The dell X50 has met the needs quite well in facility wise but in connectivity, it has let him down. The need it does not meet is internet connection and wireless connection.
Personal
The way that the PDA helps him personally is that because he is very disorganized he can use it for reminders. Another way that the dell X50 helps MR. Sisulu is that he is able to back up his mobile phone numbers.
The needs that the dell X50 doesn’t meet is the connection to the internet. This is huge disadvantage because without the internet he cant web browse nor use e-mail to send messages.
Social
Socially the PDA is helps him a lot, this is because he is very keen to get out on the weekends. It helps with digital media, which is music, images and videos. He is able to transfer data with his mates via Bluetooth. However the PDA has a huge impact on work if he looses it.
The needs that it does not meet is the fact that he doesn’t have enough memory on his dell X50, so therefore he is constricted to the amount of digital media that he wants.
Microsoft excel version 2003 and pocket excel- Technology 2
A popular computer program that allows you to create and edit spreadsheets, which are used to store information in columns and rows that can then be organized and/or processed. Spreadsheets are designed to work well with numbers but often include text.
Advantages
- Allows him to perform calculations which include the change of students marks to grades.
- Storing large amounts of data, for examples reports and assessment data.
- Making lesson resources so that he can teach people how to use excel.
- Pocket excel allows him to store spreadsheets on PDA.
- Excel 2003 allows him to do more advanced functions.
Disadvantages
- Quite complex (too many functions)
- Not as good as a database since it cant store that much information.
- Pocket excel doesn’t have many advanced functions and formatting like excel 2003.
- Small and hard to use.
How the technology meets the needs of the adult professionally and how it has affected the adult’s working style.
The way that pocket excel meets the needs professionally is that he can handle, store, edit, and also perform calculations on a lot of pupils data. On his pocket excel he can also have registers and assessment data. Furthermore, he can also enter data in a working environment while on the move hence the PDA that he has.
The way that it affects his working style is that pocket excel allows him to mobile in the classroom while registering and collecting data, otherwise he has to use paper. Also it is a nice and structured way of storing data and it is easy to use. In addition to this, he can also take home and continue his work with pupil data he has on pocket excel. Whereas before he would have to carry a paper file and may loose things. Finally he can upload from his pocket excel to excel 2003 to perform more advanced functions.
To evaluate pocket excel is an adequate method of collecting data on his PDA but it is not a complete tool since it doesn’t have many advanced functions. Whereas excel 2003 has a more complete spreadsheet that allows him to use more advanced function on desktop but cant use it on his PDA. However, pocket excel allows him to collect data effectively but not very quickly.
Personal
Personally, Mr. Sisulu uses Microsoft excel for wedding lists and also for budget calculations (banking).
2003 excel is useful for this but doesn’t use pocket excel because he doesn’t need mobility.
Social
Socially he uses it to store his telephone contacts on a CSV file from excel 2003 for backing up data.
Finds it very useful because it allows him to personal data e.g. contacts.
Wanadoo Broadband (ADSL)- Technology 3
A transmission medium capable of supporting a wide range of digital data, typically from audio to video frequencies. It is used to download music, videos, and images. It can also be used for work and unlimited use of web browsing.
Advantage
- Broadband has high speed which allows it to send media files via e-mail quickly and efficiently.
- Monthly payment means that you don’t need to worry about how long you are online (enables you to use systems like msn messenger).
- It allows you to connect you to the internet.
Disadvantages
- Can get costly if you are downloading very large files like movies since Mr. Sisulu has a 2GB download limit.
- He is very dependent on broadband. When service goes down it messes up the way that he works.
- His computer also has highly confidential data which means the longer he stays online the greater the risk, so he needs a decent and secure firewall.
How the technology meets the needs of the adult professionally and how it has affected the adult’s working style.
The way that it meets the needs of Mr. Sisulu is that he is able to browse the internet quickly to find learning resources, for teaching ICT lessons. This is also really useful since he can do it home ant at work, because he has broadband at home (2mps). Furthermore his work broadband is way faster so he can plan lessons at work with a broadband of 10mps.
To evaluate, for Mr. Sisulu broadband is a key thing. He thinks that it is nice and fast, also it is free to use at work so he finds it very affective. At home Mr. Sisulu can use broadband but with a certain price to pay at the end of the month and also has a very small limit of 2GB download. However a improvement could be, having video conference so he can communicate from home and work.
Personal
Personally broadband is good for him because he can download music and videos. He can also use it for however long he like so e-mailing and MSN messaging is great.
Broadband is fun but he would like to download more but his 2GB download limit restricts him to do so.
Social
The way that broadband helps him socially is that he can use instant messenger to chat. In addition, he can do online gaming and even stay online for however long he wants.
To evaluate, broadband meets his needs quite well because he doesn’t have to move his carry his files across socially and also doesn’t need to post messages either.
E-mail-Technology 4
Microsoft outlook and Microsoft outlook express are both e-mail programmes. Microsoft Outlook Express is an email and news client bundled with operating systems and the Internet Explorer web browser by Microsoft. Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft designed for e-mail.
Mr. Sisulu has Microsoft outlook express on his PDA and he has Microsoft outlook at home, both being very useful to him.
Advantages
- The advantage of e-mail is that it sends information quickly and cheaply.
- You can also save those e-mails for future references. For example in the morning he can check his e-mail and find out anything he needs to do for the day at work.
Disadvantages
- The disadvantages of e-mail are the threat of receiving viruses.
- In order to save him from loosing all his data he needs a very expensive anti-virus system.
How the technology meets the needs of the adult professionally and how it has affected the adult’s working style.
The way that Mr. Sisulu needs to use e-mail is to back up his planning calendar on outlook express. He is able to connect his planning calendar via his PDA and a link up cradle. Needs to communicate socially with Microsoft outlook, however for Mr. Sisulu Microsoft outlook express on his PDA is useless since he has no internet connection. Furthermore, he needs to send and receive e-mail from his members of staff, this is if he has any issues with his head of department.
He finds it very useful for meeting his needs at home, but on the other hand on his PDA he would really like to have internet connection to really make full use of his Microsoft outlook.
Personal
Personally Mr. Sisulu needs to contact his members of family that live really far away, especially for cheap. This is because if he used a phone it would cost him tons of money and also sending his message by post would cost. So the perfect solution for this is e-mail since it is relatively free. The way that he needs to use it the most is to use circular e-mail, so he can send messages to everyone so he can keep in touch.
He finds it very effective for contacting people quickly, although he is very bad at responding since his work has first priority.
Social
The way that e-mail helps Mr. Sisulu socially is that he can than arrange meetings with his friends so he doesn’t nee to use a mobile. This is because mobile phoning cost way more than e-mailing. Also he can use circular e-mailing to send it to everyone instead of phoning everyone separately. Finally, when you e-mail someone you know if it has reached them successfully whereas, by posting your message you would not know if your message has been sent properly or not.
To evaluate e-mailing is really great because Mr. Sisulu can do all his arranging without having to lose a single penny from his mobile phone credit.
