Presentation 1: Digital Documents

This week we watched and participated in the first tutorial presentation on Digital Documents.

I learnt that a digital document is any document that is saved on a computer.  I also learnt how to use certain shortcuts on the keyboard which was helpful as they are time efficient and because I am new to using Mac computers, for e.g. since being introduced to the Flickr program I have been exploring what it can do, however, while I was attempting to upload a photo to my blog site it did not work. This was because it saved as ’spaceball.gif’ which is not compatible but the group showed us ways of working around it on a Mac computer. In addition to this, I now feel more confident in turning a file into a PDF since we were shown certain websites that allowed us to do it. These were: www.pdfonline.com and www.cutepdf.com.

In regard to what I learnt about teaching processes, the group demonstrated great classroom practice for teaching ICT i.e. having a balance of giving formal instruction and letting us explore websites and experiment with different functions on Microsoft Word on our own. This strategy will foster autonomy in students as it allows them to be supported while still learning for themselves.

This presentation, as well as tutorials, has begun to change my perspective as it has lead me to believe that while many processes on a computer sound difficult, they are just like learning any other skill i.e. they involve time, guidance and practice. I think it is helpful for teachers that there so many websites out there that help us to engage with and learn about technology e.g. the various PDF websites or photo editing programs. I am hoping that by the end of this unit I will have a library of sites to refer to for my teaching.