Dotty Hare

Reflection. Webster defines it as "the fixing of the mind on some subject; serious thought; contemplation." It seems as though for the past ten months, my mind has been fixed on this adventure called Technology Applications. Serious thoughts? Yes, many serious thoughts. "I have so much to do." "I have a due date tomorrow." "I need to work on my page." Contemplation? Yes. "Why am I doing this?" "How am I ever going to get this done?" But never did I consider giving up. I am a tired but better person for having gone through this.

When I finished Vision IT, I felt like I had "gotten my feet wet." However, as I began each course, I realized that all I had done in that training was test the water. Each course was an adventure in itself, one that I never felt prepared for.

Standards I-V. These broad standards are covered daily by the classroom teacher. TATC has forced me to become much more aware of the endless resources available and to use those resources to enhance instruction. I am also more keenly aware of the necessity to plan, plan, plan. I must admit that over my 17 years of teaching, I had become somewhat complacent in my teaching methods. Shame on me. I want to send letters of apology to all former students.

Standard VII. The Desktop Publishing course was one that I feared the least. Having taught Business Computer Information Systems, desktop publishing was one of the areas introduced in that course. However, I only THOUGHT I knew about desktop publishing. I have been reborn in that area. This is the course I chose for my elective and I gained so many valuable resources and ideas for the classroom. I now look at desktop publishing products with a more critical eye.

Standard VIII. Digital Graphics and Animation. In the foundations course, we were to create a digital biography with images that reflected who we are. When I look at that creation, remembering how clumsy I was with manipulating images, I laugh and get a little embarrassed. I have come a long way in this area but I have much further to go as well. Here are links to before the digital graphics course and after.

Standard IX. Multimedia. Not just another PowerPoint presentation! It is so much more. This was my first experience in editing video and audio. It consumed me only because I knew so little about the software I was using. For audio editing I used Cool Edit Pro. I learned to enjoy that very much although I still do not know all of it's capabilities. VideoWave was very friendly to me. I felt a real sense of accomplishment upon completion of this course because the medium was so new to me.

Standard X. Video Technology. As soon as I was able to view the syllabus for this course, my fears were reinforced. There were terms in the readings that I had not ever heard before. Fearing that I would have to take a video camera in my hand and perform all those angles, tilts, and pans, I entered this course with an enormous amount of anxiety. The major project was a music video. We were given ample amount of time to create and produce it; however, during that time, I worried a great deal about due dates and details. Many who had gone before us said that this would be our favorite course. It was not as bad as I had anticipated, but it was not my favorite. The reason being, I have more ideas than skills and it was frustrating to want to do something and not know how to do it. More time, I needed more time!

Standard XI. Web Authoring. This is the course in which I had all of my emotional breakdowns. I could not complete a page without help from my friend, colleague, and fellow TATC student, Cliff Coan. He was adept at web page creation and bailed me out many times. He was especially helpful in helping me find images that would mysteriously disappear or links that would not link. I learned as much from him as anyone during this process. As with the other courses, I had no experience in web design other than the Vision IT training. I entered the course with a great deal of anxiety. Now, creating web pages is all I want to do. I have a great appreciation for the web masters of the world. Knowing the detail that must be attended to so that all links work, images appear, and layers are correctly placed help me understand what is involved in the design of all the many web sites we encounter on the WWW.

Conclusion. We live in an information society. Many people go about their daily lives exchanging information. Technology has enabled us to do that with much more ease and effectiveness. The study of technology applications helps our students to become much more marketable in today's job market. It is a must for them to be able to compete. It is my desire to enable them to become aware of the possibilities that lie ahead of them. To do that, I must continue to learn as well. Technology changes. I must do the same.