Melissa-Jane’s ICT Blog

Autobiography.

This week we discussed spreadsheets, specifically the program ‘Excel’. This program is one that is not new to me, as i have previously used in at work in cateloguing, logging and recording the movement of items from customer to store possession and back again, as well as listing stock.

The lesson provided interesting as this time i was not just being told what to do but was provided with an explanation of WHY and HOW to use Excel, something which will provide extremely beneficial when needing to create a spreadsheet ‘from scratch’, or for personal/ professional use.

It was really helpful too learning the ’short cuts’ for making things work, such as:
- the Fill Handle as a faster way of applying an equation and finding results
- the Sum Function in order to find the total of cell range
- and the all important AutoSum button that does everything for you!

This week being uni-free meant that I was able to spend more time at All Hallows for prac! Not only was this a great opportunity, but i was able to attend Year One’s class Mass, which they held in their joining classroom complete with Priest and Eucharist and everything. This however, was not the only interesting, or exciting thing, the Mass (the hymns and readings) were all projected on the smartboard! It was such a new, and a rather strange site, yet it made everything run smoothly (not something I can say for the class mass’ we used to have at school!). And even the Priest was so intrigued that he played around with it before the end of mass!

All in all, I’d have to say it was pretty much one of the most interesting services I’ve ever been to! And probably one of those most interesting days of prac so far!

                                        WebQuest One.               WebQuest Two.

After this last Portfolio Item, i have discovered just how fun and interesting WebQuests are! And how much more fun activities would’ve been at school if they were set out similarly, or if, in fact, we used them!

This week’s workshop focused on Microsoft Publisher, what it is and how to use it and such, which was pretty exciting seeing as I had never heard of the program before. So the exposure to this “new” program is one which I shall find a useful tool in becoming a teacher, and at present, a new form of mild entertainment.

In doing so, we learnt the correct way to retrieve, and reference images, which will provide helpful when it comes to the creation of our own auotbiography for the next portfolio item. To add to this, we rediscovered the correct process of referencing sources.

So, this week we learnt about WebQuests, which is something I had never even heard of before! And through this I discovered how super useful they’d be in the classroom, because not only would you not have to worry about students getting side-tracked when “looking” for information, but it also seems like a positively enjoyable way of learning while encouraging the use of our wonderful, ever-improving technology.

Portfolio Item Two.

This task was quite interesting, and fairly straighforward.

Although, at one point, i would’ve believed myself to be fairly aware of most functions of the internet, the results of the competency test sure shut that belief down. So as we discussed the internet and it’s multiple functions and assets, i was surprised to find that i understood most of what was being said.

During these workshops we learnt about the internet.

We learnt exactly what the ‘internet’ is: Globally interconnected computer networks. And that, there is a difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web (www).

Special focus was on Client/Server (as “giver” or provider, and “taker”), Email (what happens to a message when it gets sent), and Malware (which ones are ‘harmful’, what each does).

As well as discussing the ‘basics’ of researching and exploring using search engines. Plus the details of how information is found and collected in order to respond to a computers’ request.

The knowledge and information gained from these two workshops will provide an excellent opportunity for advancement in my future teaching career. With technology developing constantly, and with it being used more frequently in classrooms and at home, it is only logical to have a sound understanding of the concept. A factor which will also be useful while being a part of the questions and inquisitive nature of children.

Melissa-Jane’s Competency Test

After the completion of the competency test it is apparent that i have no clue in how to use a computer, let alone all the bells and whistles like the internet and certain program files. Well, not any useful tasks or programs anyway. With a fairly low score, it is at least pleasing to see that i have some sort of grasp of the more basic tasks, tasks such as word processing, which is highly likely to be useful. I do, however, have absolute faith in the development of my computing ability, it’s not like it can get any worse.

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