Post #8

Chapter 8 was centered around security issues, ethnics and emerging technologies in education. It first explained about computer security risks which are defined as any event or action that can cause a loss of or damage to computer equipment, software, data and information, or processing capability. A virus is designed to affect computers negatively by altering the way they work and many viruses are designed to destroy or corrupt data. Some different viruses include boot sector viruses, files viruses, and macro viruses. Two common variations of computer viruses, often called malicious software programs, are worms and Trojan horses. Emerging educational technologies that will influence public education significantly include the digital media revolution, the World Wide Web, the next generation of software on DVDs, assisting technologies, Web-based training, and wireless technologies.
Since last class, I acquired many new skills by completing Power Point assignment one. Some different concepts that I managed to successfully perform include adding new slides, incorporating different slide formats, inserting graphics and animations, inserting hyperlinks, using bullets, and including speaker notes. I also learned how to make sure the slides were clear, concise, and only included the most important information necessary for the audience. Additionally, this assignment taught me to keep in mind that my slides be aesthetically pleasing, and easy to use which dealt with color, size, formatting and assignment. This will definitely help me with my education career, because the vast majority of teachers use power points to teach students the material.
Last class we received technology tips which consisted of the "do's" and "dont's" of power point presentations. I found most of these tips very interesting because I had never considered a lot of the factors it addressed when making a power point presentation. For example, It never occurred to me that you should only insert sounds at appropriate times or that flashy and curvy fonts should not be used because it is a distraction. I also never took into consideration that the colors projected from a data projector will look different from the colors on my computer screen. Other important issues I learned about dealt with issues such as images and shapes, graphs and charts, text, transitions and practicing your presentation. It was a very helpful and useful hand out that I will definitely hold on to.