can confidently complete my assignments.