How I Use ICT at Home and at School

ICT plays a big role in the lives of millions of people around the world, as it does to mine. I am certain that personally could not live without the different amazing, technologies I use everyday. The technologies I use are:

* Computer

* Internet (introduction)

* msn messenger

* e-mail

* mobile phones

* mp3 players

* digital cameras

Computer (Description and use of technology explained)

(give a description of your computer, like it is a Pentium 486 first ) (I want to say here technology explained)

One of the main uses of ICT is my computer, which consists of both hardware and software. My hardware includes my monitor, base unit etc, whereas my software includes my (wrong this is hardware printer, web cam) ( S/W is the programs like word that enables you to do the things that you are currently doing, creating a document to complete your assignment, there are other programs that you use on the computer like excel. You use this s/w working out in maths or developing graphs or graphical representation images for my geography coursework, showing population control in Cambodia for example) which can be purchased separately. I spend most of my leisure time using the computer, as it is my main source of entertainment. At home I use the computer to type up my school work and coursework and to access homework via email, which is always password protected to ensure that no other student can duplicate my work or corrupt the file. A computer memory goes up by 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 MB. This is then followed by a gigabyte. (so what is the memory on your computer then)

Software on my computer

* Microsoft Word

* Microsoft Excel

* Microsoft Access

* Microsoft PowerPoint (and a few others)

Microsoft Word (s/w uses and advantages explained)disadvantage need to be explained)

Each of these programmes enables me to do different tasks. Microsoft Word is one of the programmes I use frequently, it is largely a text based program. In fact I have used it to type this document. I use it not only for school work but also for personal use, as in corresponding to my grandmother in Pakistan, she loves it when I write to her because I insert lot of pictures like flowers and funny animals it cheers her up , receiving my attractive letters. So it is not only handy for personal use, I largely use for school work, It makes school work more enjoyable as you can listen to music whilst (personal and work related tackled)typing. It is efficient because you don’t have to re-write a document when making a little (advantages and disadvantages explained) mistake, you can edit and undo.

Not only that, it allows people like me who cannot write neatly to produce presentable documents, also it reduces transcription errors and saves you from having to scrap the whole document and restart, and allows other people; mainly teachers to understand your work. Another advantage is that for many people whose first language is not English, Microsoft Word automatically corrects spelling mistakes. (you have explained advantages for using word, what about disadvantages) Finally in a (different ion tackled)hand written document, you cannot cut, copy and paste; You would find it difficult to insert more text or pictures, as you do when you go along, by hand this task would be impossible, as you would be using an eraser frequently on your hand written document, causing it to fray and look untidy, as a result, the presentation of that essay would be poor, and I would almost certainly loose marks as the teacher would not be able to read my essay and get very frustrated trying to make an effort.) whereas on Word this task can be sorted out at the touch of a button, this makes me happy as it gives me more time to focus on other school work and leisure time, also getting involved in family activities, like going out shopping with my mother and bonding with her.

However the most important aspect in using word is that the teacher too is happy reading and marking my coursework in a legible format that she can read and understand, helping her to read my essay quickly, instead of trying to read my hand written (Evaluative comment made) document, that looks untidy as reading it is made impossible by the amount of rubbing out and re-writing I have had to do because I wanted to insert text and pictures. Hand written documents does not allow for further progress and enhancement of coursework, documents completed on the computer is far more superior in its out look and will allow for good marks. I certainly will benefit by the extra time and the hassle free coursework completion, more time for doing other more enjoyable things for me.

Microsoft Excel (S/W explained)

Microsoft Excel allows you to produce well organised and presentable tables, charts calendars etc, which are uncomplicated and easy to read and understand. It is good for creating charts to remind you of your coursework and dates due. I also use Excel to for presenting research and graphical information for subjects like geography and maths, this is a major advantage because I know if I produced these charts by hand they would be un-readable and confusing. I am using Microsoft Excel for my current coursework which is analysing trade of the Kingsway Hall Hotel in central London, using Excel to calculate daily income has made my coursework so much easier and has moved it up a grade. (if I attempted to do this by hand it would most certainly be messy, If I made a mistake I would have to re-do the graph., because by hand it does not give you any room for corrections and improvements, my coursework would most certainly suffer, causing it to fall in the lower bracket of the marking scheme giving me a low grade.) (differentiation tackled)

