Final Refection

I think I really said it all in my previous post but to add on this class has really been an empowering experience. I always communicate over the phone or in person so I really though that having an interactive class over the web would be very difficult for me but it wasn’t. I really enjoyed the experience of the blog. I am going to start a blog about my journey of doing my Analytical Paper. I think it will help me organize my thoughts on my research.

The WIKI really scared me at first because it was foreign to me. Figuring out how to edit, add pages, color, etc. was challenging, but with time it became easier. It was so cool to see how it evolved and we worked off of each other. Everyone brought something to the table. I found myself always looking at the WIKI to see any new developments. .A common phrase in the house was “Jasper, I have the check the WIWI.” I enjoyed the collaborative effort more online than I do f2f. Is that scary? When you talk in groups f2f people tend to talk over others, yell, some people don’t participate, can’t agree on a time to meet….etc. With the listserv and the Wiki I felt like I always had the floor and no one could interrupt me and that what I said was heard because people had to read it. I also felt more relaxed I think because online the group is nice and quiet. No talking, just keys typing. I love the way this forum works with research. More people can add insight so you get a better perspective. I will be looking up a wikipedia on my AP topic on closing the achievement gap in education.

The listserv was a great way to communicate. I have recommended it to my family because they are always e-mailing stuff all the time and no one could not find our hotel reservations in the e-mail that someone sent. If we had our own listserv we could have researched the e-mail and found it in a hurry. I sent an e-mail to everyone explaining it so we shall see if everyone is on board.

Everything that I encountered has been new to me so everything was a huge learning experience. I started working on building a website which was a huge milestone for me. Unfortunately progress has been stalled due to technical problems as my laptop still does not work but Comcast has yet another technician coming out to replace the modem so we shall see how that goes.

I probably learned more than anyone because I was so anti-computer I closed myself off to learning about it. I am just grateful that I took this class because there is so much out there that I am not aware of and technology keeps moving so I can’t be stuck in the prehistoric age. I have to get computer savvy to compete in the world today. This class has opened my mind to learning which is what I needed to move forward in the world of technology. I thank everyone for making this experience a good one. My group motivated me by their actions to want to do more.

Independent

My husband Jasper really had me laughing this morning. I was supposed to call my friend in Martinique this morning but I didn’t know the time zone. I was also going to use the Metro for the first time today because I had to go to DC and parking is rough so I needed the schedule. I went to the computer and did my research and found everything that I needed to do. Then I called Jasper and told him what I had to do for the day and he asked if I was calling him so he could look the things up on the internet for me. I told him that I had already done it. Jasper was really shocked that I did not ask him for his help and did everything on my own. If it wasn’t school related, I did not touch the computer. I did not realize how dependent I was on him. He looked things up for me all the time. Sometimes if I had to do research for a paper, I would ask him to look things up for me. My excuse was that he was better with computers than I was. I don’t feel that way anymore. I feel like I am learning so I look forward to opportunities to further my knowledge. It just gives me more practice. I feel so silly for always looking to him to navigate the computer. He didn’t say it but I can tell that a weight has been lifted off of his shoulders now that I am more independent with the computer. I used to wait for him to do everything. He’ll never admit it but I am sure that it annoyed him. I just never realized it. He just keeps telling me how proud he is of me that I am doing everything on my own and not once have I asked him to help me since I started this course. What really shocks him is that I am handling the whole “tech problem” I am having with Comcast. I almost handed over the reigns the first time I talked to tech support because they said things that I didn’t understand and my first thought was that if they just talked to Jasper he would understand what they were saying. I just felt stupid. Then I realized that there are probably a lot of people out there just like me that they have to deal with so what I don’t understand I can just ask. I didn’t give up, they explained it, I learned and I understand. I know Jasper thanks the stars that I took this class to give me kick in the butt!!!!!!!

