Computers can DO that?

Technology is only as good as the user (unless your name is Flynn) and I realized that even though I was using computers back when Ozzy Osborne was still releasing new material, I could fill several websites with what I didn't know about day-to-day computer use. 

For my part, my computer is a sorely under-used tool. I use Windows 7 at my office and a Mac at home. Thus far, I can operate both with marginal degrees of success, but not anywhere near what either I or my machines are capable of. Upon reflection, I dwell primarily in the realms of word processing and internet surfing. I'm aware of multitudes of applications, but I lack anything approaching working knowledge. For example, I visit YouTube, but don't have an active account and have certainly never uploaded anything. I know what file conversion is in theory, but have no idea how to perform a conversion.

Furthermore, more and more often, I’m encountering children that know more about technology versatility than I do. I’m young into my career and certainly cannot afford to stagnate. Just as the legal field requires ongoing legal education to stay abreast of changes in the law, so too is there a need for ongoing technology education.

So, I dusted off my backpack, notebook, and pencil box and signed up for grad school.  Online.  I threw my pencil box and backpack back into the closet from whence they came and steered my laptop into new uncharted territories, namely those ending in .edu.  This blog is the digital fruit of my labor from Instruction Technology 644 taken in the fall semester of 2010.

The content of this blog will include the projects I developed in class, as well as my thoughts on each software application and overall learning process.  Not unlike Star Trek's famous opening monologue, learning technology is a 'continuing mission' of learning, adapting and application.  This blog contains my attempts at 360 degree imaging, photo manipulation, slidecasts, digital audio mixing, digital video mixing, screen captures, tutorial videos, animation and, of course, blogging.

As I add posts about each assignment, I will add links to Clickety Von Linkety of any free software I have used, as well as a synopsis on the user friendly variables of each.

Technology is every expanding and evolving, and so too must be our minds and our ability to learn if we are to function in the brightly lit future we have dreamed of.