I also used excel in other subjects for e.g. in geography; where I am required to produce a chart for population control, in an individual state, this is easier in excel as all I have to do is drop information on an excel spreadsheet, town, and (good work examples, and well evaluated)sometimes ages. Then I just highlight the information and choose the type of graph I require, and the graph appears. This is so much simple to drawing the graph on paper, where it is un-readable and includes hundreds of un-wanted lines. Not only do I use, Microsoft Excel in geographical studies, but I use it in science and maths. In science I use Excel to create charts and graphs to hold information about weather forecasts. In maths using Excel has made my life so much easier as I love working with numbers but cannot do so as there are so many numbers involved and my number charts and graph are all un-readable and incomprehensible.

Microsoft Access (software not explained)

I am using Access in my current course where I store information about customers and stock. This information can be extracted in the form of reports, using queries. I use access at home, which substitutes for my personal and social diary. I use my personal diary to store information about (personal)friends and family, like their addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and birthdays. Whenever I have kept a diary in the past, I had the major problem of misplacing it and other members of the family finding and reading it, which meant that I would not be aware of birthdays of my friends and family: which did not make me a very popular person.

Now, that I have frequent access to the computer it is much easier for me to store all my personal information in access, which is password protected, so there are no privacy issues. The (differentiation tackled) difference between using Microsoft access on my computer and a personal diary, is that I can loose the personal diary which would cause me frustration and grief; whereas on Access is that the information stored can be lost but there is only a small risk of loosing work. To remove this (safety issues tackled) problem I have backed my computer up and ran some anti-virus programmes on it to keep my information highly secured and safe.

Microsoft PowerPoint (explain briefly the s/w)

I use PowerPoint mainly to produce presentations usually about myself. I used PowerPoint to apply for the duke of Edinburgh award scheme to persuade the teachers that I was perfect for that scheme. I also made presentations about the youth club I regularly attend, and the theatre which I attend this is to enhance my public speaking skills. I would find this presentation very difficult to do by hand as I have very many personal photographs to show and cannot hold them all(personal tackled) at once in my hand. Making my presentation on computer is better because it is colourful as the information pops up on screen automatically in different directions and from different angels when using custom animation. If I had done this by hand, I could be nervous and drop my information card on the floor and this could ruin my entire presentation.

(differentiation tackled and evaluation attempted)

Internet

The internet is the world’s largest wide area network of networks. The internet (it does not include the www it is a search engine that calls the www pages for us) the World Wide Web, which consists of words, sounds, images, or animations and videos. (Technology explained)All these multimedia documents are connected by hyperlinks so you can move from one document to another by the click of your mouse. Each page is called a web page and a set of web pages are called a website. There are millions of websites which are used to play games which helps to relax without very many restrictions. I am given the facility to play games not only by myself, I can also play with a few other players, this facility would be impossible for me from my own home, as I would have to purchase the games at a lot of cost, I would soon loose the enthusiasm for that game and would want to buy the next one from the market. If I played games on the internet they would be free, and would also supply me with players, and I could go on for as long as I wanted, I could put it on hold and go do something else, perhaps chores for my parents.

(Various uses explained)

I use the internet to research information for my homework as it allows me to access similar information from a variety of different sites. It is really quick, extensive, simple and saves me(social tackled) a lot of time as I know that if I went to the library to search for the same information it would take me hours to find out, Another fact is that I will not be able to download pictures or text and do an edit, cut, copy and paste onto my document. I would have to photocopy the text and pictures I require, or write the text out by hand which is definitely time consuming. A plus factor for the internet is that the information on the internet is being constantly updated. The disadvantage of using a book from the library is that it would not be an updated version. (are you discussing family circle or looking in a telephone book to find relatives ? make clear)Another reason I use the internet is to search for lost family and friends all around the world. It is really quick and searches all the information within seconds. It is very useful and saves me looking through the telephone directory which does not cover worldwide can be time consuming and frustrating, and would cost me money. (good evaluation tackled) (You have not tackled disadvantage advantages)

Msn Messenger (Start with an explanation of what is MSN please, how is it used, advantages and disadvantages)