Learning in the WIKI

I had fun in the sandbox in the WIKI. I wanted to change the color and underline the word reference. It was easy to change the color. I just copied what Kevin did but getting the underline was hard. I kept trying but I did not get it the way that I really wanted it. I just ended up putting the whole line across which looked good anyway. I think that our WIKIpedia is coming along great. I think that out group works together very well.

A Little Bit of Good News

Well my computer is not up and running but my parents computer is online. I checked the IP address on their computer and it is still wrong so that is why my computer is still not up. I know my way around internet options now. Through this experience I have really learned things about the computer that I would not have learned. Jasper can't believe that I never went through internet options before. Before I would even know where to start. I actually disabled the dial-up connection on parents computer. I find myself going through the control panel and exploring. That is really weird for me because before I never had any interest. So I guess there is silver lining in every dark cloud. I am advised that senior support had escalated my issue and that is should be resolved by tomorrow. I have been very nice through this whole ordeal but I am getting a little frustrated. It will almost be week that my computer has been down. Hopefully tomorrow things will be solved. If not, I'm going to have to talk to somebody's boss.

Tech Problems

Boy do I have a story!!! Well my parents moved in with me on Thursday and they have a computer so Friday Comcast came by to set up their computer. Since I have a laptop and they have a desktop Comcast said that they had to create a home network with a gateway modem. My laptop would then become wireless. I was so excited!!! Finally wireless...That is a big and exciting step. Well he could not get the computers to work. He said he did all that he could and that it was up to the office to update the information into their system. I called and was told a ticket was put in and it would be fixed on Saturday. Well Saturday no internet was available. Sunday I talked with a person and they had me go though and try to fix the computer. I looked up the IP address because they said the address was supposed to be 192.... But it was 68.... So they had to fix that. Monday I call again because I have no service and I went through and typed ping and some numbers and that told me that packets were sent but all were lost because none were received. It was really cool going through the control panel and internet options as I have never done that before. My problem is now escalated because it is still not fixed. I am here at the library trying to use the computer but you only get two half hour sessions for the whole day. If you want more time you have to go to another library. So I am on library number 2. I am sad because of my computer problem, I am stalled on my website project !!! I hope that when I get home all is fixed!!!!!

Pat on the Back

I have been trying to update my resume for forever and I kept putting it off because I felt that I did not know how to do it right. I kept waiting for Jasper and my mother to help me but it never got done. Well tonight I decided to do it on my own with the assistance of the internet. I went to good ole google, did some research on resume building and reconstructed my own resume. I must say that I am proud of myself. I was just saying earlier how there is so much that the internet can do for you and I just keep proving to myself that it is not the enemy. Taking this class just pushed me in the right direction.

Amazing

It is just mind boggling how much information is out there that I knew nothing about. Researching the government policies I am learning so much. I never knew anything about them until now. I did not know what any of the acronyms meant so I really had to do my research and what I learned was very interesting and informative. Some policies currently affect me and when I start working other polices will apply to me in the future. So it is actually important that I learn this stuff because it is actually beneficial. The more I dig into the "IT world" the more ignorant I feel. I'm sure that I have not touched even a speck of dust off the tip of the iceberg. Well at least I want to learn more now. Before I felt intimidated by "IT stuff" and I did not want to learn because I thought that it was just too complicated and I felt safe not knowing anything. But ignorance is definitely not bliss in this case. There is so much to learn and so much that I can do on a computer and I am really excited about learning about it.

Brought to Tears

I have not cried over my work in a long time but when I was in the WIKI typing away my work accidentally got deleted and I could not recover it. I tried to look for an "undo button" but I was unable to locate it. I was just so upset to lose all of my work. I refused to do anything for a while I was so upset. That is why I am up at this ungodly hour trying to find my sourses and start over. Jasper, my husband, told me that in the future I should not type on the internet but type on Word and then transfer my work onto a website when I am done. What happened, for some reason my work was highlighted and before I realized it, I pressed enter and it all disappeared. Maybe even with the blog I should type on Word first. Another lesson learned in the world of IT.

