My adventures in technology began back when I saw the movie "Tron"in 1982. The computer graphics in those days were done by people working on CAD programs. Most colleges taught computer graphics in the computer science departments. I was lucky enough to go to Marycrest College in Davenport, IA where they were the first create a computer graphics program in the art department. The department head had some contract with a software company to test out and debug software. This allowed his students to work with software that hadn't been release yet. Of course we had to learn to save every 5 minutes because the computers were apt to crash. This was the early IBM models.When I graduated in 1987 I moved to San Antonio, Texas. I quickly learned that IBM's were not the technology used by graphic artists in those days. Macs were everywhere and totally foreign to me. Technology went on the wayside until in 1991 I returned to school to become certified to teach. My brother David found me my first personal computer out of Kansas City. Why there and not San Antonio, I have no idea. In those days you needed to know a bit of programing just to turn the thing on. I started using a program called Paint developed by Microsoft. This little program that is now standard on Microsoft PCs and kept my creative link to my college days.
By 2001 I had been teaching for close to 8 years and knew enough about computers to be a bit dangerous. The school district started having server space for their teachers to save their work. With no guidelines to follow, I'm sure I wasn't the only teacher to crash their local campus server. The district had begun a program called "Masters Online." They paid for partial or all of the masters program, through distant learning. Looking back it was a smart thing for the district to do. They had begun issuing new computers to teachers around 2000. But many just sat in the corner being unused. Many of the new teachers that arrived on campus didn't know what to do with the electronic box. And we didn't even have the Internet yet. They had software trainings to teachers , there wasn't much incentive to attend. The masters program would create computer savvy teachers who would go back to their campus and share what they knew. They also created usable website for teachers to use with instruction. To say the least in the Fall of 2001 I began my masters in curriculum with an emphasis in technology with great excitement. I found myself back in the beginning creating computer graphics and marveling at how easy it had all become.
By now you are probably wondering how does my computer history relate to my talk with the Potter's Guild. Many claim they are "Dinosaurs." Initially they wanted me to teach them how to create a web page. This would entail computers for everyone involved and a projector linked to the presenter's computer. Now I'm present the possibilities of web pages and forms of self promotion on the Internet.
In the early days after my masters program, I became a bit of a geek. I was one of those people that were asked questions that started with "How do I..." or "Why doesn't it work!" I did a lot of web page writing through a program called "Dreamweaver". It is now owned by Adobe and I still use an old version once and awhile. But it isn't easy for your typical computer user. My district used Netscape for simple pages. But this program was bought out by AOL and so that ended our use of the software. The district now uses a template program provided Schoolnet.
Web page writing has change very quickly. You can create a site using Google or Yahoo. You don't need to know how to write html (this is the language of the Internet). If you have never created a website, and don't plan to sell anything, I recommend using a no pay web provider. Later as you get comfortable with having a website and maintaining it, you might consider to shelling out money for a domain name. But right now you want to create a glorified business card.
No comments:
Post a Comment