At home and outside school, I use Msn Messenger to chat and interact with cousins, friends and family around the world. Have people talk to you from different time zones, and all this for free, if I had to use this facility from my lan line. first thing, I would not be able to do it, as I would need more than one phone for every person I am speaking to around the world, and the cost would be phenomenal)or just simply to make new friends all around the world. This network allows more then two people to take part in a video, voice or a basic typed conversation. It allows you to share images, photographs, videos, music or just documents. It is very relaxing because you can take your time replying and there is no pressure. Whereas there would be in a phone call. It is also very cheap as it is included in your monthly internet charge, whereas using a landline you will be charged per minute.

Not only that, conversations on msn messenger are much more private and secretive, e.g. when a chatting about boys or discussing personal topics. What are you trying to say here?

If you had to ring by land (it is Lan line standing for local area net work) line other people in the household could pick up the phone and listen in to the convections that does not concern them.

Email (technology briefly described)

Email (electronic mail) is classed one of the biggest user in the world today; most people from the age of 6 to the age of 75 have you a problem with people over 75. uses these services including me. The internet is this meant to be e-mail is one of the most leading features in the world. To access email you have to connect to the internet using your telephone which is connected to local Area Network (LAN) this is mainly supplied by an ISP (internet services Provider).

The main advantages of email is that an instant (further explanation tackled) message can be sent whenever you like and an instant reply can be received. However when a person is not available the email is automatically saved and can be easily accessed as a pop up reminder where a message is sent to the person when he/she signs on. If the email is of any use it is sent to my documents or in any other preferred folder, additionally if the email is of no use then it can be deleted straight away. Any individual email can be sent to several people at the same time and it would take them jus a split second to receive.

Informative emails can be forwarded (passed on) and are more reliable than telephone calls, as a report is received when an email has successfully been sent, and on the other hand you are notified(differentiation tackled and evaluated) when sending has failed. If I tried to send a letter, there would be no guarantee it would reach my relatives who live in the outbacks of Australia and also Pakistan, the postage would be expensive and if I sent photographs of family, this would add to the weight, sometime it is also known that post goes missing in poor countries if they thing you have enclosed any valuables. In the case of an e-mail this is not likely to happen. Photographs are scanned and sent as a file, letters can be several pages, giving great pleasure to family and friends. No more waiting and asking the postman daily if you he has any post for you.

Another main advantage is that files created in other applications can be attached e.g. personally I use emailing to transport homework from home to school. I attach a file to a composed email and save it or send it, where the teacher normally edits it, marks it and sends it back to me or I access it in school. This way I am sure that my homework (work and social tackled)/coursework is secured, whereas if it was saved on a floppy disk or flash drive there is a great risk of me losing or misplacing it. It is so much convenient than printing out pages and pages of work which can be easily destroyed and where you do not have a secured copy. By email you can safely access documents wherever you are in the world and a spare copy is always saved. It is very efficient and useful and saves you carrying work around with you.

Using email to contact friends and family around the world is great. It is exactly like writing a letter except it is much faster and advanced. It takes minutes to compose and seconds to receive. It is really useful because you can send messages to those who cannot chat through msn messenger due to the time difference between countries. (or don’t know how to use it)

Not only that, emails can be received on devices such as mobile phones. Emailing is really useful for sending you reminders such as notifications about changes in your phone tariffs, latest deals on e-bay e.t.c.

Mobile Phones (Technology explained briefly) what came befor this slick new mobi ? please discuss..

Mobile phone technology is one of the world’s fastest growing technologies, which is updated day by day. Most mobiles hold many features for e.g. TFT, durable stainless steal covers and 3D images with enhanced graphics.

I use my mobile at home to ring and text my friends all (personal use) around the world. It is quick efficient and easy to use. When calling someone it takes second to connect and when sending a text message, it goes through straight away and is just pennies to send a message, or if on contract it is free.. The advantages of calling someone is that you can withheld your number whereas you cannot on a landline free of charge. The mobile phone tariffs are much cheaper then landlines.

