Mid-Semester Mark, Key Excel Skills, Critical Thinking

This past Saturday marked the beginning of the second half of the Fall 2023 semester :-)

Manuel C. (Manny) alone showed up to the classroom at 8 AM and took on Bonus Quiz 9.

At 9 AM, I officially started the class with my message of shifting the mindset and habits from simply 'get it done' to 'do it well'! 'Do it well' means (a) setting aside quality time to focus one's attention and energy to (b) carefully analyze the situation and requirements so one can approach fulfilling the requirements with (c) critical thinking and precise execution of cell references, syntax, formulas, functions, or any or all of the above.

Manny then used A5 Slideshow Presentation to promote his budding business UTRUnnoticed, which stands for Under the Radar, Unnoticed. I love his tagline: "Whether you are on or off the radar, we will make sure you never go unnoticed." After reviewing the polishing process for Manny's slideshow, I gave my Lecture 4 Key Excel and Spreadsheet Analysis Concepts (Part 1 of 2).

http://theladywiththelamp.atwebpages.com/Slide01.htm

• 'Order of Precedence' is not an Excel concept but a mathematical concept. 6 + 4 / 2 = 8, not = 5. If you want to end up with 10, you need to use _______ so the addition is performed first before the division. The resulting formula would be _______________.

• I believe for most people, if they master the five most commonly used Excel functions, that will satisfy most of their calculation needs in a spreadsheet. The IF function is not only a gateway to decision-making in programming but can modify other Excel functions too.

• If one does not master the concept of when to make a cell reference/range absolute (i.e. does not adjust based on filling/copying-pasting/moving) instead of the default nature of relative, one's spreadsheet experience will be miserable and even debilitating.

• Fill handle is an extremely wonderful feature. To be able to create your own fill-series in Excel will truly showcase one's elevated skill level. Just because LabSim didn't show you how, doesn't mean you can't research that knowledge on your own.

• Just because the wizard makes a suggestion to us and most of us -- myself included -- often just click OK or Next to accept the suggestion, if the formula or the result is wrong, who is responsible, the wizard or you?

Next Saturday, after Mary gives her A5, I will continue with Part 2 of 2 which consists of two topics, the first of which is my personal favorite interactive walkthrough of 'Straight vs. Weighted Average' and the second is my signature decision tree on choosing the most appropriate chart type to use for a given scenario.

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As I'm finalizing this blog post, Manassiya occupies the pole position for progress in LabSim but Manny leads in the first assignment as he is the first to reach 100% on 'Fun with Functions and More Workbook'. With the near-perfect performance on BQ9, Manny is now the holder of the highest cumulative score for all bonus quizzes thus far. I can't wait to see how the 'UTRUnnoticed' entrepreneur will perform on BQ10 this coming week ^_^

Students,

Please share your thoughts on these three topics in your comment:

• Did these two videos from the Digital Literacy Program Director help you alleviate any anxiety with Microsoft Excel?

Excel Primer, a helpful introduction to Excel (20 min 24 sec)

https://youtu.be/kAq3lXPV_bs

Excel Functions Review (4 min 36 sec)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ujPDRO_UPA

• How was your experience with doing the 'Fun with Functions and More Workbook'?

• How was your experience with doing A6 Spreadsheet Analysis with Trailer?

First Perfect Score; Bob, Vint, and Tim; Would You Fire the Chief Officers?

This past Saturday, I saw a brilliant star shine!

Four students participated in the email portion of Bonus Quiz 8 with two showing up early to take on the in-person portion of BQ8. Manuel C. (Manny) made me extremely proud as he not only earned the first perfect score on a bonus quiz but on one of my signature topic: identifying the components of an URL. Well done Manny ^_^

Sara was delayed in arriving to the classroom on-time so I presented Lecture 3 The Internet (Part 3 of 3) where I continued to walk through how an Internet search engine would work and a few search engine optimization (SEO) technics. Other topics include some examples of protocols being used on the Internet, milestone moments and periods of the Internet, and the different methods of connecting to the Internet.

L3: Slide 8 shows how an Internet search engine works and some basic SEO techniques.

L3: Slide 10 shows milestone moments and periods of the Internet.

Sara followed my presentation with her Spend a Day in Las Vegas for Less Than $50 with 85°C Bakery Café in Shanghai Plaza, Savers: second-hand used clothing thrift & vintage store, and Alt-Rebel: upscale second-hand shopping store in the Arts District. This is the most original topic I have seen in many semesters. After walking through the transformation process of Sara's draft slideshow to the final slideshow, Manny answered my question to who will present their A5 Slideshow Presentation next Saturday.

