  Technical Aspects My Support System Mainly my support system consists of Mark, Candy and Sieg! These are my friends with technical expertise and I regularly cry on their shoulders when I don’t understand the cryptic secrets of my computer.
As two of them will soon be heading off into the wild blue yonder overseas I have to pick as many brains as possible before this happens. What will I do if my computer crashes? I’ve had painful experience of this happening – twice! – since I started this course. My recourse is the school network. I spend long, lonely hours in the school computer laboratory on Saturdays and Sundays, but the work gets done!
Broad Specs of my Computer Computer: Intel Celeron CPU 1.70GHz AT/AT Compatible 97, 776 KB RAM Operating System: MicroSoft Windows 2000 5.00.2195 Service Pack 2 Internet Connectivity Speed: On average 44 Kb/s Modem connection: Softk56 Data Fax Voice Speakerphone CARP ISP: Mweb Applications I use Application Details Expertise Word Processor MicroSoft Word 2000 and XP 4-5 Web browser Internet explorer 6.0 3-4 HTML editor Basic? 0 Sound equipment: speakers, sound card, able to generate .wav files Speakers and Sound Card; MPU-401 Compatible Midi Device 0 Graphics create/editing program Macromedia Flash 3? 0 Cognitive Aspects Previous Experience with Distance Learning None except what I’ve experienced from the beginning of this year.
I had perforce to be a distance student because I’m situated in Port Elizabeth and can only get to Tukkies three times a year. So I’ve had enforced distance education, but haven’t really been part of a virtual learning community before. Current Level of Dexterity using WWW I feel fairly comfortable. I use www.metacrawler.com a LOT because I find it suits my style of browsing. I’ve often been disappointed with other search engines but seldom with metacrawler. How accessible is the web for me in terms of finances?
That’s a tricky one! Naturally I’d love to use the facilities at work (we have 24 hour a day access at school) but I prefer to work from the comfort of my own home. With the help of the Tukkies bursary and a study loan I should be able to keep myself connected for the duration of the course! My Typing Speed You really know how to put people on the spot! I took Typing as a matric subject so I’m fairly comfortable with it. It was the most sensible subject choice I made. I typed fairly quickly at school and have still retained some of my old skill. (I typed this at 22:20 when I was very tired so I feel quite proud of my achievement! ) My Expectations of the Course Every course in M.Ed.
(CIE) has challenged me so far. At times I resent the fact that I have to learn so many new things in so short a space of time, but in retrospect I must acknowledge that if the deadlines hadn’t been there, I would probably never have learned to use certain programs. I expect to learn a lot more about chatting – I’ve only done this once or twice before and must confess that I’m not a natural-born web-chatter.
Perhaps I prefer to see people’s expressions so that I can react to them. With a structured chat environment and focused topics, I expect to develop a greater level of comfort in this area. I certainly expect to learn as much as I did with both the previous modules. I’ve already learned to chat, and how to use a whiteboard! I’m slowly learning about the basic components of my computer e.g. the sound cards etc. I’m very excited about being forced to learn how to publish a blog and the various things that go along with that. Whether I’ll be successful remains to be seen …… 
