Oh the Changes We've Seen

While reading the article, “Oh the Changes We’ve Seen” by Maureen Brown Yoder, I couldn’t help but be reminded of my own experience with computers growing up. This of course is greatly due to the fact that all of my schooling was from 1987 to present day. Computers during this time started taking on a bigger role in education, and I see evidence of that in looking at my own. “Early activities resembled paper-and-pencil worksheets posing multiple choice problems with a single correct answer…students took part in individualized tutorials, proceeded at their own pace, and mastered a body of knowledge” (pg 8). These were my own first experiences with computers, and the interaction between the computer and myself were to say the least limited. They were very much like using flash cards or doing grammar exercises on the board, and for years there was not much change in this at my school. Granted I did enjoy when we were allowed to play computerized simulation games like Oregon Trail in the fourth grade. It wasn’t until I got older that my options began to widen with Internet access. I was first introduced to this in middle school, and I found it extremely helpful in doing research for my class projects. From high school into college, the further into my education I went the more of a necessity working with computers became, to the point where I required my own. In having my own computer, it continues to become a main source of communication as well as a constant source of information and is essential to my every day life practically.
This week in class I learned more about conducting searches on the Internet through search engines, specifically Google Advance Search. I’ve used the Google search engine numerous times in the past but I really liked using the Advanced Search section of it. I hadn’t looked too much into it before, but it really does narrow down your search and provides you with the sites that you’re really looking for.