Dear IBM

 

Let me start this Blog with a storytelling tone.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a household that was equipped with a desktop but I wasn't wise or tech savvy enough to realise my fortune. I spent my days devouring books and daydreaming. That big piece of equipment would have caught dust if it had not been for my elder sister who would switch it on every day, much to my annoyance as the sound made me cringe, especially when the Dial up was activated.

Fast forward to 1998 when I started my Teacher's Diploma and Ms G handed us our first team assignment of 4000 words that she expected to be word processed. [Say that again, Ma'am.] Word processed. None of those in my group were familiar with the computer, let alone knew how to word process a document. My beloved computer addict sister had already left for tertiary studies. Painstakingly, she tutored me over the phone from Mauritius until I finally took the decision to fly her over for a long weekend where we barely slept. We had tutorials and tutorials and tutorials by Ms Computer until we finally deciphered how to word process a document. That was the beginning of my typing days. [Note: I still don't type QWERTY ]

I am happy to say that by the time I completed the Diploma, I was more than comfortable with the likes of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. However, It took my Bachelor in Education years in 2006 to 2009 to fully master these software and really dive into the digital world following the advent of the smartphone, the craze about social networking and all the applications that made student and teaching life easier.

Dear IBM, sorry I overlooked you in my childhood. I learnt my lesson the hard way