Decisions

After doing my research I am stuck between two options for web hosting Arvixe web solutions ans AccuWeb hosting. I went to findmyhosting.com and found that those two were really good and had the most comments 140 and 220 vs 40 or 50 comments. My husband and I will deliberate. If anyone has any comment on the two let me know.

Starting My Own Website

I chose to do research on creating a website week 2 becasue that was something that I was interested in doing. I went to register our name but my husband told me that he had already registered our name. He went to network solutions.com and ofosu.com was already taken so he put us on back order so when the name became available we would be notified. Eventually ti became available and my husband purchased it for $95.00 for 5 years. That was all that was ever done. Now I am going to move forward and actually create a website for our family. I am checking out prices and services currently. My husband wants to stick with network solutions but I am going to see what is out there. There is a website out there that rates web hosting services and I am going to check it out.

The World of IM

Well I finally got to IM someone and it was really fun. I went through my contact list and added all my AOL and YAHOO people to my IM. Since I have stared this class, no one has been signed on while I have been on. Well this morning my friend from Martinique was online and I was so excited!!! We were able to talk for a while and catch up because I have not talked to her for about 8 months so that was cool. When I signed off, I just thought of all the money that I saved by having a conversation by IM instead of the phone. She lives in Martinique so it was so cool experiencing how the internet can bring people who are far away together.

Learned Something New

In my research today I learned something new. That there is a differnce between "upload" and "download". I always used the words interchangeably but today I learned that there is a difference.

Download: The process where you receive information onto your computer (i.e. view a web page online).

Upload: The process where you send information from your computer (i.e. your credit card and address information you input when you purchase online).

Maybe this was commom knowledge....I don't know......even still I am strengthening my knowledge about the IT world.

Blog News

You know when you buy a new car then all of a sudden you start noticing it more around you? Well that is how it is with a blog because I am starting to see and hear about it a lot more. I read an article about it in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. It stated that 8 million American adults had created blogs by the end of 2004 which was double the number from the previous year but still 62% of American's don't know what a blog is. I was one of those people before this course. I feel a little internet savvy right about now (ha-ha). Even my husband did not know what a blog was until I told him. The Wall Street Journal article also tested and rated free blog-creation services and rated MSN's Web Space service as number one. They feel it is even better than blogger.com because MSN's was easier to use and had provided better options. Also, last night on VH1, a former child star was talking about how he has a blog on the internet to document the journey of his life. I thought to myself.....wow, I know what he is talking about. This just makes me think of all the things out there that I know absolutely nothing about.

Setting up a website reserch

The research that I am doing so far has been very informative. I am absolutely amazed at how easy it is to set one up. In relation to working with WIKI I like the fact that I can work and save as I go along and come back and continue later. That is cool. Eveytime you come back you re-read it, and make changes and as you learn more you add your knowledge and your WIKI grows. I think I finally get what WIKI is all about.

Work, Work, Work

Well I can honestly say that since I started this class I have had to have more than one screeen up. Usually I just have one up. Now I have like three or four up at one time. PHEW!!! This is work. I am definately learning a lot. I am feeling my way around the WIKI a little more. Learning as I go, making mistakes and correcting them.

On My Way

Well I guess I felt a little silly that I started my blog on the WIKI but at least I learned from my mistake and I am movin' forward. It was fun creating the blog becasue I got to personalize it. I told my family about the Blogs and now they want to start one. Go figure.

My blog entry transferred from the WIKI (ha-ha)

The first day of class I really learned a lot. I never knew anything about WIKI or blogging or list serves so I found class to be very educational for me. I am usually intimidated by technology because I really don't use the computer alot. I really only use it for term papers and e-mail which I don't really utilize because I can't type fast so I just use the phone. I just always thought that the computer was too complicated so I decided not to learn about it. I was suprised that IM is free and the groups you can create in yahoo for free. I am proud of myself as I just installed AIM on my computer by myself (pat on the back). Usually I would get my husband to do it. I feel good about what I am learning in this course. Although I am a little nervous about blogging.