Blog Post 2

Microsoft Word’s role has interestingly grown rapidly in my experience as a student. At a young age Microsoft Word was in its more basic processing levels, with common document options to create clear and coherent virtual documents of various forms. It’s presence in my personal growth as an older student is increasingly prevalent, and if I weren’t able to work these programs properly, being an English major in our modern day- I would not do so well. Similarly my teachers have used these programs more progressively as well, from simple worksheets to spreadsheets, the ease of this program has created simplicity and efficiency between student and teacher.

As the Internet grew more and more accessible, and it begun to be a requirement to be able to navigate and utilize online resources for our own reports and work as students, so did the inherent suspicion about plagiarism and copyright infringement. It was always a heavily enforced rule to cite properly, quote properly, and paraphrase properly- otherwise the work loses its originality and dignity. This is where the increase in accessibility to resources can be seen as an easy way out for some students. As a teacher I believe that the enforcement of using websites like TurnItIn and similar reviewed submission sites are one of the best ways to go about determining original work and thought, as well as limiting the amount of sites used so that if monitoring or checking out specific data were necessary it would be a simple task.

I actually enjoyed working on the ‘Word and Graphics 1’ assignment. I would’ve previously assumed that I would be able to type up a quiz if need be one day with ease, but the assignment gave me more than my previously assumed insight. I had some difficulty with aligning the margins, numbers, and multiple choice questions but once I got the hang of it I understood the majority of what goes on. I enjoyed incorporating a graphic, because as it stimulates me when creating the test, I now know that grouped within plain text questions, these can enhance the thought process and technique of test taking.