In the various aspects of my teaching I use a wide array of applications. Some are used during lessons whereas others are used in preparation and organisation. A list of the main applications I use is as follows:
Microsoft Word
Word has always been the staple of every academic, and I am no exception. Word gets used every lesson to create my lesson plans. I also use it to compile the majority of my handouts as well as course documents and assignment specification sheets. It is also used for most of my feedback forms (when using Moodle is not an option).
Microsoft Outlook
All of the University staff e-mails are run through Outlook. I had previously had all of my e-mails diverted to my personal Gmail account so I could receive them on my phone, but in the interest of professionalism I installed the Outlook app on my phone so I was able to reply to students' emails direct from my university account. I am not a fan of the layout of Outlook and much prefer the way Gmail works, but I am happy to concede to using Outlook to maintain that extra level of professionalism.
Microsoft Excel
This software mainly gets used to keep my registers and to compile the grades of students before sending them off to the course director. Nothing else within my teaching requires spreadsheets (except for when handing in timesheets) but if anything occurred that required it I would go straight to Excel for it.
Microsoft PowerPoint
In my previous blog post on PowerPoint Vs Prezi I covered the various differences in the two softwares. I use PowerPoint for all of my theory presentations. I make a point to work in a complete opposite method to the death-by-powerpoint approach and will usually just display an image or a diagram as a way to reference or reinforce the point I am making.
Moodle
I use Moodle to host copies of all the handouts I make and to upload copies of the PowerPoint presentations that I use during lectures. I have recently started to use the WebLink feature to provide links to interesting and useful articles on the subjects we have discussed in class. Another use for Moodle is to host the course handbook and assessment forms whilst using the Turnitin feature to have the students submit written assignments. The Turnitin feature also allows me to annotate feedback throughout the essays and return them to the students with this feedback attached.
Avid Pro-Tools
Not strictly in the same category as the rest, but I do use this software in my teaching. This is one of the main pieces of software that I teach the students to use. It's the industry standard in Digital audio Workstations and all of the studios in the University are equipped with it. In regards to teaching, aside from showing the students how to use it, I also use it to create and edit audio files for lessons as well as taking screenshots for handouts.
OSX Finder
Not just the folder exploration software that it's commonly used as, Finder can also be used as a PDF editor. I'll often use it to take a page out of a PDF and combine it with a handbook I have created, or to sometimes put a new cover onto an old PDF.
Adobe Photoshop
I'll use this software to edit images - mostly if i need to add something or highlight something within a photograph. Similar things can be done quite easily in Word (to my surprise), but since I've had a large amount of training in Photoshop I feel i know my way around the software better and am more comfortable using it to edit images.
There are many other pieces of software that I use, most of them relate to audio editing, but it would amount to an entire blog in itself to cover all the different packages I use on a regular basis. For this reason I have left it as the ones that strictly relate to my teaching process.
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