Basic Suite for Learning

Provide a rationale for students and/or educators using The Basic Suite applications in the learning setting. What is the relative advantage of using The Basic Suite in your work environment?

I am utterly amazed with what I take for granted. I am a teacher that teaches the exact same lesson six times in two days. Until I started studying about the basic suite tools I never realized how much easier they could make my life. Roblyer (2016) stated that the basic suite software tools help users improve productivity and the appearance of problems. It also gives added support for collaboration. The software suite is typically made of of three programs. The first program is the word processing program. It gives the user the ability to create written documents that can be shared. This program makes it possible to edit and gives the user the ability to create a polished final product. The second program is a spreadsheet program. This program is specifically used for organizing and analyzing data in a tabular form. The user can organize information into rows and columns. After inputting the information there is an infinite amount of ways to present the information. These programs give options including detailed tables and charts. The third program is the presentation program. This is specifically used for presenting materials and information in a visual way. Presentation programs make it possible for a teacher to take complex thoughts and teachings and present them in a way that fully immerse the students in information.

I use The Basic Suite every single day. The most common suites are Google and Microsoft. There are also many other open source programs that can be used. I use both Google and Microsoft. My most common program is Microsoft PowerPoint. It gives me the ability to teach a lesson multiple times. I am also able to insert videos and pictures that help my students gain a greater insight into what is being taught. I use Google slide in the same way. I like that all of my slides are saved online automatically. I also use Microsoft Word quite often. I am able to create simple printouts that students can cut out and put into their scriptures. I also use Excel quite often to keep track of statistics for my program about students attendance, reading and involvement in class.

I doubt that there is a teacher on the earth, that uses technology, that doesn’t use this essential software. The enhancement of teaching techniques while combining this software gives students a greater chance to not only understand, but apply the materials that are being taught in a seminary classroom. Not only do they make a classroom more productive, they also bring essential 21st century skills into the classroom (Roblyer, 2016). I am happy to say and truly convinced that if I did not use the basic suite applications in my classroom on a daily basis I would feel highly overwhelmed and ill-prepared. For this purpose, I am grateful for the intelligent people who create programs to make my life, and my student’s lives, a little easier.

Roblyer, M. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.