At the time of this blog post, Wayne took the pole position again in terms of coursework progress. To properly conclude L3 I need to recognize the contributions of Robert "Bob" Elliot Kahn, Vinton "Vint") Gray Cerf, and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, without whom, the Internet as we know and use today would not exist. Each man's A.M. Turing Award came decades after their leadership changed the world. In a future bonus quiz, I wonder if my students would be able to education Granny Moses on what each man's contribution is and how to differential the two things and a few other things that uses the first thing.

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Students,

Answer these four questions in your comment:

(1) What your experience with using Microsoft Excel prior to taking IS101-3003, Fall 2023?

(2) How is Chapter 5 Microsoft Excel helping you with Microsoft Excel?

(3) Do you see or has Microsoft Excel making/made an impact on how you doing things outside of IS101?

(4) Please read this one-page article:

Cinema Chain Sees Bad Movie Script Play Out As It Loses Millions In Email Scam

https://www.forbes.com/sites/martijngrooten/2018/11/12/cinema-chain-sees-bad-movie-script-play-out-as-it-loses-millions-in-email-scam/

and provide your thoughts on whether the two Pathé chief officers should or should not have been fired. I am eager to hear your rationale.

MOS 365 Apps Certifications, Phase 2 of IS101, ccTLD Hacks

Fall 2023 is the semester where IS101 upgraded from using Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) 2019 certifications to MOS 365 Apps certifications. Another change is for students to take the certifications exams at the end of the semester instead of at the completion of the coursework for each application.

This past Wednesday evening, I took all the three certification exams in their MOS 365 Apps version and passed, earning me the MOS Associate 365 Apps distinction. This semester's updated LabSim materials do cover much of I encountered on the certifications exams. I hope my students will follow my example toward the end of the Fall 2023 semester :-)

This past Saturday marked the beginning of the second phase of IS101. Up until then, students learned and practiced on materials that they are familiar with: Online Essentials, Computer Essentials, and Microsoft Word. Now, they embark on Microsoft Excel and More Internet Knowledge, subject matters that requires a analytical mindset and perseverance!

An hour before the class start time, four students showed up to take Bonus Quizzes 7 and/or 5, one of which also took the Online and Computer Essentials exam. Before the class start time of 9 AM, two more showed up and joined the fray.

I kicked off the class session by reviewing the answers and rationales of BQ 7 & 5. Leina then used her A5 Slideshow Presentation to practice being a future sales staff for her employer with "Save Fast on Internet and Mobile With Cox". I already have Cox as my internet service provider but didn't know they now offer mobile services. When the young lady finishes her training and begins working on the floor, I will visit her store and see how she can help me explore expanding my Cox services ^_^

After walking through the transformation process from Leina's draft slideshow and the final slideshow, I gave my Lecture 3 The Internet (Part 2 of 3) where I again walked through how to properly dissect an Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to identify its six components, not of all six which may be present. One component, county code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) spawned off these two items that will spark my students' interests.

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How Unusual Domain Names Make Pacific Islands Millions -- 6 min 29 sec video

By Julian O'Shea on October 5, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2zUePsQinQ

A Guide to Owning Code Top Level Domains (CcTLD) -- 6-page article with examples

By Alvaris Falcon, updated on August 7, 2023.

https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/country-code-top-level-domains/

Students,

• What your experience with using Microsoft Excel?

• Are you able to adapt your mindset and habits to Phase 2?

• Please share your unique example of ccTLD hack.

First Walkthrough of Slideshow Transformation, First Signature Topic, More AI

Wayne and Mary showed up early and took on Bonus Quiz 6 – Shortcut, Recycle Bin, and File Types.

Anisley (Ani) heartfeltly shared her Generation Path: The Unknown Road where her great-grand parents emigrated from Spain to Cuba. Ten years ago, Ani immigrated to the U.S. with her son. May they continue to build roots and thrive in this land of opportunity :-)

With only one student presentation, I walked through the transformation process of Ani's draft version of her slideshow to the final version to show how some features were implemented and reinforce what I articulated last week during the review for Wayne's and Manassiya's slideshows:

• Tailor your slideshow and presentation to the venue (i.e. slide size) and audience (i.e. laymen who may not understand abbreviations or industry knowledge from your presentation, so write out and explain those abbreviations and industry knowledge)

• Go-big-or-go-home (i.e. why make a photo/image small giving empty space to show the background when a photo/image should be larger and more clearer? Are you there to show your photos/images/videos/audios or the background? Why even have a background?)