It is private, can speak from the confines of your bedroom or outside when walking the dog. Something not possible from a lan line where you can have a lot of nosy bodies, listening in on your conversation. (differentiation tackled)It is really good for emergencies especially at school explain how in school , If I am out and have missed my regular bus, and another bus is not due for a while, I can always ring my folks at home and ask them to come and pick me up, could have used a phone booth, but cannot always guarantee it works, or I have change, or it is not close to the bus stop I am waiting at. (give an example how in school), the majority of phones are so small and compact that they can fit into compact places and remain unseen e.g. your blazer pocket. (the teacher is not suspicious I have a mobi, as they are not allowed in school )

Along with sending text messages you can send images and videos, this is really useful because if you go on holiday then you can take photographs and videos to show your family, grandparents and other friends. And the quality is so good that even your old age grandparents can see the images clearly. (further uses for social tackled)

(more uses explained)The mobile phone can even be used for emailing, msn messaging, and visiting chat rooms on the move. You can do it whilst walking around and it is all wire less. You can access any aspect of the internet through this extra ordinary gadget, you can download ring tones and music tracks without it costing you anything at all. Nowadays most phones contain a digital music player and radio which you can listen to while using other features on your phone, wherever you are in the world. (in what way would all this benefit you ?)

One other use of the mobile phone is blogging, explaining briefly blogging please.(new technology explained) which is keeping and regularly updating an online journal/diary. You can do this by connecting to the internet via mobile phone where you can sign up to a blogging site, where you can send your latest news. This was so useful with the survivors of the 7/7 London underground bombing. News updates where sent to this (good examples clearly showing good research)(website where major news agencies were at the receiving end and could get immediately organise help as well as media coverage.

MP3 Players (please explain technology briefly)

Digital music players are now owned by most of the population of the new generation. They are so effective and cheap as you are only paying for the actual player. Music can then be easily downloaded on to it within second. All you need to do is plug it into the USB drive which is located normally on the front or back of the hard drive. It is so straight forward and compact which means it can fit into small places and cause no hassle, where a walkman or CD player would. Explain how please.

(versality further explained)On the digital player not only can you listen to recorded music, but you can record live conversations and listen to radio, where you can tune into any station you want including am and fm. The sizes of MP3 vary but the smallest size is 32MB, then 64MMB, then 128MB, 256MB and then 512MB, which are then followed by 1 gb, then 2gb, then 4 and then 8gb. (personal explained)

Normally I use my Mp3 on the way to school and back as I live quite far from school and have to take a different route than my friends. It is extremely boring so I plug in my ear phones and listen to my MP3 which stores up to 200 tracks. It is really relaxing free of charge to listen to and keeps me good company.

It is so versatile I can use it as a memory stick to transport all my school work on it. I often do my research on the school internet on it, take it home and complete my homework from it. So it is not only for entertainment purpose, it also aids me with my school work. (work and social tackled)

Digital Cameras (what is a digi camera explain)

Digital cameras are the most exciting piece of technology used in the world today. It is used in everyday situations from catching criminals to messing around and just taking stupid pictures. Also digital cameras are more advanced than most people would think. They appear in all shapes and sizes, they are now even on most mobile phones. They are popular amongst most house holds in the UK. The picture quality is so super that aged (good description of veracity)people can see images clear as water. All the pictures are stored on a memory card. Memory cards are very small chips.

The biggest memory card you can buy is 1 GB and the smallest you can buy is 32mb. The memory card I have got at home is a 512mb this can store up to 500 images. Most places in the world have got a memory card reader which is very convenient to prints the best images out when you (social tackled)need them. This came in very handy when I went on holiday to India last year. I just went in to their local boots store and printed my images out in second’s. A few of the local village people were very impressed by this piece of technology that I ended up leaving my digital camera there.(did you give it to the villagers or they were so over whelmed by your technology that you left it behind by mistake, or gave it to them, in which case you would have created chaos. Or you negligent you just forgot it. (concluded)

Conclusion

This is my personal evolution on what a big part ICT plays in my home and school life. They seem to be the two biggest role players in the world today. The technology seems to be growing rapidly day by day. They also seem to be getting much faster and more advanced then what we could imagine. They are loved by every house hold in the UK and the world which contains these technologies. It not only enhances learning, but makes home life easier to tackle. Businesses would find it hard to operate without any of the features I spoke about.