Electronic Documentary of Erin Swan

I use my computers and flash drive to store, organize, and manage the most important areas of my life. Personally, I've stored pictures, videos, music, church member personal records and financial statements, and event presentations for at least 10 years. Professionally, I store financial statements for the after-school program, important lists, calendars, assessments, management documents, pictures, videos, programs, permission slips and other forms, and my parent handbook. I have been developing this professional package for the last 10 years.

Before computers, I was queen of the file cabinets. I still have hard copies of files from high school classes stored in my basement file storage. I had an extensive pen collection to help make my note taking a little more exciting, along with fun stationary and note pads. I was also the person who saved up a box of disposable cameras and undeveloped film cases. I was thrilled with the accessibility of my first digital camera. I loved the idea of cutting out the middle man.

When I think about losing all of the data I've accumulated over the years, I get a little sick to my stomach. I've been blessed to have only lost data one time, with little actually lost. My method of file back up has been to make CD, now DVD, images of my hard drive. It always takes several disks to store the data, so my frequency is inconsistent and not often. As time is ticking, making me more and more fearful of a major loss of data, I have grown concerned about finding a more practical and fail safe method for file back up.

The Future of Computing in the Classroom

The future of computers in the classroom is ever growing and changing. There are new possibilities being created at an incredibly rapid pace. It appears that these possibilities are only limited by our own creativity, and are strongly influenced by the needs of the job market. So, let's see how creative i can be as I envision my first grade classroom in the future.

My students will have touch screen computers unobtrusively built into every desk. These computers will replace or enhance physical manipulatives by providing an unlimited and indestructible supply of virtual manipulatives, games, and puzzles. Students will have the ability to immerse themselves in other cultures and languages by attending virtual foreign exchange programs without having to leave the safety of their parents. Just about everything in the classroom will be operated by voice command. The chalkboards and whiteboards will be replaced by new smarter boards.

I can barely fathom how this will affect be or my students. Student assessment will be easier for me, enabling me to provide quick feedback to my students. However, if everything is available for my students online, what role will I play? Will I merely be their supervisor and technical director? How will I help my students to engage in cooperative learning? How will they interact with each other, a necessary skill for their growth and development? And, what about their fine motor control? As I write this, I see that I'm beginning to answer my own questions. In this online masters program, we students are, in fact, engaging with one another, while be facilitated by an instructor.

Thinking of possibilities is fun, but my question is always, at what cost? This technology will have to be made available for all students everywhere. That hasn't happened yet. Through this MEIT program, I am anticipating getting the information I need to influence my school district and community to move efficiently and equitably towards the future. Overall, technology will need to be made available to each student. In addition to my commitment to making technological availability more equitable, it will be important for me, as a classroom teacher, to focus on sustaining opportunities for my students to develop and strengthen their skills in sharing, cooperative learning, and small motor function.

Computer History for Erin Swan

The year was 1989. I was in the 7th grade at a middle school in Milwaukee, WI. I don't remember ever hearing about or talking about any computers, much less a lab of computers, until the day one of my teachers took my class into the "Computer Lab". It was filled with Apple IIe computers, at least enough for us to partner up on. We went to the lab about once every couple of weeks. My brain only highlighted a few memories, including a small green screen and a mysterious woman named Carmen Sandiego. I also remember using the keyboard to pretend I was a secretary while I waited for the computer lab teacher to walk around with the Carmen Sandiego floppy disk, loading each computer with the game. This was always a confusing process for me. How did Carmen get into my computer and stay in it after the teacher took the floppy out?

My freshman year in high school, my English teacher informed us that we were required to take a keyboarding class, which meant that I would be using a computer much more regularly. I believe those computers were PC's. Although he encouraged us to complete our work using word processing, I preferred to use my mom's old type writer. I hung out in that comfort zone until my senior year. At that time, I had just heard of the Internet. When I graduated, I cashed in a technology bond that my grandmother had given to me some years prior. It was to be used to purchase a personal computer. After much toiling, due to my serious ignorance in this area, I finally bought a Mac and a color printer. That night, my friends helped me sign up for a dial up AOL account. The only thing I new how to do was check my email and play solitaire (offline).

It wasn't until 1996 ish that I discovered the wonders of the Internet in the computer lab at UW-Whitewater. I watched people do research, look at porn, and write papers. With the Internet becoming the primary research tool for every class, I quickly got acclimated to the technology. By the time I graduated from Alverno in 2001, I thought I was totally on top of what the World Wide Web had to offer.

In reality, I had no idea of the possibilities...

Reflection on Week 2

I understand and appreciate how important technology is, but it has always seemed cumbersome. This week's activities have been enlightening. When integrating technology into my teaching, I struggle with preparation and execution. I have great resources filed away in my favorites folder. In fact, I have five great lists of favorites on the five different computers I may use throughout the course of the day. The idea of using social bookmarking sites will make it so much easier to organize resources in a central location. The sharing feature will be most useful to use with the other teachers, especially my grade level, at my school. Across the grades, we often come to each other to borrow resources and get ideas for our students.

As far as the online storage possibilities...Watch out flash drive manufacturers!!! Wow! I thought I was cool with my 8 gig flash drive that I found on sale for $20 last Spring. I want my money back! Realistically, it is nice to carry music, movies, and pictures, but past that, free online storage can meet all my needs.

Overall, I'd much rather worry about keeping track of a piece of paper with all of my logins and passwords than worry about what device/computer I have something saved on.