BROOKLYN RUSSELL 4/23/19

EDT 180A
REFLECTION PAPER

I began this semester of EDT 180 extremely hesitant. I had the skills of a toddler when it

came to technology, maybe even less than that considering how often my little sister uses a

tablet. Within the first week, I had set some goals for myself in order to maximize my

improvement throughout the course. Using the syllabus as a guide I decided that I was to focus

on improving my confidence with computers by being able to accurately use computer related

terms and concepts. This meant learning what software and hardware, among other things, are at

a level more concrete than the vague understanding I’d held for all my life. Also, I wanted to

focus on learning how to locate, open and use Microsoft applications. Specifically, Excel and

Word because both are relevant to my life, Excel being an application I’ve used before in a

management setting which made me realize how little I understood it, and Word being my main

tool as a writer and a poetry major. One last goal I set for myself was to be able to, by the end of

the semester, discuss the functions of technology in classrooms, businesses and home

environments. Technology is never going to go away, and the course of history will become so

intertwined with computers, the Internet and social media that you only have the choice to get on

board or jump ship. Already in the media we’ve realized the complete lack of knowledge

surrounding these kinds of concepts like during Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional hearing when

congress didn’t actually know how Facebook works. I wanted to be able to intellectually analyze

and discuss social and ethical issues related to increased technology use.

To achieve my first goal of increasing my confidence and vocabulary when it came to

computers, I had to address my base knowledge coming into class. I started with knowing the

bare minimum, I could tell you what an application, the Internet and various pieces of the actual

computer were. Not much at all. Yet within the first few weeks I learned words to categorize the

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EDT 180A
REFLECTION PAPER

things I already knew. Applications like Word, PowerPoint Excel, and Publisher are software.

The computer mouse, monitor, keyboard is all hardware. Just being able to build upon what I

already knew sparked my confidence in approaching computer-based tasks, it felt like I was

being giving words to vocalize something I’ve always known, something so innate- it couldn’t

be hard to learn. Through readings within the course I also encountered technology jargon that

forced me to see and work with words I didn’t understand. Being exposed to this new material I

was more open to, and even excited about, learning Microsoft applications, which was my

second goal.

In using Excel, I feel I had the most improvement from beginning to end of the semester

because I started off knowing nothing about how to use it. Filling out the cells using different

formulas and the fill series handle definitely made me feel really cool, and I know that I’m going

to be putting my proficiency with this application on my resume because it’s such an important

skill to have in a business setting. Also, expanding on how to use Microsoft Word will be

relevant to my future as a writer as well. I went into the Word exercises feeling like I knew

everything because I had been using word for academic and personal writing for years. I was

proven wrong though, as there were many functions I learned how to use such as the search and

replace and inserting a page break without hitting the enter key a bunch of times. Learning how

to use other applications such as Publisher, PowerPoint and Photoshop in addition to Word and

Excel was my favorite part of this class because I now feel computer literate. Even if it is a basic

level knowledge, I feel confident in it to achieve my last goal; to discuss the function of

technology as well as the social and ethical concerns related to it’s increasing use in school,

business and at home.

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EDT 180A
REFLECTION PAPER

This last goal was important to me because I frequently see discourse about technology,

social media and especially privacy in the media these days. I’ve always felt uneducated in these

kinds of topics and was therefore left out of conversations that are only increasing in relativity.

Not having the information I’ve been able to collect throughout my semester of EDT 180 made

me incompetent in using and discussing technology and, in my opinion, an ineffective member

of society because we as a nation are becoming increasingly dependent on computers for the

lifestyles we lead. Yet, with the completion of this course my computer literacy and therefore I

have bettered myself and society for it.