Week 10 Plan, Part 2

Alright folks.  It took me a little bit to catch up from being sick all day Sunday, but the rest of the Week 10 work is posted on the Course Assignments page.  The Computer System: Processor & Motherboards/Buses is now available.

As with the Form Factor & Base Configuration module, I have posted a sample Motherboard, Processor & Bus blog post.  Be sure to read all notes posted with it too.

If you haven't already, be sure to refer back to the Week 10 Plan, Part 1 post for more details.

Course Evaluations & Drop Date

From an email from the Lonestar College CyFair Vice President of Instruction:

Our semesterly Rate Your Professor Initiative (Student Evaluations of Instruction) begins today for all 16 week classes, and extends through April 12, 2010. Please remind your students to complete their evaluations of instruction. Our expectation is that 50% of your students will participate in this assessment for each class taught. Please note the “W” (last day for students to withdraw) date for Spring 2010 semester is April 13, 2010.

Click on the image to go to the Course Evaluation online system for Lonestar.

Week 10 Plan, Part 1

We have four modules on the Course Assignments page for Week 10. This week, we begin the portion of the class focused on computer hardware during which we will practice buying a computer; and we're also starting MS Excel.  Currently, only two of the three modules are available; like you, illnesses sometimes slow me down a little; I'll have the last module available within the next day or so.

• Computer System: Base Configuration, Form Factor 
• Computer System: Processor & Motherboards/Buses
• Excel Chapter 10
  

I want to highlight a section of the text from the Computer System modules; we will be spending the next four weeks working on the various modules within this project, and it's likely one of the more useful things we'll do in the class.  The scenario for the next four weeks is:

It's time for you to buy a new computer; the one you've been using no longer meets your needs.  It may not meet your needs for a variety of reasons: it may be breaking down; it may not run the new versions of software you use; it may not allow the type of working space you need; it may not run software you have recently started using for your job or for personal reasons.  Whatever the reason, you need a new computer.  The goal?  You need to buy a computer that is a "Goldilocks" computer for you.  You don't want a computer that does a lot more than what you'll use, and you don't want a computer that won't do enough for you; you don't want to pay too much or too little for the system.  You need a computer that is "just right."  For that to happen, you have to know what you're buying; you have to consider each aspect of the system carefully and in an informed manner. 

• What form factor do you need? 
• What base configuration, motherboard and processor is necessary to support your short and long term (2-4 years down the road) computing needs? 
• How much RAM/memory is needed to support your technology use habits?
• How much hard drive space will be sufficient for how you use the computer? 
• What plugs/ports do you need the computer to support to allow you to connect other devices to the computer?  What devices will you connect?
• What quality of display, video, and sound do you need or want?
• What network connectivity do you need the computer to have, and how will that work with the networks to which you connect?    

We're going to cover Chapters 2, 6 & 9 in the Technology in Action textbook from two perspectives: How do computer components work? and How do I buy them? By the end of this project, you will have detailed the hardware specifications for your next computer purchase.

Assignments this week that will be included in your grade (with category and due dates noted):

• Daily. Blog post on Base Configuration & Form Factor.  Due no later than April 4 @ 11:59pm.
• Daily. Blog post on Process & Motherboards/Buses.  Due no later than April 4 @ 11:59pm.
• Daily. Excel Project 10A. Due no later than April 4 @ 11:59pm.
• Daily. Excel Project 10B. Due no later than April 4 @ 11:59pm

I have posted a sample Base Configuration & Form Factor blog post.  Be sure to read all notes posted with it too.

Week 10 Plan - Not Quite Ready

Week 10 plan is coming; I've been sick all day today and haven't quite been able to finish it.  You do have Excel Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 online and available; please focus your work on those two chapters until I'm able to catch up and make the other modules available for this week.

** Announcement Malfunction for Week 9 **

I had noticed that very few folks have completed Week 9 work.  As I loaded the course assignments page to work on getting Week 10 ready to go, I noticed the announcements feed (from Twitter) showed the last post as being the Spring Break announcement (seen on the right side of the image below).

When I checked the Twitter/CyFair1401DL page, it showed the same thing.  So, there's a chance some of you have missed the work you should be completing this past week; though you shouldn't have since you should be checking this main page on a regular basis and should have seen the posts.

Strange thing is, after logging in to the twitter account, it does show that there were posts made last week announcing the Week 9 work and the Grading Notes for Weeks 6, 7 & 8.  You can see them below as being posted March 20.

Lessons Learned?

