Self Assessment

Madeline TrescaIntro to Writing ArtsProfessor Teston

What does it mean to be technologically literate?

“Technology literacy is not merely about how to use a set of tools, but understanding that cognition itself is severely limited without externalization.”

-David Richard Moore

Some of the technologies that we have used this semester:

Google DocsGoogle Docs was a really interesting tool and it was something that I had heard of, but had never used before. In class we learned that Google Docs: Always saves your work! You can access it on any computer You can share it with others so that you can both

write on a document at the same time Is great for group projects

Google DocsEven though Google docs had many great qualities: It was very slow on returning what the

others writing on the document were saying Depending on the project, I would rather

work with my group face to face rather then through Google docs. (but I would save my article there to make sure I never lost it!)

TwitterAfter creating a twitter account during this module, we learned how to: Use a hash tag (#tfw11) Follow people (classmates, friends, celebrities)

Post a tweet Retweet Send a Direct Message Sending a tweet to someone specific by using the

@ symbol

TwitterI thought Twitter was very useful for when I wanted to see if one of my classmates posted something about our Intro to Writing class. Overall, Twitter is not a site that I would use in the future, but I am glad that I was required to make an account for this class. This way I was able to learn what it was all about and not have to figure it out on my own!

Tumblr

After creating a Tumblr account, we learned: About the dashboard How to post a picture to the

dashboard How to post text to the dashboard How to tag How to link

TumblrI had honestly never even heard of Tumblr before, and when we first started using it, I thought it was really strange. I did not understand the concept of blogging. After using it this semester, I now understand that it is used for whatever you need it to be used for. Saving pictures, sharing a link, showing how you are technologically literate! It was helpful for me to check it for any updates on our class, as well.

JingAfter hearing jing mentioned in class, I explored the website and found it very interesting! I learned how to: Highlight the section I wanted to share Capture the picture Copy the picture Paste it to my document or PowerPoint

Jing

I loved Jing! At first I could not figure out what I would actually use it for, but then after I started playing around with it I found many ways where it could be useful, and I found it a lot of fun! I love that the sun icon stays at the top of your desktop, and you can use it whenever you want. This is definitely a tool that I will use again.

Surveymonkey

My group and I used surveymonkey.com to post a survey for our White Paper. I really had no idea how it was going to work, and I didn’t realize that anyone can take the surveys that are posted on the site. After writing your survey questions, you just post it to the site and people can answer your questions. I would definitely use this technology again for another project.

WordleI found wordle really fun and interesting. I’ve seen wordle examples before, but didn’t realize where they had come from. I like the idea of taking something that you have written and making it look really interesting, as well as having the words that were used the most be the largest words in the image.

Am I technologically literate???As far as being technologically literate, I think I’m in the middle. I feel like I can catch on pretty quickly when learning about a new website or tool. I think it’s just that I’m very picky about what I use and what I don’t use. This class has taught me so much about many tools that I have heard of but never used before, and many that I had never heard of. I’m so glad that I did learn to use all of these tools, because who knows when I will need any of them in the future! I believe that this class has definitely made me much more technologically literate!