Digital Technologies I Used Throughout my AS and A2 Coursework

Hardware

AS
Panasonic Photographic Camera
Samsung Photographic Camera
iMac
Dell Laptop
Memory Stick

A2
Panasonic Video camera
iMac
Dell Laptop
Memory Stick
Panasonic Photographic camera

Software

AS
Blogger
Pages
Pixlr
Google
Microsoft Word

A2
Blogger
Youtube
Youtube Downloader
Google
Final Cut Pro
Pixlr
Pages
Facebook
Paint
Prezi

How Has my use of Digital Technology Progressed?

From the two lists of hardware and software I used at AS and A2 it is clear to see that my use of digital technology has progressed over the A level course. Here is how my use of certain digital technologies have developed specifically.

iMac

The iMac is a piece of hardware that I relied heavily on at both AS and A2 as it was the main 'computer' device that I used. Before AS I had some limited experience with iMacs but was more used to working with PCs. This limited what I was able to do because it meant I was still getting to grips with the technology which in some ways is drastically different from that of a PC. At A2 I didn't have this problem because my experiences at AS meant I already knew how to navigate an iMac and so was able to execute tasks more easily.

Blogger

In a similar way, Blogger has been my main way of recording the decisions I've been making at AS and A2. Before AS I had never come into contact with the software so to begin with I had to learn how to navigate around the site and learn from my mistakes as I went along. As with my experiences with the iMac, this hindered my progress as it meant I was slower. However, by the time I got to A2 I was again more familiar with the technology and so was able to navigate my way around more easily. Because of this I feel that I have made far more effective use of Blogger at A2, blogging every little change and idea I have had so that I could easily access any previous ideas.

Pages and Final Cut Pro

Although these two pieces of software are very different the amount of time it took for me to learn to use them was helped by other programs I had used before. I used Pages at AS and A2 as it was a good program to create print pieces on. In many ways it is similar to Microsoft Word or Publisher so, although there are some features that are different, the skill basis I already had from using these programs regularly for years, meant I found it easier to learn how to use Pages. It still took some time to get to grips with the software which hindered my progress slightly nbut overall I foudnit easier. Also, having already learnt these skills meant that at A2 I could easily access them to create better print pieces at A2 than at AS.

With Final Cut Pro, I had never used the program before A2 but I'd used iMovie in my BTEC media coursework at GCSE. Both pieces of software are video editing programs so many of the things you can do on them are the same. However, the way you navigate around the two programs is very different and so I still had to get to grips with Final Cut Pro but my iMovie experience meant I had skills to build on which made the learning process quicker. This helped my overall short film at A2 because it meant I spent less time learning about the program and more time creating my coursework piece.