Posting Again......!

As i read more and more, i am learning more and more, especially about things that i thought i already knew. Chapter three certainly shows me that i need to get acquainted with the terms and commands on the computer. The world of electronics is becoming more high-tech and advanced day by day and i have fallen behind by not accessing and playing with the electronic gadgets that have come into play of society in the past five years. I had been using systems and softwares that i didnt even know the names of and/or how to use all of the components of the programs. I learned the terms graphical user interface, application software, and voice recognition.
Graphical user interface is the system that controls how you enter data or instructions and how info is presented on the screen; GUI combines text, graphics, and other things to make software an easy thing to use. The thing that i found interesting this week is that all of the time that i have been using computers in my life, i have been using application software. The things that i use on computers are word processors, email, student management, web browsers, and of course now, blogs. This was so interesting to me because all of that time, i did not know that all of these programs were classified and grouped with terms like so.
While i was creating my two-column assignment this week, i learned how to use te microsoft word 2007 processor very well. When i was using the microsoft word 2003 system, i did not know how to use shapes and create business-like papers, which i learned how to do on the 2007 model this week. I was fascinated when i learned how to use word 07' without the dropdown pages. I really feel as if i am geting off to a great start in this class and i am loving the assignments because they are teaching me very useful information that i thought i knew. In actuality, i have forgotten how to perform a lot of commands that i will be needing in the future and this class is the perfect way for me to refresh my memory and learn new things!

First Lesson....

Reading the material this week in Chapter One was actually better than i thougt it would be. I learned some pretty interesting facts about the "digital student" and computer systems of the twenty-first century. I never really sat down before to think about how different the current teenage generation of the 21st century is compared to those of the twentieth century. The book was explaining how the teens of this day and age function on totally different avenues than teens of previous years by using the electronic resources that are easily accesible to them. The teens of today are multitaskers, play oriented, hypercommunicators, and are fantasy-based learners. The teens of yesterday were single taskers, work oriented, passive communicators, and reality based learners. It seems to me as if our generation is a lot more resourceful and bright (that's good to know)!
In 1983, John Keller established a creative way for students to be motivated in the classroom and be aware of their performance, status, and what they are actually learning from the lessons in which they are taught. The ARCS motivational model consists of four components that are key to the students everyday activities: Attention, Relevance, Challenge/Confidence, and Satisfaction/Success. I thought that this was an excellent way to get the students motivated and anxious to learn and come to school.
I found it interesting that even elementary and middle school children and faculties could have online pen pals in a well-guarded community and wesite that is linked through the school. Technology is just getting better and the school systems are taking advantage of the resources that they are fortunate enough to have access to. This week was also interesting for me because i learned how the class will normally flow and i got a feel for the type of exercises that we will be completing as the semester goes on.

My first post

Hello, my name is Jennifer Rawls and i am currently a freshman at Florida State University. I am taking EME 2040 to fulfill a requirement in my academic path for the career that i plan on pursuing after i graduate from school.
Unfortunately, i am a rookie to the field of technology; i can only do as much as the directions tell me to do with computers and the latest gadgets. I took a computer class this summer that taught me a lot about the different programs that microsoft has to offer such as word, excel, powerpoint, and a few other programs. I dont remember half of the material that was provided for us to learn from that class because we were fed the information in such a small window of time, and i dont learn very well when my time is limited .
I am looking forward to going back over all of the programs that i touched base with previously this summer and more. I never really learned how to do a powerpoint on my own, so i'm interested in doing that, and i cant wait until we go over how to use the online gradebook because this subject closely pertains to the field of work that i plan on doing after college, which is of course becoming a teacher.
The first day of class was kind of rough for me when we tried to create our blogs, post something from the blog to the blackboard account, and do our first assignment on the blog website. It seemed a little fast-paced for me simply because the teacher was telling the directions by speaking. I learned that i am a visual learner because it would have been much easier for me if the teacher would have given me written instructions on a piece of paper or if he would have gone over the assignment slowly on a computer himself. It was very distracting as i tried to follow along as the teacher was talking and some other student was doing the tasks the thatwere being commanded on the front computer that everyone could see. The class seemed really interesting and i am anxious to see what the next class will bring!