This is a fake scenario.
Great news! My principal just told me that he has $1,000 for me to buy one software program. The first thing I had to do is figure out what software is so I checked my classroom textbook Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom. According to that book on page four, “Software is the series of instructions that tell the hardware how to perform tasks.” (Gunter, Gunter, & Shelly, 2010) Now that I know what software is I am going to check out the three software catalogs that my principal gave me to choose from. I needed to choose from: http://www.academicsuperstore.com/, http://www.journeyed.com/, and http://www.k12software.com/.
After reviewing all three websites, I told my principal that I would like to download the American History Inspirer from Tom Snyder Productions. This is a great software program from http://www.k12software.com/ that is all about the Civil War. This would be great for my American History class. In Orange County
Although, the software looks great there are two issues I have with the software. First, this software would only help me during the first six weeks of the year. To remedy this problem, I would try to talk to my colleagues and have them download other interactive software to their computers from different time period in American History. Hopefully, we could create a schedule that would allow us to rotate computers and all of our students can benefit from the collective software. The second issues I have with this software is my computer specifications.
My computer specifications are:
Operating System- Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Processor- AMD Athlon™ II Dual-Core Processor for Notebook PCs M300, 2.00 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, Up to 3.2 GT/s system bus running at AC/DC mode 35 watt
Memory- 3072 MB
Screen resolution- 1600 X 1200 pixels
Graphic Subsystem- ATI Radeon HD 4200 Graphics
Video RAM- 128 MB Display Cache Memory AMD M880G with 128B GDDR2 (sideport memory)
Pre-installed software- HP DVD Play, Cyberlink DVD Suite, Adobe® Acrobat Reader, HP Games Powered by Wild Tangent
Disc drive- CD/DVD
Memory card device- 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
Please note that mylovie83 in this class is my wife, and we share the same computer, therefore we have the same computer specifications just in case you read both of our posts.
The software specifications are as follows.
* IBM-compatible 486 or higher
* Windows 3.1 or Windows 95/98
* 8 megabytes of RAM (memory)
* 256 color, 640x480 monitor resolution or higher
* 10 megabytes space available on server
* Windows 3.1 or Windows 95/98
* 8 megabytes of RAM (memory)
* 256 color, 640x480 monitor resolution or higher
* 10 megabytes space available on server
When I compared my computer specifications to the software specifications, I realized that I did not know what half of these specifications meant. I needed to do further reading of the module from my Master’s class and the information in the textbook Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom to gain more knowledge. From the readings I learned that hardware is not of much use without good software. I also learned that there is a lot of valuable software available to engage student learning but that it is important to know if the requirements for the software meet your computer’s specifications.
I also learned that there are many helpful tools for troubleshooting. I believe the only problem I would run into in my scenario above is whether or not the school server has 10 megabytes of space available.
Resources:
Gunter, G. A., Gunter, R. E., & Shelly, G.B. (2010). Integrating technology and digital media in the classroom (6th ed.). United States
HP Specifications. Retrieved October 10, 2010, from http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/ho/WF06b/321957-321957-3329743-3848802-3848802-3999415-4041455.html.
K12 Software- American History Inspirer from Tom Snyder Productions. Retrieved October 10, 2010 http://www.k12software.com/view_details.php?PHPSESSID=ba9b5b15a479b83c3b1d64ff0d3841c6&ID=801
You mentioned how it is important for the hardware for you computer to be compatible to your computer. I guess I haven't bought software in a while, because I kinda just thought you could use whatever as long as you had a cd drive, or whatever drive you needed to load the software. I am using a MAC for the first time, and I also forget that not all things that are compatible with PC's are compatible with MACs. After reading, I was reminded of the importance learning about your computers hardware, so that if you are ever really given the chance to pick out your software, you don't buy something that you can't even use on your computer.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it is so frustrating, that when you buy software that it is so specific to just one thing, such as the civil war. I never thought about teaching Social Studies had how broad it is. I’m a big History fan, but so many of the students think it is boring, so to have that interactive element really helps hook them.
ReplyDeleteSo many of the schools are running older computers, what we have on our desks do vary to what we have as student computers. The other questions is how will you utilize this is it, will you do stations or will it be projected and you interact with it with the class?
Good Post.
John