Productivity tools are software applications, designed to help people be more efficient for personal use, work and school.  My experience with software started at the University of Florida back in 1978. At that time, everything was based off of DOS (disk operating system.)  The 2 major pieces of software were Fortran (for engineering) and COBOL (for business.) I did not use those languages, but I did take a class in PL/1. At that time, we would create an algorithm, punch holes on a computer card and then run it though a main frame on the campus, praying it would run. I would stand in line with many other students, hot and exhausted, especially since all the cool air was used for the main frames.  A punch card is a piece of card stock that stores digital data using punch holes. Each card represented one line of an algorithm. If the program didn’t run, you’d have to go lie by line to see where the error was. Once found you’d punch a new card for that line, and hope it works. God help you if you dropped those cards. That was my first introduction to computers. Desktops were not available and Apple was just on the horizon.  

    

     

     I took accounting classes in the 80’s, and we were learning to us an accounting software named LOTUS 1-2-3. Lotus was a spreadsheet. Initially it ran off of DOS. I hated DOS. It was very cumbersome and not user friendly, but I understood it.  The GUI (Graphical User Interface) came out, and that was a game changer. It was visual and made it easier for a user to interact with electronic devices. This opened the world for many users, in all realms, especially the internet and gaming. 

    

     

 

 

 

 

     So, my experience with software starts with computer punch cards and DOS to an endless realm of software.  I’ve use Microsoft suite products, Corel products well as Adobe Products such as Acrobat, Photoshop, Pagemaker, Illustrator and Lightroom. I use Lightroom for my photography. I learned web design in creating pages just using HTML (HyperText Markup Language ) along with web design and editing products such as Netscape, Dreamweaver, Javascript and FrontPage.  I’ve always enjoyed using Powerpoint. I was taking a Java class when September 11, 2001 arrived. What a day that was.

     For school, I was already familiar with Canvas and Blackboard, but prefer Canvas. I have become more familiar with it during this past semester. During this semester, I’ve come across many pieces of work, not just from my own searching and instructor mentioning a product, but also from what many of the students have mentioned such as Quizlet, Google Docs, Canva and EndNote. In the classroom, especially when I was working towards being a respiratory therapist, I would tape record the professor’s lecture and then transpose it on paper. It allowed me to listen more carefully in class instead of trying to keep up with writing notes. Now I can still record their voice, but on a digital recorder and then upload it to the PC to be transposed. I do want to start implementing task management apps, especially as I endeavor more into my classes. Google calendar will definitely fit into my arsenal of toll/apps.

     I come from the old school of paper and pen, and still rely on it. That will never fail, unless I run out of ink, a pencil needs to be sharpened, something has spilled on the paper otherwise the dog ate my homework. I’m also old school where I like to hold and smell a real book. I am an old school googler by using a card catalog with the Dewey Decimal System. Now I use Google search or DuckDuckGo to search for knowledge. I have no problems using a card catalog, but googling is much easier and faster. 

    

 

 

     The internet has opened up so much for all kinds of software. Not just software but communication through email, blogs, YouTube, podcasts, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Accessing the internet is such a game changer, with no more of the dialup modem taking your phone line hostage. My first email was Post Office Protocol (POP) and the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP),FTP (File Transfer Protocol.)

     For my work at AT&T I used a lot of Excel and Word.  There were also other platforms that I used to test digital lines and pipes, but those are proprietary to AT&T. At Mayo, where I’m currently employed, we use EPIC, which is being used more and more across many medical centers not affiliated with Mayo. Eventually, this will allow medical centers from across the US to communicate with each other. We also just migrated our share drive to Microsoft Sharepoint, which is a collaboration software. Sharepoint is a browser-based app that is used through the web browser. There is secure file sharing, dynamic sites and integrated content management. 

     

 

 

 

    All the tools/apps that I mentioned, is just a small example of what’s available. The tools can help students become more productive, creative and organized, providing more opportunities to learn while expanding their creativity. For educators, it allows them to be more creative in the classroom and improve their teaching.  Collecting data is essential for both the student and educator in order to assess their learning.

     Data collecting can provide students and educators to see a students performance as well as their behavior. This can help guide them if any changes are needed. Both students and teachers creativity will be expanded, especially when integrated with artificial intelligence, virtual reality and other technologies that become available.

    The class assignments and reading other students comments has really broadened my horizon of what’s out there.  Creating the digital posters helped bring back my memory of web design classes I took. So much can be still learned from that, and the designs. I learned early on to keep it simple. Give it a KISS (Keep It Simple Sweetie.) The productivity is where I need to work harder on. In todays work environment, every this is measured. Number of jobs has to be justified is probably number one because of money spent on personnel. You have to justify the reason for that person to have the right to sit in that chair.