Learning that Gigahertz is Not a Car Rental Company...

When I bought my laptop last summer, I spent months researching what I would need to replace the aging, decrepit lap-sized paperweight I was currently using. I was not, however, very well versed in the technical specifics of computers, nor did I really know off hand what I needed. Thankfully, however, my boyfriend is an expert in his own right, and was in the process of buying the components to build his own desktop computer at the same time. With his guidance, I was able to pin down that I needed a lot of storage, a high-quality video card, as fast of a processor as I could afford and a nearly excessive amount of removable media options. So, with the information he provided (and repeated many times at my prompting to make sure I understood everything), I did endless hours of research, online browsing and in-store playing and finally plunked down some serious change to get the machine I work with today (and hopefully for many years to come). The experience was a bit frustrating, since I was not used to the onslaught of numbers and abbreviations he threw at me (such as Ghz which is the speed of my processor and the heartbeat of my computer), but was ultimately very rewarding. In fact, the whole computer-buying adventure was far more to my benefit than I had previously expected, because when it came to this week's reading, I was rarely, if ever, stopped in confusion at the terms and definitions presented to me. CPUs, you say? Got it! That's my oh-so-speedy processor that manages my computer's operations. The difference between Solid State Drives and Optical Discs? No problem! SSD's are the way in which  my computers stores all of its precious information using 500 GB of flash memory, while optical discs require a physical disc to keep it's information. Data representation in the form of ASCII? I may not be fluent, but it is more than gibberish to me now!


I believe that when it comes to understanding, evaluating and ultimately buying technology, getting the crash course that I had is one of the best ways to become knowledgeable. As an educator, technology and the classroom is often a case of always needing more. As budgets continue their boa constrictor-like squeeze on the everyday classroom, teachers are constantly striving to get the best possible materials for their students and often coming up short or overly restricted. Take this week's scenario-based assignment.  

I was to try and buy a single program for the one Internet-connected classroom computer (which has the same system specifications as my personal laptop), and reflect on any difficulties or understandings that resulted in this purchase and integration. 
 

Now, those loyal readers of the blog know that I am not currently in a classroom teaching, and therefore had to get a little creative with this week's assignment. Using my previous classroom experience, I expanded this scenario a bit to better explain my program choice and its connection to the assignment. To wit, I present to you my fictional class:

• 11^th Grade AP Language/Composition with roughly 24 students each class, 3 classes each day; allowing for 8 groups of 3 students each.
• 12^th Grade AP Literature with roughly 24 students each class, 2 classes total each day; allowing for 6 groups of 4 students each.

Once established, I thought about what kind of program would be beneficial to this hypothetical classroom that would not only enhance a curriculum, but take it to an entirely new level. With an imaginary budget of no more than $1000 for this one program, no sense in picking up some rinky-dink word processor. I mean, when given this kind of opportunity, it becomes a case of go big or go home, right? After much research and debate (very similar to my original quest for the computer itself), I finally settled on a program with not only the power to provide a great learning experience, but with a nearly endless array of tools and applications that could take this beyond a single semester or school year. I decided on Adobe InDesign CS5.

One of the other guidelines was that my Pretend Principal, in giving this opportunity to me, led me towards a few websites specializing in academic software with generous discounts aimed at teachers and schools. After careful browsing and price comparisons, I decided on purchasing my single copy of Adobe InDesign CS5 from Academic Superstore because it not only provides the software at a lovely price, but also comes packaged with the Total Training program. This would be essential to the classroom since this could be integrated into the student's introduction and application of the software throughout the curriculum. Now, technically, this makes this a purchase of two programs, but since they are packaged together and the Total Training is pretty much useless without the InDesign itself, I consider it a single purchase, and at $260 (as opposed to roughly $800), a bargain at that!

From this point, I analyzed my computer's technical specifications to understand once more what I was working with. As mentioned previously, this was a much smaller task thanks to my prodigious research from some months ago. Past this, I was to compare and contrast the program's system requirements with what I had at my disposal. Thankfully, my careful purchasing last year made this a very satisfying analysis. My laptop has everything InDesign needs to be at it's most useful and efficient. Since I am already working with Windows 7 and an Intel Core i5 processor, speed is not an issue in the least bit. My ample RAM makes storage nothing to worry about and my video card is far beyond even the base needs of the software. Even my screen resolution is spot-on, making for clear and beautiful presentation. As for those removable media options, the sky's the limit as to what I can create, move and distribute beyond InDesign's files. In fact, my computer is just about top-of-the-line, so it seems that so far my classroom is already off to a great start.

Now, what to actually do with InDesign CS5? Well, I wanted to make sure this purchase would be beneficial to my make-believe students beyond just the novelty of it. So, I quickly designed some project-based curriculum that would nicely suit InDesign's capabilities, while also demonstrating some concrete student benefits. The projects themselves are actually complex and could be discussed at length, but the focus of the assignment is more towards what I have learned about hardware, so therefore I shall make it brief.

• For AP Language students, InDesign CS5 will be involve multiple projects such as creating brochures for recruiting students to a hypothetical AP Language program similar to the one they are in, as well as advertisements for fictional products to understand use and purpose of language. (ISTE-S 1, 2, 3, 4 &6)
• For AP Literature students, InDesign CS5 will allow for a deeper understanding of literature in a real-world context and application. Over the course of a year, students will take their comprehension of materials read in class and apply it to creating an anthology of student-created work that will be written in, edited, revised and formatted within the program and eventually converted into an ePub document. This resulting document will then be readable on standard computers as well as mobile devices. (ISTE-S 1, 2, 4, 5 &6)

At this point, I feel I have come full circle on this week's assignment. Not only did I dive back into the nuts and bolts of my personal machine, but I was able to step beyond that and really think constructively about how these specs can either limit or expand the capabilities of a regular classroom. The outline of this assignment clearly demonstrated that classrooms are always having to work with uneven requirements, such as a huge budget for a program, but only allowed one copy and no upgrading of a current system. Careful research, planning and implementation is key, as I found out. You may have had your heart set on a particularly snazzy program for your classroom, or even given one through a grant or a similar system, but what if your system cannot handle it? What if your curriculum is too restricted to make proper use of it? These are serious questions that classroom teachers much encounter and overcome all the time, and my understanding reached today will go a long way towards helping me conquer problems like this in the future.

 

Once scary. Now beautiful.