• Less words is more (i.e. information/words should come from you, the presenter, not your slideshow; the slideshow is there to help you make visual impact with photos/images/videos/audios, not to do the information dissemination for you)

I followed Ani with my Lecture 3 The Internet (Part 1 of 3). Today's presentation included the first of my signature topic: how to properly dissect an Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to identify its six components, not of all six which may be present.

L3: Slide 4 shows the difference between URL, web address, and domain name.

L3: Slide 5 shows the six components of an URL, not of all six which may be present.

The logic of dissection is written out in black below slide 5 in the screenshot below. This topic will be in Bonus Quizzes 8, 9, and 10.

I gave the remainder of the classroom session for students to work on their coursework. Before leaving the classroom, Leina committed to present her A5 Slideshow Presentation next Saturday. As I draft this blog post, Manassiya pulled ahead of her classmates in LabSim progress.

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Various usages of artificial intelligence (AI) in past years have appeared in the previous four posts of my blog. This 27 min 52 sec John Oliver video from earlier this year brings a current focus on AI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqa8Zo2XWc4

Note: Viewer discretion is advised as the video contains strong languages and John Oliver's brand of humor. If you are under the age of 18 and cannot obtain your parent's permission, let me know and I will give you an alternate assignment in place of watching this video.

I learned the difference between Narrow AI and General AI. I agree with what Erick Brynjolfsson said about "affected not replaced". I like the AI-generated song on cats with Eminem's voice but I love John Oliver's rap even better! I hope John Oliver's rap was human-generated ^_^

Students,

Please address these three questions/topics in your comment:

(1) What are you throughs on any, some, or all of these points from John Oliver's video?

 a. Unexplainable how AI algorithms arrive at their results (i.e. "the problem with AI right now isn't that it's smart, but it's that it's stupid in ways we cannot predict")

 b. Unintended lessons (e.g. rulers are malignant)

 c. Bias-in-bias-out (e.g. pale male data, women = bad & men named 'Jared' who play high school lacrosse = good, TayTweets: from National Puppy Day to Nazi-leaning)

 d. Over-correcting (e.g. solves the problem of being racist by erasing minority)

 e. Would self regulation work for companies developing or using AI?

(2) Have you used AI yourself?

(3) Will you practice the URL dissection exercise to bolster your performance on Bonus Quizzes 8, 9, and 10?

First Excellent Bonus Quiz Performance and First Student Presentations

In the past week, I helped Wayne and Manassiya polish and transform their draft slideshows into final version for presentation in the classroom. I knew I would be gleaming with pride when they present their respective topics to the class but before class session began, I would be gleaming even more!

As expected, Wayne showed up before the class start time to take on the bonus quiz for the week. In the past four weeks, only the former Navy man -- thank you Wayne for your service -- has consistently done this. This past Saturday, the former sailor earned an near perfect score on Bonus Quiz 5 ^_^

After my greeting and status check with the class, Wayne kicked off A5 Slideshow Presentation where he shared an excerpt of what he presents at his workplace on a weekly basis: walking through flight delays and explain whether IT (his unit) (a) accepted, (b) challenged, or (c) is still working on reviewing the cause of delay as IT or not. The best attribute from Wayne's presentation is that he adapts his level of casualness and succinctness to the audience. One area of improvement is to minimize looking toward the slides when presenting but this is not exclusive to Wayne as I can improve in this area as well.

Manassiya educated the class on her passion of Rock Climbing with vibrant photographs and clip arts. The juxtaposition of photographs, clip arts, and an animated gif illustrated her points well and broke up the monotony of using the same medium. The only thing that would have made the presentation better is if Manassiya remembered to bring her belay device as a tangible show-and-tell to the class. Both Wayne and Manassiya sent in their A5 email before the presentation and will receive bonus credit for being the first group to complete their A5 :-)

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Before I gave the second half of the class session for students to work on their coursework, Anisley (Ani) eagerly volunteered to present her A5 next Saturday and even sent in her draft slideshow before leaving the classroom.

The contrasting style of Wayne's and Manassiya's slideshow (text-based vs. image-based) is mirrored in my penultimate videos on artificial intelligence (positive use vs. negative use) below.

Doctors, apps and artificial intelligence - The future of medicine | DW Documentary

On December 13, 2022 (28 min 25 sec) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyit-1zKsZ4

Bad science: AI used to target kids with disinformation on YouTube - BBC World Service

On September 14, 2023 (10 min 10 sec) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojjn9T_fuUw

Students,

• What are your thoughts from watching these two videos?

• Do you feel artificial intelligence (AI) are yielding more good or more harm?

• Have you encountered any AI-generated content?