See whats happening in another class...

Ahhhh!!! Is about all I can say right now. Another class is starting and I'm trying to keep my head on straight. Another class ning to learn, more assignments and now Blogger decides to change its features on me. When does it all stop??? It took me a week just to have time to sit down and figure out how to re-login into Blogspot to comment on this blog. In all honesty I am sure the switch over process for blogger is a smooth one for most users. And I'm sure it is just the stress of the new classes that added to my confusion, but I can't keep which site to be on, at what time, with what password, and now another google account. Like I need another google account!!! Breathe Hannah, breathe. I know it is all a game of competition between software programs, but I feel very overwhelmed trying to learn them all in short time periods.
This week in class we read about a school who is receiving grant money for technology, and we were to look at how they should write their proposal for spenditure. Many ideas were discussed as what was needed to be ordered in this low-income school district down to how to set up labs. There are numerous aspects to look at by the technology committee, and the opinions will vary greatly. At my current school, we are looking to hire a new IT position. The committee is currently reviewing resumes and that alone is overwhelming. So many applicants with so many different qualifications. As the art department, we are looking for someone with Mac experience since our lab is all Mac. Other departments could care less whether or not the new technician can work with our iMacs, as long as they can get into the school ASAP to start the number of problems already existing with PC labs. Getting back on track, there are so many aspects to take into consideration. With technology changing at a rapid pace, how is anyone suppose to keep up with speed? I know I'm working hard to stay above water, while enjoying every moment of success throughout the tasks set forth. Don't get me wrong, complaining is not my intention. I am just making sense of quality vs quantity as to where I need to invest most of my time in order to benefit from what is being taught and how I can best use the information to strengthen my teaching. What is set for us to take 15 minutes, is taking me more than an hour because it more than just doing the work in my case; but rather how to do it. In the case of creating a presentation for my class, that took me 2 days. I had to experiment with each presentation tool offered to find which one I wanted to use. Then I had to figure out how my chosen program (Zoho) worked after creating yet another account. Once I learned the available tools featured, I could start to think about what I wanted to incorporate in my slides. For me the slide show needed to be useful for my classroom lessonplans, which is why I created a slide show on cubism. This same situation happened when I experimented with creating a Graphic. There were so many programs to choose from. After tediously creating my graphic with Mr.Picassohead, I discovered a glitch in the software that does not allow for saving. I now had 2 choices, learn the tools of another program or start over. I started over since I want to use the program with my students. Bottom line: this work takes me hours and hours, if not days to complete. So something as easy as posting on my blog tonight, took much anguish in changing my password and finding a computer that lets me log into my wolfmail account, since it is blocked from my computer. Lets not forget about the chapters of reading that were done while working at my part-time job as a bartender.
I fear of sounding negative, but I do look forward to learning more uses for technology. I just wish I knew what the best software is and it would stay that way. There are too many providers with too many different options to stay on top of. I can only imagine what I will learn after reading other classmates' blogs of what they learned and tried that I too will want to experiment with.