Back In The Day...

My memories of using computers in school don't appear until my 5th grade year.  Even then, the only true memory I have of using computers was when we would use KidPix software and create magical works of art on the screen (and of course, follow it up with the "KABOOM!" of the dynamite clearing tool).  Middle school is much of the same.  One research project comes to mind were we got to experience the new and innovative "Encrata" encyclopedia.  And of course, you can't forget the great "Oregon Trail" program.  That was the highlight of the 6th grade social studies curriculum.

When I was in 9th grade, my family got our very first computer.  It was quite the treat.  Again, I am very fuzzy on any of the specifics of the machine, other than it being a PC and that dial-up Internet brought the World Wide Web into our house.  Even through high school, there it doesn't seem that computers were used for much other than word processing and simplistic research.  Before I went to college in 2001, I got my own Dell desktop computer.  It was a great computer and I had very few problems with it until the 5th year I owned it.  By that time I was nearing the end of my college career and decided to move on to smaller and better.  My next computer was an HP laptop.  This machine was very dependable and served me well for many years and was my sidekick during two online courses (2000 and 2008).  Now knowing more about maintaining technology, it has become apparent that the lack of updating and other maintenance could have been much better and would have resulted in my computer(s) working better and longer.  My school district is a Mac school, so in the classroom and labs we have iMacs and several of the staff members (including myself) were given MacBooks to use.  With all the changes technology goes through, one can only guess at what comes next.