Ch 4 Blog

This chapter gave an overview about computer hardware and how it may be applied in a career in education. A system unit is a boxlike case that houses the electronic components a computer uses to process data. It is typically metal or plastic and serves as a protector for these electrial components. Data representation for a computer is digital, which means it only understands the on state, represented by the numerical digit "1", and the off state, represented by the numerical digit "2". This numbering system is called the binary system, and each of the on or off digits are called"bits". Bits then form together to create more complex units of data. When eight bits combine to form a unit, they are called a "byte". The system unit consists of many components, with a large number of them residing on the motherboard. Some of these components include the CPU, control unit, arithmetic/logic unit, system clocks, and many types of memory. Ports and connectors are used to attach external devices such as modems and printers. There are four types of input: data, program, commands, and user responses. Input devices include the keyboard and mouse. There are also four types of output: text, graphics, audio and video. Comon output devices include monitors, printers, and fax machines.

After browsing through some fellow EME2040 students' postings, I found that I share a lot of similarities with them! It seems we collectively tend to have the most prior experience with PowerPoint and Word, but want to learn more about Excel and Inspiration. Hardly anyone had used or even heard of Inspiration prior to this class! Many of also were also pleasantly surprised to know that there were so many technological tools geared toward teachers and education to make our job a little bit easier. I also noticed that a significant number of students wanted to learn about web design. I also noticed that a handful of students, like myself, had already taken the computer literacy course here at FSU, which gave us background knowledge and a head start on SAM and some of the skills we will be expected to know in here!

Since last posting, I brushed up on my Windows XP skills and learned a few new things about it as well. I did not know how to format or copy a disk until I learned how to do it on SAM. I also learned how to save documents to different formats such as the .rtf format. Also, I I learned the basics to Inspiration. I did not even know that this program existed, but I think it is really cool! Concept maps can be a great learning tool, and Inspiration makes them fun and easy to create. Finally, I learned about some of the more technical aspects to computer hardware. I now know about all the different units on the motherboard and exactly how to define bits and bytes!