Understanding...

Knowing/understanding the computer hardware components will definitely help me in a few ways. It will help me in my personal & professional life. In my personal life when I need something fixed on the computer that can't be taken care of by restarting the computer I usually turn to my husband to see if he can help me. The same holds true in my professional life while I'm at school. If it can't fixed after checking cord connections or with a simple restart, I usually turn to our network administrator right at school.

I know I could probably figure out some of the issues I sometimes have with the computers if I put more time & effort into it but I have avoided doing that for a few reasons.

#1. I love computers but I love using them...not knowing how they work or why they aren't working! :)

#2. Many times when a computer goes down for whatever reason it is very difficult to put any time into trying to figure out the issue because I have 27 other hands being raised in the classroom from students who need help or I have a 3 year old & a 1 year old at home climbing up on chairs or stuffing the toilet with as much TP as can possibly fit into the bowl! :)

#3. I've always had that "go to" person to help me out so I've not had the need to really figure it out on my own.

It is important to know how & why the hardware components work (or don't work), and I really need to put more effort into trying to troubleshoot more often when something comes up. Another hesitation is fear...because I don't truly understand the in's and out's of the computer I am afraid I am going to break something even more in the process of trying to fix the original issue. With more knowledge & understanding of thy how's, why's, & what's I can reduce/eliminate some of that fear so that I can be more confident in what I am doing.

What I Know & Want to Know About Computer Systems

In my undergraduate degree program I was required to take both Computer End-User Technologies & Network Administration courses which seems very similar to this course so far. You could then probably make the assumption that this course is going to be easy for me...but that couldn't be further from the truth. In the first class meeting I had the same flood of thoughts & emotions as when I was taking the two computer class at UW-W in my undergrad; I felt like I was sitting in an advanced foreign language class the entire time. While I've at least heard of some of the terms that were being used, I don't remember what they are/mean. I guess this type of knowledge (computer "stuff") is kind of similar to a foreign language - if you don't use it, you lose it...and it appears that I've lost most of it. So here's a cheers to hopefully make it still the 3rd time around...

With that said, I don't know much about the hardware of a computer or how it works. I am so blessed to have a wonderful network administrator right in my building who is a good friend of mine. When something goes wrong with a computer or printer that can't be solved by checking the cord connections or restarting the computer, I usually just give him a call & within a few hours my problem has been solved. I LOVE using technology and can get my way through minor issues but can't (and frankly don't want to) do anything more than that. I know, I know...I should be more open to learning how things work so I can fix it on my own but I guess it just isn't my passion so I am reluctant to do so.

Sooo...what do I want to know? That's kind of a funny question... :) My completely truthful answer to that question is "not a whole lot more than what I know now" but I'm really, really trying to change that thought process & be more open-minded about learning this stuff. I will make this promise - I promise to try to be more willing to learn about how the computer works. I know it will help me be able to troubleshoot more on my own which would be a great thing. I promise...I'll try!