1. I need to more carefully monitor the twitter page to make sure announcements of blog pages are posted correctly; it's an automated process that failed this past week.
2. If you are just now finding out about the Week 9 work, you need to be sure to monitor the course home page on a more regular basis.

Grading Notes: Weeks 6, 7 & 8

Grades are caught up, for the most part.  I am still taking my time going through the submitted MS Word Resumes, so if you haven't yet submitted it, get it turned in soon to ensure that it gets reviewed and graded. 

All grades from MyITLab Powerpoint assignments have been transferred from MyITLab to the gradebook in the Angel system: Chapter 15A, 15B, 16A, 16B, 17A and 17B.  Plus, there's a project grade which represents the average of those six assignments. 

All blog posts on System Software have been graded and posted: Operating System, Virus Protection, Spyware/Malware, and Popup Blocker/Web Filter.  And, there's a project grade which represents the average of those four assignments.

All blog posts thus far on Application Software have been graded and posted as well: Productivity Suite, Media Applications and Internet Browser.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Week 9 Plan

We have four modules on the Course Assignments page for Week 9. This week, we wrap up the final MS Powerpoint project and the the Application Software series of projects.

• Application Software: Email Platform 
• Application Software: Social Networking  
• Powerpoint Personal Project (finish) 
• Excel Chapter 9  

I do want to continue emphasizing the importance of posting responses and assignments in the correct space(s). The Evaluating Internet Information module asks you to respond to questions with several posts to your personal learning space or blog (the website you created during Week 1 in the Web Page module). If you need a little help on how to add a new post to your blog, this video and this help file may be useful.

Assignments this week that will be included in your grade (with category and due dates noted):

• Daily. Blog post on Email Platform.  Due no later than March 28 @ 11:59pm.
• Daily. Blog post on Social Networking.  Due no later than March 28 @ 11:59pm.
• Project. Powerpoint Personal Project. Due no later than March 28  @ 11:59pm.
• Daily. Excel Project 9A. Due no later than March 28  @ 11:59pm.
• Daily. Excel Project 9B. Due no later than March 28 @ 11:59pm 

SPRING BREAK Week!

No work this week - unless you're trying to catch up on past assignments!

I will be catching up on grading this week, but it will likely be Thursday before that happens.  Remember, as long as you have your work submitted before I start grading that batch of assignments for the class, I don't consider it late; I grade it normally.  So, if you're a little behind, simply get Weeks 7 & 8 work done before I start grading it later this week.

I also hope to get Week 9 Work posted before the coming weekend - give you a couple of extra days to get started on that work.

If you travel, travel safe and well.

Interruption of Services during Spring Break?

I received the email below from Lonestar IT Services.

REMINDER As indicated in the academic calendar, the Office of Technology Services will be performing routine maintenance on all major systems over spring break next week (March 15th – March 21st).  Faculty, staff and students should expect periodic service outages as systems are upgraded, tested and brought back on line. Major systems include but are not limited to: access to the Internet, the telephone system, all LSCS web sites, Colleague, MyRecords, E-mail, Blackboard’s Vista, Angel and SharePoint.

For this class, that means there may be periodic times throughout spring break at which you may not be able to access the quizzes and other content in the Angel system.  However, this main course site (blog), the announcements, the course assignments, discussion and community pages will be unaffected since they run on other services (Google, Twitter etc). 

Week 8 Plan

We have four modules on the Course Assignments page for Week 8. This week, we'll begin the final MS Powerpoint project, and we'll begin the Application Software series of projects by selecting productivity suite, media and internet browser applications for installation on your computer.

• Application Software: Productivity Suites 
• Application Software: Media Applications 
• Application Software: Internet Browser & Tools  
• Powerpoint Personal Project 

I do want to continue emphasizing the importance of posting responses and assignments in the correct space(s). The Evaluating Internet Information module asks you to respond to questions with several posts to your personal learning space or blog (the website you created during Week 1 in the Web Page module). If you need a little help on how to add a new post to your blog, this video and this help file may be useful.

Assignments this week that will be included in your grade (with category and due dates noted):

• Daily. Blog post on Productivity Suite.  Due no later than March 14 @ 11:59pm.
• Daily. Blog post on Media Applications.  Due no later than March 14 @ 11:59pm.
• Daily. Blog post on Internet Browsers & Tools.  Due no later than March 14 @ 11:59pm.
• Project. Powerpoint Personal Project. Due no later than March 28  @ 11:59pm.