When Did You Get So Into This Technology Stuff?

I had a friend ask me that the other day as we were visiting about school stuff. Hhhhmmmm… Where did I start getting into technology?

I think it is just part of my nature. Being inquisitive and wondering if this can do that is how my brain processes the time I couldn’t remember one single Ahah! moment, but as I thought more about it, I realized there was a significant switch in thinking.

When I think back, I wasn’t that excited about computers in high school, only taking the minimum required classes. In college, I took the freshman required computer class and a web design class. That was it for my ventures into computer stuff. So again, where did my interest come from?

If I had to narrow down one specific timeframe, I would say my senior business class in college, the one every business student had to take in order to graduate. The point of the class was to prepare an actual business plan for a real client with an actual business (kind of scary stuff for someone still in college!). We were in groups of 4 or 5 and since I was the only Accounting major in my group, I was naturally selected to make the financial statements in Microsoft Excel.

Now, most people would equate that to torture, but as I got started, I loved it! Spending 3 hours in one go working on it was easy. The ability to manipulate the formulas and to show this only if that was positive, the challenge of adding in data that the client forgot to tell us, making everything flow logically – oh yeah, I was in heaven! To me, it was fascinating to see everything I could do with the program.

From there, I was hooked. I had seen how I could take information and apply a little of my creative magic and make something totally different and useful. Ever since, I have used Excel for everything (yeah, I’m one of those people!) and have learned to apply that way of thinking into most anything related with technology.

What does that mean for you?

What I’m trying to get across is that even if you aren’t really into this technology stuff, that doesn’t mean you are always going to feel like that. If you can find that one thing, that one program that actually gets you even a little excited about using it, then you are one step closer to loving what it can do for you.

So don’t worry about using all kinds of websites or programs, just find one that is interesting, use that and find some success. Then, find just one more, use that and find more success. The more times you find a website or a program you like, the more excited you will get, you won’t be able to help yourself!  

If you had told me that using Excel for my class would have lead to my buying technology books to read over the summer months (yeah, I really did that!)  I would of thought you were nuts! But it was true.

So what is going to be your turning point? What project are you going to look back on and say “That was the one, that was when I fell in love with using technology in my classroom”?