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First Interactions with Technology in School
I moved from Vietnam to the United States in the summer of this year. This was when I was first exposed to the Internet and other forms of technology in school, because my classrooms in Vietnam were taught using pen, paper, and textbooks. The concept of a computer lab was foreign to me at this point in time, and this was my first exposure to it. -
AR Testing: First Experience with Virtual Tests
One of the primary uses of our school's computer lab was for students to participate in Accelerated Reading, or AR testing. These were online tests that awarded points to students based on the number and length of the books they have read over the school year, with the tests checking for basic knowledge of the book's plot and characters. Awards were given at the end of the year for the students with the most points. -
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Internet Safety Barrage
Throughout elementary and middle school, all students at my schools were constantly taken to special assemblies to warn us about the dangers of the internet. Over time, these talks improved in quality as life with easy access to the internet became the norm. The special assemblies and talks ended once I entered high school. -
Poptropica: Potential of Virtual Worlds
Poptropica, an online virtual world where players can go on adventures in different worlds themed around educational topics, was introduced to us as a supplementary learning tool in my elementary school class. This was my first introduction to virtual worlds, as my classmates and other players could exist in the same world at the same time while completing objectives at our own pace. -
Google Tools Integration
This was the year our district introduced school-affiliated google email addresses for all students. It was the beginning of the integration of these google tools into my classroom experience. The three most commonly used apps were docs, slides, and sheets, with drive as an information hub and gmail as a means of communication. -
Kahoot: A New Way to Engage
High school was when my teachers began heavily using Kahoot in our classroom as a way to check in on us as we learned. The Kahoot quizzes quickly became the highlight of many classes, especially in AP classes where they were both excellent review and a way for us to challenge ourselves and each other. -
Introduction to Databases for Research
As part of a project for chemistry, I was tasked with using three scientific databases our school had access to, as well as google scholar, to access online articles to use as references. This included my first exposure to using conditional terms such as AND, OR, and EXCLUDE in a search query. -
Discord as a Tool
I first began using discord in order to organize with members of my school's book club. Since then, I have kept using discord as both a social platform and as a way to connect with and organize with other students in educational and extracurricular activities.