Hardware for Educators

The most useful chapter that I read this semester was Shelly's Hardware for Educators. While I believe myself to be very technologically savey, I did not have a basic understanding of hardware. I can manipulate software programs, and I can, with time, figure out and implement Web 2.0 such as voki, twitter, etc. I could not however, explain what a byte was, identify the system unit, or have any basic understanding of the difference between memory and RAM. In fact this has been very embarrassing to me at times, when I have called or talked to someone about issues with my computer, and have problems interpreting the language that the truly technological are using.

Now, based on the reading of this chapter, I can tell you that a byte is a basic unit of storage of memory, and a terabtye is 1 trillion bytes. The system unit is in different parts of a computer, depending on what type you have (its purpose is to house the electronic components of a computer). I understand that a processor is the same thing as the central processing unit. Memory is used to store data and information while RAM (or Random Access Memory) is found in some memory chips. RAM is important, because the more RAM you have, the more programs you can run at one time.

This chapter filled in many gaps that I had in my knowledge of computers.

Shelly, G. B., Cashman T. J., Gunter, R. E., & Gunter, G. A. (2008). Hardware for Educators. In (5th ed.), Teachers discovering computers: Integrating technology and digital media in the classroom (201-249). Boston: Course Technology Cengage Learning.