Introduction to ArtificiaI Intelligence in Higher Education
Technology
1. Technology
LenovoThinkPadT60
Thisis the laptopI usedtocreate mymusicmagazine.I
can take this laptoptoschool and use it at home,soit isconvenientandIuseditthroughoutmy
researchand planning,productionandevaluation.Itisalsouseful asithas accessto the internetand
all my picturesandotherfilesIneedformycoursework.
Google.com
I usedthissearchengine throughoutmycoursework
and inmy opinionisthe quickestandhasthe bestresultsoutof all the othersearchengines
available.Iuse itto accessmy bloggeraccount,slide share accountandothersitesthat I neededto
use.
2. Blogger
I usedwww.blogger.com topostall myupdateson my
musicmagazine.Ihave accessto the internetatschool andat home,so the site iseasilyaccessible.If
I am anywhere withoutmylaptop,butneedtogetontomyblog,I can use mymobile phone (Sony
EricssonXperiaPlay).The site hasthe facilitiestobe accessedviaothertechnology,notjusta
computer,whichwasveryuseful.Atfirst,because Ihave neverusedthe site,itwasdifficultto
navigate around,soit tookme a while togetusedtoit. Aftera few timesusingthe site Ifoundit
easierandeasiertouse.However,eventowardsthe endof mycoursework,there wasafew thingsI
was still alittle uncertainabout.
Slide Share
I usedwww.slideshare.netto
presentmyideasona fewof my posts.Quite a few people recommendeditsoIdecidedtocreate an
account. Whenitcame to uploadingapresentationto myblog,ittookme quite a while toworkout
howto do so,as itwas a fairlycomplicatedprocess.However,eventuallyIworkedouthow todo it
and I wasimpressedbythe result.Ithoughtitpresentedmyideasinaneatand organisedway.I
woulddefiantlyuse itagainif Ineededtodoa presentation.
3. KodakM550
I useda Kodak M550 to take my picturesfor
my musicmagazine.Thisismyowncamera and itis arounda year old.I wouldhave likedtohave
useda higherqualitycamerabutunfortunatelydidn’thave accesstoone at the time I wantedto
take my pictures.The camerais 12 megapixelsandproducedsome goodpictures. Ididn’teditthe
imagesonmy camera;I insteadwaitedtouse some betterqualityphotoeditingsoftware.The
imageswere easytouploadtomy computerviathe USB cable.I useditto take the picturesformy
musicmagazine,includingthe smallerimagesaroundthe sell linesonmyfrontcover.
SonyErissonXperiaPlay
I mentionedearlierthatIusedmy mobile phone toaccess
blogger.Iuseditfor otherthingsthat helpedme withmycoursework.Aswellasblogger,Iuseditto
communicate withmymodelsandIalsousedit to accessthe internetwhenIdidn’thave accessto
my laptop.The phone istouchscreen,butalsohas additional buttonswhichwereuseful whenIwas
doingresearchor editingmyblog.Unfortunately,the internetwasa lotslowerthanonmy laptop.
However,Iwasveryuseful tohave if I didn’thave mylaptop.
4. Picnik
I usedwww.picnik.com toeditmypictures.Ifound
thissite extremelyuseful wheneditingmyphotos.Itallowedme toairbrush,addmakeup,change
colours,addstickersandtext,crop and brightenmypictures(tosaya few!). Ithad a brilliantvariety
of colours,stickersandfontstochoose from.It waseasyto use andeverythingwasveryclearand
labelled.Unfortunatelythe sitewillbe shuttingtowardsthe endof April.The onlythingIcouldn’tdo
on picnik,wasaddadditional imagesontomyexistingpage.Forexample,Icouldn’tadda barcode to
my frontcoveron thisprogram,so I had to findsomewhereelse.Also,once the image hadbeen
saved,youcouldn’tgoback and editit,forexample move textaroundorchange colours,whichI
foundquite difficultasthere were timeswhenIcouldn’t(forvariousreasons)complete adraftin
one go. Apartfrom these 2 negatives,Iwoulddefiantlyuse www.picnik.com againforeditingmy
photos.
MicrosoftPublisher
I usedMicrosoftPublishertohelpme make mymusic
magazine.There were certainthingspicnik wouldn’tallow me todo – for example,Icouldn’tadd
additional picturestomyfrontcover(like the barcode).IonlyusedPublisherforthispurpose andit
was useful inthissense. Iuse publisherregularlyandwoulddefiantlyuse itagain.
5. MicrosoftWord
I usedMicrosoftwordto do manythings,includingdesigning
my questionnaire anddoingmyriskassessment.Iusedthispiece of software regularlyandfindit
veryeasyto use and there were lotsof otheruseful thingsincludedonit,forexample changingfonts
and colours. Wordalso helpedme whenmakingslideshare presentations,because adocument
needstobe uploadedinorderto create a presentation.
MicrosoftExcel
I usedExcel tocreate helpme presentmyquestionnaire
results.This wasthe onlythingI useditfor,and at firstI wasn’tquite sure how to use it,but after
doinga couple of the pie charts it became easierandeasier.Iwoulduse itagainforthispurpose,
howeverIam notcompletelyaware of itsotherfunctionsandthiscouldbe somethingtolookinto.