Into Outer Space

The space shuttle 'Section 3022' has broken through Earth's atmosphere, entered outer space, and ready for warp travel!

This 26-second video clip of the USS Phoenix entering outer space and deploying its twin warp nacelles does more justice for the journey ahead for my students :-)

For the past fourteen weeks, my students and I have worked diligently through the coursework of IS101-3022, Fall 2020.

Students completed their twin apex assignments A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer and A7 Mail Merge this past week. I will review A7 in class this coming week.

The full set of PowerPoint projects and MOS-300 await them.

The trio of optional assignments will truly distinguish the good, the excellent, and the exceptional.

Two required class sessions remain with an overtime class session afterward.

I am proud of the seven students and will help each prioritize his/her time and energy to climb the highest that he/she is willing to achieve.

Let this final month of 2020 commence and each student reach his/her finish line with a big bang ^_^

Thankful, IS101 > COVID-19

1. Seven students of IS101-3022, Fall 2020 are still actively participating in the coursework.


2. Six students of IS101-3022, Fall 2020 have passed both MOS Word (MO-100) and MOS Excel (MO-200) with the seventh preparing to take both next weekend.


3. The top student from IS101-3025, Spring 2020 passed MOS Excel (MO-200) and MOS PowerPoint (MO-300) thus earning the coveted MOS Associate distinction 😊


4. Two students from IS101-3025, Spring 2020 indicated that they would like the opportunity to re-challenge MOS Word (MO-100) and earn their certificates.

Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)

A7 Mail Merge, centers around Object Linking & Embedding (OLE) but more importantly, it represents the second -- and higher -- apex of IS101-3022!

	Source could be any type of object: image, video, audio, another document.
	By pointing to the source object, the destination will see whatever change made to the source object but if the link is ever broken (i.e. connectivity issue, source file name or folder structure changed), the destination would have lost the source object.
	By storing an actual copy, the destination is guaranteed to always have the source object but it is only a snapshot at the time of making the copy (i.e. if the source objects changes, the destination would not see it).

This assignment is about cultivating a sense of independence in the digital world. Will a student take the initiative to read and think through each step of the Mail Merge wizard instead of blindly click [Next] or [Ok]? Will a student explore a functionality they have never used before? Will a student look at the business scenario as outlined in A7 and determine what needs to be done/produced instead of relying on step-by-step instructions?

A7 Mail Merge is the building block for OA9 Mail Merge Query Options.

A6 Spreadsheet Analysis opens the door to OA8 Workbook Analysis.

A5 Slideshow Presentation serves as a practice for OA10 Improved Slideshow Presentation.

I wonder how many students will attempt the optional assignments ^_^

5 MOS Excel Certificates Earned :-)

Today, five students challenged the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Excel 2019 Certification Exam, MO-200, and all five succeeded! I am so proud of this quintet ^_^

Matthew kicked off the class by guiding us through his military career.

I unveiled the visual report card for IS101-3022 to brighten everyone's outlook toward the end of the semester and beyond :-)

I then individually reviewed each student's A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer to conclude the class session.

Afterward, I began streamlining and polishing Matthew's A4 Homepage. I will share it with him and help him upload it to his AwardSpace account for publication to the World Wide Web.

This weekend, most students will be busy fixing their A6 Spreadsheet Analysis and taking Bonus Quiz 6 Microsoft Excel 2019 and Spreadsheet Analysis and Bonus Quiz 7 Apex of Excel.

This coming Wednesday, I will proctor two more students in MO-200 and one student in MOS Word 2019, MO-100. I wish them success!

Critical Thinking

A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer is the first of the two apex assignments in IS101-3022, Fall 2020.

The lion's share of the assignment entices students to put into practice what they learned from the Excel lessons and projects while the trailer portion challenges students to quantitative and qualitative analyze a story from both perspectives.

The hitch between the cab and the trailer is http://testtube.nfb.ca/ (quantitative = exponential, qualitative = growth). The link above leads to the original Test Tube with David Suzuki website in Adobe Flash. Adobe will end support for its Flash Player software in less than month.

I wonder how many of my students will install Flash to watch the 3:26 minute video in its original format? How do they compare this with the YouTube video that they watched via A6?

Note: the Adobe Flash website does have a long load time and a question at the beginning.

First Slideshow Published

Earlier this week, I walked through A4 Online Publishing to AwardSpace using my five fictitious students' slideshow navigation designs with the youngest student in the class. Anthony made me proud by not only coming up with his own slideshow navigation design but successfully uploaded the resulting webpages to his AwardSpace account for publication on the World Wide Web.

During class today, Nnamdi presented his slideshow and educated the class on Stock Market. He graciously offered his time and energy to answer questions beyond his presentation.

After class, I spent good part of the day manipulating HTML tags in Notepad and using Microsoft Word as a poor man's webpage editor to create the theater stage visual for Bridget's homepage. I will share the result with her :-)

http://anthony-mendoza.atwebpages.com/SlideShow(01).htm

I hope Anthony's slideshow navigation design and my five fictitious students' navigation designs will inspire more students with their creative process ^_^

Thank You Veterans

This semester, Fall 2020, one student is serving in our military.

Having just completed a month-long military training course on top of his normal duties, Matthew earned a promotion. As he adjusts to his new responsibilities for Uncle Sam, I hope Veteran's Day provides him an opportunity to focus more on IS101-3022 and other classes :-) Thank you to all who proudly serve in our armed forces and reserves ^_^

Putting the Fun in FUNctions

In today's class, two more students presented their A5 Slideshow Presentation.

Stephanie showcased the beautiful Egyptian Mau cat breed and her own Egyptian Mau Luna :-)

Adrian backed his call-to-action message: Don't Text and Drive, with statistics, persuasive imageries, legal consequences, and simple habits.

The CIT Department's Digital Literacy program director created an interactive spreadsheet, Fun with FUNctions, to help students practice Excel functions that have been known to appear on the MOS Excel certification exam (MO-200). I am pleased to see how quickly my students catch on to new functions such as MID, LEN, LOWER, UPPER, RIGHT, LEFT, CONCAT, and TEXTJOIN. This will not only help them with MO-200 but the upcoming A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer -- one of the two apex assignments in IS101-3022, each worth half a letter grade!

Nnamdi is the second student to upload his A4 Homepage to the World Wide Web:

http://nnamdidrew.atwebpages.com/Homepage.htm

My walkthrough of design ideas have inspired Bridget and Tukta. I look forward to seeing draft of their homepages ^_^

Democracy

I voted in-person on the final day of early voting, October 30, 2020 :-) I did this so I can experience how a polling site functions to prepare myself for November 3, 2020 when I co-lead a small team to staff a polling site: #79 on this list. Wednesday will be a long day at a far away site in a restricted land but I am proud to play a role in democracy ^_^