NDA Reflection Series – Week 8

NDA Senior Reflection Series

Week 8 – Megan Heuker

Growing up, I always had relatively good access to technology. My family always had multiple computers at home. Although they were old and outdated, they still had the strength to deal with whatever my siblings and I sent its way, which was a lot. I also had access to computers at school starting in my preschool years. Once again, these computers were out of date. However, there is a certain amount of productivity that is lost when these systems are out of date. For one, the processing is much slower, so it takes a great deal of time to open and install the various applications and search engines needed. Also, a great deal of time is wasted because of the computers incompatibility with the new updates available. This meant that we had to go through an extensive process to download, organized, and set up things how we wanted it.

I never realized how unproductive my family and schools were until I came to Notre Dame Academy. It was my first day of freshman year, when this realization came upon me. It was last period on Wednesday when I walked into my last period class, Information Technology with Mrs. Molly Mullee. Immediately walking into the classroom, I noticed how all of the computers were up to date with the newest applications. I was amazed with how fast everything was and all the things I could create so easily. Although I had all these great options at school, at home, our technology was still out of date, making it was difficult to work on some of my assignments at home. 

At the end of my freshman year, the school announced that all students were going to be required to have an iPad next year for school. The administration told of the students of all the possibilities and opportunities that would come from this turning point in the school’s history. The administration spoke of how much more efficient the school was going to become. However, the transition from no iPads to iPads wasn’t as smooth as expected, especially during my sophomore year. Mainly because not everyone was acquainted with the technology. So whenever a problem occurred, it was considered a catastrophe and it was up to Mrs. Mullee, the head of the technology department, to deal with it. Having the iPad at home, has eliminated the majority of the difficulties that I had encountered at home because I had pretty much everything I needed on the iPad.

Junior year was a lot better. The school had fixed the wifi troubles that occurred and a program was set up to help students and teachers deal with the difficulties that occurred. The Program was called S.W.A.T., Students Working to Advance Technology, and had been offered as a club for multiple years prior the iPads. It was junior year that S.W.A.T. received a new purpose. Members of S.W.A.T. were now essentially the minions of Mrs. Mullee, she taught the members how to handle every situation, thus allowing the students to aid in those catastrophes. With having these students in classes, classes began to run more smoothly and efficiently not wasting as much time on technological difficulties. This also allowed for Mrs. Mullee to focus on fixing the severe difficulties and on improving the efficiency for the entire school, such as fixing connection issues. During my junior year, the dinosaurs of a computers that I had at home officially went extinct. Based off my years at Notre Dame, I was able to convince my parents to become more Apple oriented, buying the first Mac of many for the family.

It wasn’t until senior year that efficiency promised by the administration truly appeared. By this point, the majority of the kinks in the system have been worked out. More of the students have their textbooks in ebooks, allowing for students to always have access without having to carry their heavy books. Having this access to technology has truly made things easier in school. I have better access to teachers and peers, allowing for makeup work and projects to be easily attained. This increased access to teachers has allowed the school to prevent having to makeup snow days, by having a virtual school days. By this point in the year, I am happy to say that the productivity improved leaps and bounds, not only a school but at home as well. By attending Notre Dame Academy, My family and I have realized how important it is to have up to date technology. Having up to date technology not only increases our productivity, but saved us money overall.