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Arrival of the Family PC (1990)
In July 1990, my father brought home a Gateway computer in a gigantic, cow-print box. It was the first computer that my sister and I were allowed to touch. It ran Windows 3.0 and required some knowledge of MS DOS and a boatload of floppy disks to run. We used it until CDs became more mainstream in the mid-1990s. Image Source: Wikipedia Gateway, Inc. -
Ernie's Big Splash (1991)
Ernie's Big Splash is the first computer game I ever remember playing. It ran on MS DOS (on that Gateway computer), and the general concept was to choose pieces to build a pathway that would get rubber ducky to Ernie's bathtub. Image Source: GameGraveyard.net -
Educational Computer Gaming (1993)
In the early to mid 1990s, computer class was the best thing about school. Once a week we would go to the lab and guided to games about reading, typing, mathematics, etc. Occasionally we would be allowed to play something like Oregon Trail or Mixed-Up Mother Goose, but more often it was games like Reader Rabbit. Image Source: archive.org -
Encarta Encyclopedia (1997)
Rather than update an aging encyclopedia set for kids with increasing need for research, my parents purchased the 2 disk edition of Encarta 1997 for completing schoolwork at home. We used it for school, but also took advantage of the media offerings in the form of trailers for films and music samples as well as the Medieval maze themed trivia game. The encyclopedia became a fought over tool in our home, so I'm sure my parents were thrilled. Image Source: eBay -
Online School Attempt #1 (August 2002- December 2003)
My Junior year of high school saw my first attempt at online learning. I took a high school Psychology class online, and overall I found the experience very frustrating. It is difficult for an auditory learner such as myself to adapt to an online only environment even though we had a print textbook. Image Source: allpsychologyschools.com -
LiveJournal (2002- 2005)
Livejournal was an online journaling tool where you could write about whatever you desired, read journal entries written by friends, and comment on friends' entries. It was used by my friends and I as a journal but also an early social media tool. We were pretty active on the site until Facebook emerged on the scene. Image Source: Wikipedia (Livejournal) -
My First Desktop Computer (Christmas 2003)
Christmas of 2003 brought a very exciting gift- my very own Dell desktop computer to take to college. Image Source: Pinterest -
My First Real Email Address (August 2004)
Upon entrance to undergrad I was assigned my first real email address- @marshall.edu. It was my third email address ever, but I had never really used a personal email other than just to have one. My Marshall email was the first email I checked daily and used regularly. Image Source: Marshall University Homepage -
My First Laptop Computer (Aug. 2007)
In 2007 I gave my Dell desktop computer to my parents and purchased for myself a Macbook for the added flexibility that a laptop provides. Image Source: eBay -
My First Smartphone (December 2012)
In December of 2012 I bought my first smartphone, an iPhone 5, primarily because I was in a new and unfamiliar location. Having access to the Internet via my phone gave me comfort in being able to access weather information on drives and to get directions to help my navigate around my new home. Image Source: Amazon -
WVDE adopts Office 365 (August 2015)
In the 2015-2016 school year, my colleagues and I were issued our @k12.wv.us email address and introduced to Office 365. We quickly learned about the "waffle" and cloud storage. I was delighted to have updated Microsoft Office products on my Mac without having to repurchase them- my Office 2007 for Mac was getting a little behind. Image Source: Pangea Group -
Waze Revolutionizes Sitting in Traffic (Nov. 2015)
In 2015 a friend introduced me to the Waze app. It revolutionized driving in traffic by combining GPS directions with crowd sourced about upcoming hazards, and GPS tracking information about congestion. Image Source: Waze.com -
Online School Attempt #2 (June 2017)
In 2017 I made the decision to go back to school entirely online to pursue a Masters degree. Naturally I went back to my alma mater. Image Source: Marshall University Homepage -
Online School Attempt #3 (July 2019)
This year I've started online school in a different role, teaching part-time for WV Virtual School. Image Source: West Virginia Department of Education
