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Television
Lucky for me, television has been around since I was born and has always been used in my home. From watching Barney as a child, to family meals on tv trays in the living room, television was a focal point in my house. Now televisions are used for a variety of things whether it is advertisement for a business, list in a doctors office, video games or movies. Televisions have evolved in my life span from big boxes to tiny flat screens and are continuing to do so. -
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At School Computer
In my early elementary years, computers were mostly used to play educational games and take accelerated reader test. I do not have any recollection of other computer use at school. -
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At School Computer
In my early elementary years we had computers at school but I do not recall using them very frequently. There were times when teachers would let us get on the computers to play educational games or when we needed to take an accelerated reader test but there were not many occasions when a computer was needed. -
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Projector
It may be surprising but some of my teachers used projectors until I graduated high school. The projector usage was definitely fewer and further between but many of my older teachers still preferred this method of technology. In my early years of school, projectors were the primary technology students were exposed to. -
At Home Computer
My family purchased our first at home computer when I was in the first grade. At this time, it was mainly for pleasure and was not used for any school work. My parents did buy my brother and I games to help us learn simple math, how to type and other elementary skills but other than this, it was all fun and games. -
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At Home Computer
During this time frame, most of the time I spent on the computer was for personal use: playing games such as "The Sims," instant messaging with my friends, googling puppies I wanted my parents to buy, etc. I was never the outdoorsy type so playing on the computer was where you would find me in any spare time. -
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At School Computer
When I was the in the fourth grade I was selected into the Gifted and Talented Program at school. Most of my computer usage was done completing projects for this class. In my other classes computers were used to compile research for projects, powerpoint building or short papers to be written. My fellow students and I were also allowed to play educational games and still took accelerated reader test. I can also vividly remember each student having a floppy disk. -
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At School Computer
In the fourth grade I was accepted into the Gifted and Talented program through school and most of the time I spent on the computer was completing a variety of projects for this program. Accelerated reader and educational games still made up for some of my time and there were additional class projects in my regular classes that required us to build powerpoints or type short essays. -
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Cell Phone
My parents purchased me my first cell phone when I was in the 7th grade- talk about life changing for a 13 year old. I would call my friends to chat about the day and stay up late just to talk to those I didn't go to school with. Shorty following this, texting became popular as it switched from short mail (internet required to received text) and also Hurricane Rita hit my hometown. It was difficult to call anyone and text were much more likely to go through at this time. -
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At Home Computer
I started high school in 2005 and this is when my at home computer usage switched from personal to business. Many class assignments were done using the computer whether it was typing a paper, research for a class project, or into my senior year where I was looking at colleges and applying for scholarships. Once college began, school was the primary reason I used my computer. I took many online classes and the best form of communication was Blackboard/Moodle. -
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At School Computer
My high school years put more and more emphasis on computer usage. Not only did I use the computer whether at home or during school for class assignments, but teachers would also make powerpoints frequently for their teaching methods. This made our exposure to computers much higher at this point in time. We also had classes such as Introduction to Business Computer Applications which were computer based. We would learn how to type and also how to use software on computers. -
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USB
USB or jump drives became the easiest and most convenient way to save or transfer data from computers in high school. I have many jump drives for the various things I have been or am involved in. I like to keep a separate jump drive for each thing where as some people keep their jump drives separated by year or however much information they can fit until it is full. Jump drives are still how I store information though I know some prefer their computer storage or external hard drives. -
Smart Board
The first experience I had with smart boards was when I was in high school. My teachers were just becoming familiar with the software themselves so we learned how to work this technology together. My teachers still heavily relied on powerpoints for instruction. -
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Cell Phone
If my first cell phone wasn't a monumental moment, my first iPhone definitely was. The majority of my cell phone usage during college and my remainder of high school drifted from texting only to texting and app usage: Facebook, games, walkie talkie apps and everything in between. I loved my iPhone and felt like my life revolved around it. I took pictures of everything I could and documented it on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Snap Chat and Instagram became my most popular apps used. -
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At School Computer
College proved itself to be the most technological advanced and my computer usage definitely sky rocketed while in college. Computers were used in the classroom frequently, especially once I switched my major to Public Relations. I took classes on video editing, website building, layout and design and everything in between. When I was an education major I took education technology classes and of course now in my masters program through mainly my home computer. -
iPad
I bought myself an iPad when I was a sophomore in college. My initial thoughts were that I would bring it to class in place of my laptop but found that I preferred a laptop to type on and left it at home. I did use my iPad to browse the internet, watch Netflix and read books but eventually phased out of this as well. I believed my mom would have more use of it since my father is the laptop hog and gave her my iPad as a gift. -
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At Work Computer
While a student in college I worked on campus and also worked as an intern at a non-profit organization and at a casino. Since graduating, I have worked in the casino and now at McNeese. My time spent at all jobs have been very heavy in computer usage: answering emails, assisting guest/students, learning and maintaining different software for work programs, etc. The computer is the technology I continue to use most frequently and am most comfortable with in regards to work business. -
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Clicker
Though many of my friends had already began to use clickers, my first clicker for classroom interaction was not needed until my third year of college. My public relations classes would use clickers for various class assignments and at times for roll call. -
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Cell Phone
Cell phone usage drifted once more after graduating college as I started my first full time job right away. The time I now spend on my cell phone has decreased dramatically and charging my cell phone all day has changed to not even needing it charged every night. Emails take up most of the time I spend looking at my phone- both spam and work. In my spare time, I will read a book or check social media and send a text following up with my friends and family on events and life updates.