Reflections

New Insights on Technology Adoption in Schools, found at http://thejournal.com/articles/2000/02/01/new-insights-on-technology-adoption-in-schools.aspx

Where do you perceive yourself on the Technology Adoption Scale and briefly describe what this means to you as a future educator.

Regardless of which stage the article says I am at today, I am always going to be learning new advances in technology. I will have professional development which will keep me learning these new technologies. However, according to my understanding of the article, I think I am at the  "co-learners/co explorers with their students in the classroom" stage. I feel comfortable with many of the programs and software, but am still exploring others.

 

How do you see yourself in 5 years in 10 and how will you achieve this?

Wow, five years from now and even at 10 years from now, I see myself pretty comfortable with technology. I still will be learning new technologies and both having professional development as well as my own explorations to keep me learning. I probably will have moved up one knotch to the "reaffirmation/rejection decision" stage.

Google Docs to the rescue

OK, so I haven't been enjoying using Google to create my documents. It crashes often enough to make it more than frustrating. BUT, as I keep using it I am finding that it isn't that bad. Really. I like how it gives me a URL to work with. I like how it allows me to integrate links more easily into my projects. Pcmag.com (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2363957,00.asp) evaluated it and gave this review:

Pros:

Free. Deep collaboration features. Automatic file saving with easy access to earlier versions. Nifty form-creating application. Exports and imports most standard formats.

Cons

Export/import unreliable with heavily-formatted documents and graphics. Feature depth can't match desktop suites. Painfully slow editing with multiple Docs tabs open.

Bottom Line

Google Docs is good enough for uncomplicated documents and worksheets, especially when a group of people need to make changes in a document, but not so much for serious work. It also has the built-in security and reliability risks of all cloud-based services.

I still prefer to use Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word. Maybe I'm just more comfortable with them, but I'm finding myself thinking that Google has saved me more than once.