Disadvantages and Advantages

The dominant line “a cloud has its own silver lining” took me to the thorough thinking of ICT usage. I got to believe that the usage of ICT has its own advantages and disadvantages. Famous phrases like a cliché, many assert that coin has two sides. If the coin has two sides, why ICT won’t have the two sides? The college introduced me to the world of ICT, observed and experienced incalculable things regarding ICT. Why I shouldn’t reflect upon it? Albeit of the normal routine on reflecting and writing on the baggage of learning of ICT during my life of the college, today I take a time to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of ICT that I have experienced and observed since the first semester of my college and till the moment.

I am deeply blessed that the college opened my eyes for the ICT world and could learn and acquire immeasurable, incalculable and uncountable skills that I could efficiently use it to sustain in the world of technology. But what did it really happen to me? I think I have become too dependent on ICT. Wastage of time, misusage of time has to be the most visiting guest for me. In distinction to the alteration ICT brought in me, a room of negative feelings over the too dependence on ICT take me to the wrong direction at times. Recurrently, I find myself being overpowered by the potency of ICT. Rather than using my mental cognition to answer the questions or to solve any problems, I find myself only depending on the internet to be my source of the answer. Critical thinking, analyzing power, the skills of high order thinking has degraded over the years.

I agree that ICT makes our life easy and comfortable we could get the information from anywhere. But why does it destroy the life of most of the people? I found many of my friends being taken towards the negative direction by the ICT. They meet online friends, spent hours and hours for social media, letting the precious time travel to the valley of ineffectuality. The mobile phones are another authoritative tool that kills the concentration of learners in the class. Even in the presence of a teacher in the class, few of my friends make the teacher as the invisible. Their eyes would be only with the phone and actually aren’t truly paying the concentration. Thus, it becomes another reason for resulting incapable and impotent teacher. I feel we need to learn immensely on the usage of ICT appropriately. With the right, responsibilities have to be taken account.

The Publisher gave me new insight into the Brochure

At times, I often pondered how our life would have been without ICT. It gives me Goosebumps with a sudden rush of feelings that ‘we have become too dependent on ICT’’ and I am one of them. Thinking back to the first year, ICT has never been my interest or the favorite. I would always be backing off whenever there was anything to be done related to ICT.  It happened one day that we were asked to make a brochure for the module called ‘Child development’. I was befuddled when I heard the word ‘Brochure’ and I wasn’t actually cognizant of the term ‘brochure’ though I have seen it.

Now I could think about why I didn’t use the source of the internet to find the better means to make a brochure. I was way behind the ICT world. Reaching back to the room, I enquired one of the senior sisters, how should I make a brochure? The simple response I received was ‘you can use Microsoft words’. Thought that was going to be easy. But the thought of easiness could not turn to the action of easiness. I commenced dividing the Microsoft words page into three divisions and typed the information, inserted picture to look captivating and endearing source of a brochure to get the comprehensible information. After being completed, when I opened to glance it again, all the pictures were misplaced, they were not in the original place where I inserted it. I had a hard time re-arranging it again but it never looked good as I expected it and summited as it was.

Usage of ICT never ceases and there can never be end destination for it. When I reached to final year (first semester), we were again provided one assignment on Health and Physical Education to make a brochure.  By then, I was exposed to the world of ICT compared to the first year. Instantly, I tabbed how to make a brochure in the Google Chrome. That provided me with incalculable methods for it. Then, I decided to use PUBLISHER to create brochure. It was far better than using Microsoft words. I didn’t have to do anything than choosing the template. The publisher gave me a new insight into the creation of brochure.

Now I am competent to say that ‘I can make any types of brochure’ and I am going to use publisher. With my exploration on using publisher as an application to make brochure, I could even help few of my friends. I could guide them through using publisher for the creation of brochure. From this incident, I get to believe that “Learning should take place every day, every moment and realized that I still have lot more to learn on ICT”.

 fig.1. front page of Brochure from Publisher

fig.2. back page of Brochure

Lessons from My first day in the computer lab

ICT has never been my preferred in the first semester of my college life. When I was first taken through the mechanism of using VLE for the learning and having been introduced to it, I instantly logged in and commenced reading the term plans of the modules. The more I started reading the term plans, the more I was petrified when I reached to the module called Functional Informational Technology (FIT 101). Because the contents and the topics to be learned in the module was all inexperienced to me and felt that I was going to have a hard time for it.

I entered at the computer lab with the giant mountains of worries and felt like I was going for a war. It was my first day at the computer lab. How should I handle the computer that I have never touched once? How should I start the computer that I have never started it once? I sensed that all my classmates were excited, they commenced opening the computer and was fully engrossed in it, while I was in a dumbfounded state and didn’t know what I should do. I realized I should do something that I carefully observed how the computer has to be opened. Finally, I could start the computer.

The module tutor took us through the term plans which I was already introduced though I wasn’t sure of what the content was about. The session was short.  Since then, few of my friends were discussing a lot about ‘YouTube’ and their face was filled with enchantment and optimism when I was thinking and waiting to get out of the lab. In the end, the module tutor instructed us to shut down the computers and that became another hurdle for me because I didn’t know the way to do it. It blushed me with feelings of embarrassment and downtrodden. On that day I contrite immensely of the time I wasted during the NIIT classroom during my school days. And realized that why I didn’t take the serious of NIIT learning? Why I didn’t take an opportunity to use a computer in the school? Why I ignored the instruction of my teacher? Since then, I am assured of the paramount roles of an individual to take the seriousness in every learning agenda.

Now, I realize that ICT is not the tool to make someone feel downtrodden and embarrassed. I have come through the long journey from the first semester to the final semester and I am proud to mention that I have learned profound, boundless, immeasurable related to ICT from the time I didn’t know the way to start and shut down the computer. ICT has given birth to my passion for writing, made work easier, comfortable, and imperative tools for my part of learning.