Why do you think we built a PC this week? If I am to assume all of you are currently or someday will become IT Auditors, what was the point of building a PC from scratch? I gave you the analogy of a Mechanic doing a State Inspection, but can you think of another example? Ultimately, I’m interested to know what you got out of building the PC and if you think it will help you at all in your future careers.
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Shuyue Ding says
I am someone who did not know computer any better besides software that supports my daily life before the class, and I felt like no one is needed to build a computer nowadays besides computer experts. However, I changed my mind, even though I did not do much during the class, but I did pay attention. The biggest impact for me is that I no longer think that building a computer is an extremely difficult thing to do. I am thinking about make my old PC better by myself, and it does not seem like an unachievable goal anymore. The mindset of I could actually do things that I never thought about would definitely help me in the future. In terms of my future career, I could upgrade organizations’ computer easier instead of calling for a tech support or even purchasing a new one. It’s time and cost-effectively.
Patrick J. Wasson says
I’m glad to hear that you now feel building a PC is an approachable task! That was the exact goal of the activity! Good work!
Jason M Mays says
No deficiency occurs in a vacuum. Auditing an information system requires knowledge of understanding how an information system is intended to function and to understand how to identify the component that is failing to work as intended. Information systems from an auditing perspective are made of 3 major supercategories. These categories are policy, software and hardware.
Building a standard PC gives a great foundational understanding of what components make up hardware in an information system. An example of this is looking at the similarities of the computer power supply in relation to the computer as a whole. The power supply has its own motherboard which it uses to calculate basic instructions on regulating power flow to multiple components in the computer. With that example in mind, it’s easy to see how other components in the IS network topography have a similar component structure all be it likely to be simpler in nature.
My take away from this activity is that at no point is there a mysterious magical aspect of an IS that can’t be understood in an information system. Everything is physically somewhere.
Patrick J. Wasson says
Thank you for your comment Jason!
Sarah Puffen says
The purpose of building a PC was to gain a concrete understanding of where a computer’s primary components are located, what they look like, and what is needed to make a computer run properly. As Ding mentioned in her comment, building a computer was much easier than expected, almost as though we were assembling Legos, but with metal pieces and electrical connections.
For an IT Auditor, you must understand the “guts” of a computer, as a doctor must understand the human body and its anatomy. The medical and IT field are similar when it comes to roles/responsibilities/level of liability within each department. I draw a parallel between IT Auditors and Radiologists in that they must go through the education and practice to understand how a body functions (such as organ function and hormones excretion) to the point that they will understand by looking at an image or film (x-ray or MRI/CT scan) what within the person might be abnormal. Radiologists do not simply decide to pursue this career and sign up for the job; there is extensive training that is involved- similarly to how an IT Auditor should have strong knowledge regarding information systems for both hardware and software.
My key takeaway from the activity would be that computers should not be as intimidating as they are made out to be, The assembly itself took away from of the mystery behind what appears to be nameless complex hardware. I believe that possessing a strong understanding of information systems (and the understanding of physical computer design/function) is beneficial for the future, regardless of a career being IT specific. Currently, a job as an administrative assistant requires a certain level of understanding regarding computerized information, since many aspects are now electronic, such as billing. The greater knowledge one holds of IS, the more desirable of a candidate they may be for an IT based position.
Patrick J. Wasson says
Great response Sarah!
Yuchong Wang says
The PC we built last week was a really fun experience as I have always wanted to build my own PC but do not know how. I believe the reason why we built a PC last week was that it gives hands-on experience for us and it is easier for the professor to teach and easier for us to learn. The point of a PC from scratch is to help us better understand how CPU, storage, hard drive work. An IT Auditor need this skill to help him or her to protect important physical parts of a PC. The analogy could apply to a building engineer, an engineer needs to understand the basis of building a house in order to design.
During class, the professor used waiting in line for Chick-a-fila as an example to show us how the CPU process its input. What I learned from this class is to how to build a PC physically, moreover, what each part of PC does. I think this will help my future career because it will be easier for me to explain how each part of the PC works to others and I think this is an important skill to have as an IT Auditor.
Patrick J. Wasson says
Thank you for your response!
Imran Jordan Kharabsheh says
I believe that one of the reasons we built a computer in class was in order to learn/review the fundamentals of what makes and goes in to the production of a working computer system. This system that contains many fragile yet vital parts can only run once everything is appropriately set up and has been inspected for issues that can be sorted out. Aside from helping us learn some of the most basic and essential skills for the information technology field such as building a computer, we also were able to learn in tandem how a system works and how this computer system relates to information systems on servers. This helped me further understand why IT auditors are seen as a highly valuable asset to large companies these days.
Patrick J. Wasson says
Exactly!
Ryu Takatsuki says
The reason we built a PC this week is we need to know the different parts of a PC and how to use each part to form a PC. In my opinion, understanding the basis of how a PC work is important for an IT auditor or even for everyone who uses a PC. If you do not understand the hardware on the PC when a computer stop working you will not be able to find what could be the potential problems. The point of building a PC from scratch is to know how to connect each part together. Maybe the computers will look different with different brands, however, all of them will have the same components, for example, CPU, primary storage, secondary storage, and others. Personally, I think it was a good experience to build a computer and learn how it works.
Patrick J. Wasson says
I’m glad you found the activity useful!
Haixin Sun says
It is interesting that my roommate wants me to teach him how to build a PC after I showed him the photos of building a PC in class. He thinks it is an essential skill for general nowadays. But I kinda forget how to do step by step. I am going to review later.
It is useful. First, it is a group lab activity that everyone needs to participate. I cannot recognize any items initially. Then I talked to the new classmates for the first time and I felt the sense of participation gradually. Second, we have a deeper understanding of the components of computer after touching them and putting them together. Third, building a PC is a cheaper and more flexible option for both individuals and organizations.
Yuqing Tang says
I think to build a PC helps us to be prepared with dealing with auditing the system in the future. From the class, everything starts from the motherboard. We learned how each piece is physically linked together and figured out the correlation among all the hardware and software because auditors need to gather information from the system and local network to maintain the comprehensive database for both hardware and software.
I never saw or did the process of building a PC before and I think it’s a great experience. In the past, I always thought this could be a really complicated process and I would never know how this works. After the class, I realized the structure of a PC and all information it contains is not that hard to understand as long as I know the function of each piece. Also, to build a PC enable us to get easy touch on the tech side, which gives me a broad understanding of the operating system, which will definitely be helpful my future career.
Yuan Liu says
I built my own gaming PC before. I think there are two advantage of creating your own PC. The first advantage is more choice for specific part, such as CPU or Graphic Card. The demand of PC configuration depends on the different use environment. For example, lots of video gamer need powerful CPU and Graphic card to calculate huge and complicated graphic data. A the meantime, they need a high quality monitor with high resolution and refresh rate to show more picture detail. By contrast, accountant do not need that high configuration PC. They need stable and security PC more than the high performance PC. Most PC gamer need two memory bar at least to create dual-channel, but accountant may need one memory bar to run accounting entry system, such as SAP system, which do not require high calculation ability. The second advantage is lower price compared with already set up PC. I did a research about the difference between brand computer and set up ourselves computer based on the same configuration. personally set up PC would be cheaper than brand computer for $100 to $300 generally.