The digital technology event that is memorable for me is when I decided that keyboarding skills are actually useful, and perhaps necessary for course work in college.
I was 20 years of age (now 35), and decided that I would apply to the local college and enroll in social service courses. I despised typing class in secondary school, and as a result failed miserably. The prospect of taking college courses meant writing papers, and my traditional two finger method of typing might be a little inefficient. I was still living with my parents and they had a PC that I rarely used because I simply did not know how, nor did I care to.
My mother, who was quite the academic herself, queued me into a typing program on the computer in our office. I figured I could handle this challenge considering that my mother could hardly operate our VCR remote control yet she managed fine with our computer. I quickly got started on this typing program and within weeks was using the keyboard quite efficiently with two hands.
The significance of this event is that I realized that I was quite able to manipulate a computer program on my own. I had always found computers daunting and was quite apprehensive to learn how to use them. Thus began my journey of utilizing various computer applications, and I credit much of this endeavor to my mother.
We live in a different technological time now and many children are quite versed in the basic use of a computer before they even begin grade school. Part of the reason I am taking this program is to experience that typing program effect once more. I want to understand contemporary digital technology, and I hope this program will ignite a fire in me to learn more. Our students are immersed in a digital environment and I feel that it is almost required that I stay current.
Stephen Hawkins