Because I am 18, computers and technology have been a part of my life ever since the first grade when our school corporation made the move to allow every student to have their own school issued devices. As first graders, we had to leave those devices at the school every evening and over the summer mostly because they were an expense to the school so they didn’t want us tearing them up as little kids.
I remember in grade school still studying by writing notes and spelling words. I would take those home and my mom would sit with me and help me study them whenever I had to prepare for tests. I would write my spelling words several times to help me remember them. I would have Mom quiz me the evening before the test and also the morning of the test. I have always been a straight A student and still am to this day, ranking number 1 in my class of 67 seniors. So preparing myself well for my classes has always been a priority for me.
I have always been a math whiz. In grades 4, 5 & 6 my teachers hooked me up with an Aleks account so that I could go at my own pace with my math. Aleks is a computer program that our school uses. In my case, Aleks was my math enrichment because I was so far ahead of the other students in my class and my teachers didn’t want me to be held back. This acceleration allowed me to complete my high school level Alg. I as a 7th grader when other students wouldn’t take it until 9th grade. As a result I have been able to go through AP Calculus AB and BC. Since I am planning to go into Engineering, this acceleration has better prepared me for college coursework. I have been a member of our school’s Math Academic Bowl Team since the 4th grade. Last year we qualified for the state competition at Purdue University. If I hadn’t been introduced to the electronic based Aleks account, I would have only been able to get as high as Pre Calculus. Without Calculus in high school, my two colleges of choice (Purdue University and Rose-Hulman) would not have even considered admitting me.
My family is a VERY frugal family, so we did not have Internet in our home until 2020 when Covid hit. My parents finally had to have it installed in our home so that when the world essentially “shut down” and most school corporations went to digital learning, I had to have a way to complete my school work and my parents had to have the capability of working from home. Picking up that Internet access from home continued to change the way that I had to study. Through Covid, for my most challenging AP courses, I used a lot of Zoom with my teachers and classmates to learn the content. In my AP Physics course, I was on a group chat with the other students. Because of the difficult level of that course, those electronic group study sessions were essential.
I know that the educational demands of an engineering degree at the college level will be grueling. I will continue to use some of my elementary means of studying (get the book out; read; highlight) as well as the newer technology ways to help me solidify the content area. In my case, a combination of the old and the new are what help me to learn and retain information.